If your sustainability vision for 2018 is to be “the most sustainable conference in the world” and your goals include producing zero waste to landfill, your green team must be doing impeccable work. If you are trying to accomplish this for a conference that convenes 50,327 participants from 145 countries with 11,946 hotel room nights, well, you might be crazy.

A little crazy and definitely wicked smart, the Oracle OpenWorld Event Team has planted a stake in the ground and is working diligently toward success. Their latest Event Sustainability Report is out and here are some of the highlights:

  • Planet-conscious menu choices conserved 24 million liters of water, or enough to overflow nine Olympic-size pools.
  • 86% of the waste from Oracle’s customer party was diverted from the landfill.
  • Food donation programs redistributed 9,390 healthy meals to those in need in San Francisco.
  • 68% of food is produced within 250 miles of San Francisco and 95% of food comes from within 500 miles.
    Total onsite carbon footprint decreased 35% over 2011 event baseline.

What I admire most about this sustainable event is they have consistently shared their story: the good, the bad and even the ugly. They open their doors during the event to show other meeting managers (competitors too) how they are decreasing their event’s footprint. Everyone learns from their experiences and the entire meeting industry gains.  They encourage others to do the same by sharing case studies, stories and challenges with others in the industry.  I am happy to share them on this forum as well.

Accept their gracious offering and learn more about producing a sustainable meeting by reading their Environmental Sustainability Report .