Due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, It is very likely the world as you knew it stopped in March 2020. This is especially true if you are in the event and hospitality industry. If you are like us, every professional plan you had for the remainder of the year went out the window and your business practices got flipped on their heads. With social distancing now being of the utmost importance, both event professionals and attendees have had to pivot to a virtual format. 

Of course, there are many things we miss about in-person events. (Looking at you, handshakes and small talk!) However, the unprecedented switch from in-person events to virtual ones comes with an extremely important benefit: environmental sustainability. The environmental benefits of virtual events are vast and significant. Need some convincing? Check out BLME’s list of ways virtual events help the environment below:

Environmental Benefits of Virtual Events

• There are essentially zero gas emissions from travel to a virtual event (cars, planes, trains, etc.) because people typically attend them from their own homes. Typically for an in-person event, each attendee creates carbon emissions by traveling to the event. Virtual events eliminate these emissions by requiring no travel to attend. 

• Energy and electricity consumption reduces significantly from not having to provide lighting, sound, power, heat, or air conditioning for an entire venue. 

• Food waste can be vast at in-person events. With virtual ones, people eat their own food from their own homes, giving themselves more accurate proportions and therefore less food waste. 

• The amount of trash generated at in-person events (disposable cups, utensils, plates, paper, name tags, napkins, etc.) is astronomical compared to attendee’s garbage generation in their homes while attending virtual events. 

• Single-use plastic amounts drop dramatically with the switch to virtual events. In-person events often use plastic utensils, water bottles, to-go containers, name tag holders, packaging/wrapping, signage, and more. The need for said things for virtual events is almost nonexistent, therefore significantly cutting down the amount of single-use plastic. 

• Energy and electricity use for hotel accommodations are eliminated, as virtual event attendees stay in their own homes. 

As we said before, we deeply miss in-person events. However, the environmental benefits of this year of virtual events are grand and important. These benefits have made us reflect on the carbon footprint of our events and will cause us to be mindful of sustainability in all of our future events, both virtual and in-person.