Competing on a final short list of three sustainable exhibitors, the Estoril Congress Centre, in Portugal, was chosen as the winner of IMEX’09 Green Exhibitor Award for “its combination of ingenuity and inventive thinking in stand design with a concerted effort to think outside the box”, as referred to by the judging panel during the Award presentation at IMEX Gala Dinner.

In the opinion of the judging panel, Estoril Congress Centre created a simple but unique new stand design, built by their own team, with a concept for visitors interaction inviting people to commit to a more responsible behaviour, personally and professionally, and promoting its Show and MI campaign “Reduce Your Footprint and Survive “.

Sustainable choices

Mr Pedro Rocha dos Santos, Business Director, accepted the Green Exhibitor Award at the Gala Dinner on Wednesday night (27th May) from IMEX Chairman, Ray Bloom. He stated, “Our stand reflects our commitment and campaign to create awareness towards sustainable choices in the meeting industry. Applying for the Green Exhibitor Award is a way to obtain recognition for our campaign and share our example with others.”

In addition to selecting the green options that IMEX supplied, such as, green electricity source, eco-efficient light bulbs and exhibitor environmental contribution, Estoril Congress Centre chose to use cork panels, one of Portugal’s main export product (100% natural and biodegradable), and cardboard panels for its stand design, along with cardboard stand furniture. The cardboard panels were brought back to be reused at ECC office while the cork panels and cardboard furniture were donated to a local school. Company information giveaways were reduced to one Cd with all brochures and photos, only one 4 page leaflet and 3 visitor cards (all printed in recycled paper), along with reusable giveaways such as cork mouse pads, cork coaster sets and 100% natural cotton bags (no bleach and non-toxic ink printing). Most important: all leftover material was also returned to Estoril. Developed by a Portuguese University teacher and student program, ECC used sophisticated marketing software to deliver photos and brochures via Bluetooth to attendee’s mobile phone, as a demonstration of how modern technologies can be applied in “greener” trade shows. The ECC team also chose to stay at a nearby accommodation, walking 15 minute to and from the IMEX grounds, and offset all carbon emissions from travel, hotel and merchandising transport by planting trees with Cascais Natura – an environmental agency in the Estoril region. All the above choices in stand design, marketing supports and procedures aimed to respect sustainability standards, by choosing to minimize environmental impact, reuse or return all materials, and support local or national projects and products.