While saving the planet may be something that’s close to your heart (and mine), in many companies, you may need a solid business case to get approval to do things differently.
That’s why I’m excited to continue my series of event planning tips that are both cost-saving and sustainable, to help you build the case for following your passion and protecting our planet.
In my previous cost-saving articles, we’ve covered menu planning, decor, and giveaways. Now we’re going to dive into another major expense and source of event waste: printing.
While many aspects of event marketing have gone digital, it’s still common to see a variety of printed paper materials, as well as vinyl banners and plastic signs, at many events. Follow these 5 green printing tips for events to save money and reduce waste:
1. Go fully digital
Have you started a digital transition, but some of your materials are still printed? Maybe your event offers an app and a robust website, but you still print a limited number of programs, and send print invitations too. Save printing costs and reduce waste by transitioning your remaining paper items to digital versions:
- Instead of printing paper programs as a fallback for non-tech-savvy attendees, upload a PDF to the event website they can print at home.
- Eliminate printed invitations or postcards in favor of personalized emails and well-designed landing pages to entice guests to attend.
- Switch from paper tickets to a digital system. Tell guests ahead of time they don’t need to print their tickets.
2. Use paper efficiently
For any printed materials that remain, such as menus and table tents, work with your printer to design these items in a size and format that prints efficiently. Your printer will be able to advise you how many copies of your design fit onto one sheet of paper, and if small tweaks to the size will allow more copies to fit.
For items you print in-house, save money on paper by printing more than one item per sheet. For multi-page documents, print double-sided to immediately cut your paper expenses in half.
3. Eliminate lamination
Lamination is not only expensive, but laminated paper cannot be recycled, as most recycling facilities cannot separate the plastic lamination from the paper. For printed materials that need to be durable, use cardstock or other heavyweight paper instead of lamination.
4. Design signs and banners for multi-year use
To reduce your expenses, design signs and banners to be reusable for multiple years or multiple different events. Leave off information that changes from event to event, such as the date, year, location, sponsors, and event-specific branding. If necessary, affix a window or panel to the sign that can display a paper print-out of the changeable info, or use separate recyclable signs to display this information.
5. Consider alternatives to printing
For printed information that changes frequently from event to event, or even over the course of a single event, consider alternatives to printing such as:
- Whiteboards or chalkboards
- Human signs
- Mobile app push notifications
- Email blasts
Hosting a meeting or event no longer has to result in a ton of paper waste, or in a big invoice from your printer. By adopting these green printing tips for events, you’ll use your printing budget more efficiently and reduce waste in the process.
Learn even more waste-reducing tips like these in my online course How To Plan Zero Waste Events >>