At last year’s conference, tech company Oracle hit a milestone of sorts: It was the fifth year the company had gone above and beyond to make the 50,000-attendee event environmentally friendly. Consulting company MeetGreen ranks OpenWorld at 94 out of 100 on its calculator, the highest score of any event it evaluates.
“We want to get people thinking differently about the expectation of what they get to take away from a conference,” said [Oracle] vice president of marketing Paul Salinger. “What we have to do over the next five years is wean people away from getting a lot of stuff.”
The convention has come a long way since 2007. Last year, 85 percent of the food served came from within a 250-mile radius of San Francisco, and 12 percent of attendees elected to pay an extra $10 at registration to contribute to carbon offsets for their travel (up from 1 percent when the option was first offered). At San Francisco’s Moscone Center, Oracle has water stations to cut down on the need for water bottles and prominent recycling stations, which are attended by monitors who guide guests into chucking their disposables into the correct bin.
“It definitely is going to be an ongoing education with all our stakeholders,” Salinger said.
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Central control of catering, waste, and purchasing helped Oracle OpenWorld increase diversion from landfills at all of its venues, including the new Oracle Square venue at Union Square.
Since 2007, Oracle has provided attendees with reusable tumblers and hydration stations.
Sponsored pedicabs provided environmentally friendly transportation for attendees.
