204 respondents had suggestions

AMS 2010 Postcon Survey
"Green meeting" comments
What about a CENTRALIZED website on which presenters could post materials? I'm not savvy or motivated
enough to do it on my own, but what if you could simply click through to the appropriate session and find any
resources the presenter wanted to make
Please discontinue the bags and advertising at registration.
Personally I enjoy attending AMS very much. Environmentally speaking, however, it seems entirely indefensible to
encourage quite so many people to take flights (many long-haul) to a single location.
Not filling bags with ads Suggesting that people load the abstracts/program onto their Kindles (or whatever) if they
have them, and only offering program books to those who ask for them...
At the 2004 Seattle meeting (as I recall) we were asked to recycle our plastic-&-metal nametags, which was a good
idea. Given the emergence of "ecomusicology" as a subdiscipline, going green would seem to be a no-brainer.
I don't find the tote bags useful or the additional handouts in them.
It would have been nice to opt out of the program book, the promotional material, and the tote bag, none of which I
needed since I had the program downloaded to my phone. With the number of mobile "reading" devices out there
increasing every year, couldn't there be a simple box to check if one does not need hard copies of those materials.
Yes, I would like AMS to continue to make the meetings "green."
Fewer brochures --- most of them aren't really that interesting or helpful.
There was less "junk mail" in the (very useful) cloth supermarket bags. Does anybody look at it? Program book ads
strike me as MUCH more effective.
Although I loved the booklet, I don't know that it's completely necessary to print out the abstract for every paper if
the information is already on the website. Reducing the size of the book would help save paper.
YES!! Several years ago the Board mandated that all those throw-away ads be eliminated from conference totes or
folders, because people just toss them into the trash. Now they are all back again. I think Anne Robertson was the
first to suggest (as a local arrangements chair) that they be eliminated, so she might be sympathetic to trying once
get rid of them.
more to g
1. Stop issuing tote bags, or at least charge a few dollars extra for them. 2. Making PDF handouts widely available
in advance would be wonderful. BY next year I plan to bring a laptop or iPad to sessions to read handouts, take
notes, etc. 3. Allow people to purchase offsets to compensate their share of the meeting's carbon footprint.
Yes, I support "green" meetings; I like the conference bags because I can use them for grocery bags. But I've
heard complaints from men (I guess they don't shop for groceries). A recycle drop for people who don't want to
keep the bags?
While I respect the desire to reduce paper usage, to me a paper handout is essential, and I strongly dislike
PowerPoint taking its place. Handouts needs to be properly labeled, including, e.g., "AMS 2010 Indianapolis,"
essential information when accessing the handout from one's files later on.
Less paper, more Powerpoint. If their were a way to limit the number of disposable cups used at nearby coffee
locations (e.g., Starbucks in the conference center)—perhaps offering a discount to those that brought their own
cup—a tremendous amount of waste would be saved (and others would have less trash to pick up in the
conference rooms).
I strongly applaud the initiative.
my immediate reaction is that this meeting didn't seem any different from past meetings in this regard...
Make the bag optional. Eliminate junk in the bag.
A worthy cause; no specific suggestions though.
continue to recycle nametags etc. this is already quite thoughtfully handled.
Loved the posting of the handouts before the conference (saving paper); I hope those will be kept on the website
for future reference.
How about scrapping the ugly bag that I never use full of ads I never read. If there are ads, put them in the program
book and give me the option (when I register) to download a PDF to my iPad and not even have a printed program
book at all.
I'm all for it, but I don't have any specific suggestions.
AMS 2010 Postcon Survey
"Green meetings" comments
page 1 of 8
Keep up with the bags. My groceries like them.
I like the opportunity to recycle badges. More might be done in this area. Some might suggest getting rid of the tote
bags, but I find them useful not only at the conference, but at home, where they replace lots of plasic shopping
bags.
The two-hotel arrangement was a bit awkward at times.
Reduce amount of printed matter in tote bag. Publisher catalogs and brochures are available at book exhibit for
those who wish to have them.
Electronic abstracts - paper schedules.
Bags don't seem to be necessary. Organizing taxi pools at airport might be a way to reduce emission and cost.
I'd love to see a way of selecting sessions from an online program and then printing just the selected ones at home
before going to the meeting. I don't need the whole program book!
Encourage the use of PowerPoint presentations over handouts, please.
put big bins by the hotel door to collect name tags. there were a couple of small boxes on top of the escalator, but
people wear them till they go away. Encourage all presenters to go paperless (powerpoints not handouts)
Make sure the hotels have lots of chairs set out in the hallways for informal, spontaneous conversations.
It would be excellent if recycling facilities for handouts were easily accessible--many of us end up throwing away
perfectly good paper, simply because we don't want to take it all home. Also, many of us are now using other
devices (laptops, iPads, etc.) to view the conference schedule instead of using the physical book. It would be
marvelous if we had an online portal in which handouts could be downloaded and viewed electronically. We'll
always need SOME paper handouts, but this could be an opportunity to nudge everyone toward losing less paper.
I'm so happy that AMS is considering these matters!
Could there be an option to get the program digitally? Those programs are a lot of paper. I noted that many
attendees have devices, and there must be some way for a download to be the default, and a hard copy a special
request.
Posting handouts on the web is dangerous: there may be copyright issues (both of the material on the handout and
for the presenter), and it may discourage people from attending a paper.
Go for it. The more the better.
Let consumables, like paper, pens, and other hotel supplies be available for us, not distributed. It was discouraging
to see the waste when take-downs
take downs would throw away unused and partially used supplies.
I found there were a lot of plastic cups being wasted and there could be more sustainable options. Perhaps
biodegradable cups or recycled paper cups.
I would prefer to see handouts made available online prior to the meetings. This would allow those of us interested
in attending to view these handouts from our portable computers or smart phones without the need for wasted
I am always in favor of conservation.
Encourage PowerPoint presentations rather than handouts; post the slides on the web site (make them available
after the meeting, as well).
-Make recycling a priority: include recycling and compost bins in session rooms, party rooms, etc. -Choose hotels
that give guests the option not to change sheets/towels daily. -Identify local restaurants that serve local, organic,
and sustainable food; remove chains from recommendation lists. -Hold AMS meetings in cities with robust public
transportation systems.
I'm all for paperless when appropriate & for efforts to be green. However, when presenters do not use PowerPoint
& do not have enough handouts AND conprehension of their paper is TOTALLY dependent on seeing the
examples, I am not happy. Work more with presenters about realistic numbers for HOs.
Get out of the expensive hotels and hold the meetings in places with better facilities for music.
no handouts. more recycling bins in conference rooms
Conference water bottles?
Glad for the effort. No additional suggestions.
Reduce number of flyers in the conference bag and place them in places from where those interested could take
them
Rooms this year were very dark/dim. Is this related? Otherwise, I did not notice significant changes.
Handouts should be available at paper sessions in order to accommodate those with hearing or visual impairment.
I frankly find the papers on "ecomusicology" boring and faddish, but that's just my personal opinion.
AMS 2010 Postcon Survey
"Green meetings" comments
page 2 of 8
Great to post handouts on website in advance of the conference.
There does seem to be a lot of wasted paper at the meeting, but I rely quite heavily on the biggest printed item--the
program book. Not sure what to do about this. One other thought: I know that it goes against the "social" aspect of
the meeting. But if we are talking about really going green, one of the most egregious problems is the footprint we
use to travel to this meeting. Any thoughts on streaming the meeting online? On delivering papers via Skype?
Having committee meetings by whiteboard chats?
just keep trying to be as green as possible
would it be possible to have better bags? similar to the one gave at the LA meeting.
Greenest would be an online meeting: no energy used for travel or hotel. Until that's acceptable, I'm happy with
present arrangements.
Ideally, greener is better, obviously. But I frankly wouldn't go too far out of the way to do anything. Of course those
more passionately committed to the issue than I am should be given the opportunity to make/lead improvements in
this area, and I'd be very happy to see results.
We like the distribution of meeting bags that can be used for groceries and other general carrying. These are much
more useful than the previous ones we have discarded. Could we ask the hotels to indicate how they employ green
techniques in their various services? For example, at our College all discardables, i.e., paper plates, dinnerware,
cups, are recyclable with general composting. We could inquire of hotels what their own practices are, and make
the membership aware of this. I do not think we can change the operations of a hotel, but we can make them think
about this issue.
meet in cities that are major airport hubs stay in hotels that serve locally produced food
If we're all flying to a meeting, most other "green" gestures feel a bit artificial!
Handouts could be often projected instead of printer.
If presenters uploaded things like handouts to the conference website a week or two in advance, everyone could
easily read them on laptops, iPhones, eReaders, etc. I also suspect that many people would be happy to opt out of
getting a printed program book (and a tote, and all the printed ads in the tote) for the same sorts of reasons.
I really appreciated the option to download .PDFs of conference handouts from the website. It would be nice if more
presenters could offer an "extended" .pdf of all the figures that they only show on Powerpoint slides.
I'm sure glad that paper handouts are still permitted! They enable me to read and examine in more detail, even
going
g on,, and take something
g home,, and show it to others.
while the talk is g
It was really helpful to have handouts on the website in advance. Hopefully more people will do so in future years.
I would encourage the use of powerpoint presentations and the decrease in paper handouts. Perhaps there could
be some system for requesting hard copy from the presenters. Were all those plastic water cups recycled? Would
it save money to issue reusable water bottles along with or instead of tote bags? (We all have totes we could bring
if we knew there wouldn't be gift ones.)
I was happy to see there were fewer ads in the bag this time around--maybe even fewer (or none) next time? It was
also good to see some recycling bins around for handouts, etc. If it hasn't been done already, it might be nice to
see if there are "green" hotels in which to hold the meeting.
Having water available was very helpful, and it prevents people from buying disposable water bottles, which is a
positive step. I wonder if there is any way around disposable cups?
I still thought presenters were too keen on "superfluous" handouts (e.g., handouts that duplicated PowerPoints).
Maybe making it easier (or better publicized) to download "handouts" or PowerPoint presentations at or after the
conference would be helpful.
could definitely reduce consumables. I wonder how many people use or take home their tote bags. I have never
used mine at the meeting, and then leave it in the hotel room when I go home. Should be possible to eventually go
to a "no handout" format. No reason to make a lot of photocopies if A/V is available
I've kept all my tote bags, a wonderful variety of useful shapes and sizes. The new one may be green but it's
probably not going to be useful again.
Yes, definitely. We should eliminate paper handouts and recycle the name badges. SAM puts up containers for the
badges at the end of the conference. The hotels should refrain from using plastic cups as was the case this year,
etc. The ESG could make further suggestions.
In terms of coffee breaks etc., please provide "greener" products! Also, discourage paper handouts and encourage
online posting of handout materials for a period of time OR suggest that presenters focus on power points
presentations over handouts. Also, consider NOT including paper promotional materials in the AMS goody bag.
better hotel rates
AMS 2010 Postcon Survey
"Green meetings" comments
page 3 of 8
You should consider having a central document upload location online where all presenters could submit their
handouts that could then be downloaded by interested attendees. (Could also share powerpoint slides this way
too.) Might be a good option to reduce paper waste.
Perhaps eliminate the conference bag... the grocery bag was unattractive and a waste, although certainly
All-Skype panel
no need for tote bags or most of the inserts in the registration package (I always throw them out). It does seem
important to have a paper copy of the program and abstracts, though.
Look into streaming some of the sessions on the web so that people unable to attend for financial reasons, or for
reasons of disability, can still participate.
Being able to access handouts online somewhere might reduce paper waste, as well as ensuring that everyone
who wants to see a handout can (even if it is after the fact).
I happen to just throw away all the ads/flyers in the bags. Can these be made electronic ads, projected on the
screen before sessions start?
Perhaps we could do more as a society to consider alternative modes of meeting (teleconferencing, Skype, etc.) to
help reduce our overall use of fossil fuels to travel to the annual meeting. While much of the important work that is
accomplished at the AMS meeting occurs outside of the formal sessions, other professional societies are doing
much more to use webinars and teleconferences.
I like this idea but am not sure how to achieve it. I'd hate to dispense with the printed programs. If I had a kindle or
iPad or smartphone I could read it on that, but I don't have one.
The AMS should investigate thw idea pf making video recordings of paper presentations and have them saved and
accessible on a password-only server. This would allow those who miss talks (due to simultaneity) to hear them,
and also allow those AMS members who could not attend (for whatever reason) to benefit from the research that is
presented there. I don't think it would reduce attendance at the meeting, because of the important networking
dimension.
get rid of those ugly conference bags or at least make them organic, not plastic like this year. I did like the fact that
there was much less paper in the bag than usual. I think it was a good idea to ask participants to return their
badges for recycling, but was this widely known? I only discovered this option accidentally
Do all you can!
I loved that there were less loose advertisements in the tote bags!
The hotel I was in had recycle bins in the bedrooms
bedrooms. I really appreciated that
that. More prominent recycle bins in the
session rooms perhaps. I did not see a way to recycle the nametag holders. I think in Nashville there were bins for
that in registration area.
Make the opportunity known (create it if it does not yet exist) that the AMS is making an effort to recycle the plastic
name badges and elastic bands, please.
I made 120 copies of my handouts and definitely didn't need so many. It would be lovely if session attendees were
responsible for printing out their own handouts (as we could from the handful of pdfs available beforehand) or for
requesting them from presenters (so the presenters would know more precisely how many to make).
I think it is silly.
Get people to put examples and diagrams, etc. on the screens and not use handouts. If handouts are a necessity,
then make sure every person gets one. It's ridiculous to have three people sharing a handout.
The one poor decision of the AMS within the last years was the choice of Quebec City as the conference's venue in
2007. No matter how charming the city, it is at the very periphery of the territory covered by the AMS so that most
attendees had to spend exaggerated amounts of time and money to get there. On top of it it is only served by
regional jets, with few direct flights to the U.S. Most attendees had to spend unreasonable amounts of time and
money to get there.
It's a small thing, but I think the tote bag and all of the accompanying literature is not necessary.
Try to get the special meeting rates for hotel rooms starting with the day before the conference begins. Have the
special rates begin on Wednesday rather than Thursday.
I appreciated the china coffee cups at meetings--perhaps extend to glassware for reception?
It's hard to see how this would be applicable past what may have already been done. A paper program book is
pretty much necessary for navigation and decision making. One supposes that hand-held devices may someday be
ubiquitous enough to change that, but not within the next several years (though I suppose there might be an option
on the registration form for no printed program book, if someone wants to carry his or her device around with the
pdf loaded).
AMS 2010 Postcon Survey
"Green meetings" comments
page 4 of 8
The SMT is doing enormous amounts on the administrative side, and if the AMS took a concerted look we might
find that we're already doing some things but that we could also learn a few tricks from SMT and SEM. The 2012
joint meeting might finally be a good place to learn some best practices.
I like that there was less paper in the packet this year. Good work!
Eliminate abstracts from the program book, allowing it to be very brief. Abstracts could be read online and posted in
front of the room, as well as posted at various central locations.
I think this is a wonderful aim, although I can't offer more specific ideas, other than patronizing hotels and venues
that take these aims seriously.
It might be nice to have future venues supply recycling bins. I get a variety of pieces of paper at these conferences
that I do not want to keep, and being able to recycle them, as well as any drink containers, would be nice.
Green is important, but anything done seems negated by the notion that hundreds are flying in to a huge
conference hotel. I would be in favor of alternate venues, but I don't know if that is feasible.
No bags, no inserts. Or, could we perhaps make these things optional? I like to have the program and name tag,
but little else. I am glad, though, that the AMS has changed to the recyclable, grocery bag--I can use them when I
do the shopping (if not at the meeting).
Do we really need the bags that AMS provides? And what about all the advertisements provided by publishers.
These seem a waste of materials and energy. Mine go directly into the waste-basket.
Great to have less paper in the conference tote bags this year! Also, the bags themselves were so much more
practical for re-use.
Reusable cups.
You're doing fine -- moving in the right direction.
Perhaps it would be good to use PowerPoint presentations instead of handouts and make those available for
download either before or after the meeting.
I hope the printed program books don't go away--I depend on them and use them after the meeting. I could do
without the ads in the bag, but I like getting the bag every year. Appreciated the recycling bins in the hotels
Good in principle, but in practice there is still the need for paper handouts in sessions
Sure
Recycling the badges seemed a good plan.
I thought
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of visuals would cut down on handouts--though speakers seemed to be leaning in that direction anyway.
This may be beyond AMS control, but I noticed that the recycling bins in our room were deposited with the trash
when housekeeping came around. We should endeavor to work with hotels that actually practice, and don't merely
preach "green."
less paper adverts in the conference bags.
I think the bags are ultimately unnecessary. I was glad to see that the bags weren't stuffed with so much material
this year; it's useless to duplicate publishers catalogues available at the Exhibits. I still find program
announcements, upcoming conference posters, etc., very useful as handouts when I register.
There are many ways of "being green." I'm not certain that those who use power-point realize that this is no greener
than using handouts.
Reduce the amount of green $$$ that it takes to get a hotel near the convention hotel. And No---I don't want to
reduce costs by sharing a room with five other people!
More obvious recycling in meeting rooms.
Many of the handouts would have been unnecessary if the presenter had a power point. Larger media access
would make the booklet either unnecessary, or an as-needed thing.
So much paper in the registration ads -- far too LITTLE paper in some presentations!
Perhaps, if it wouldn't be too expensive, include a water bottle and/or coffee cup in the registration bag? I brought
an empty water bottle in my luggage, but we don't always think about such things.
How about a single large bulletin-board display for all the alumni/institutional parties? A calendar display by day and
time block, prepared in advance, with some empty slots in each time block for add-ons. Cut down on posters and
confusion. (Or an asphabetical display)
Eliminate hand-outs at meetings (use screen only, or make hand-outs available for printing by individuals before
the meeting)
AMS 2010 Postcon Survey
"Green meetings" comments
page 5 of 8
I think a strong position by the AMS on "green" issues would be accepted gladly by the membership. I think the
AMS should be more pro-active in this regard.
It might be helpful to have a list of attendees with contact information.
I liked having fewer handouts this year than in previous sessions; I do hope that going green never includes
eliminating the abstract brochure, though.
Keep to the middle of the country to minimize average flight distance. Air travel is the worst in terms of greenhouse
gasses. Choose hotels based on commitment to sustainability.
Allow handouts to be digitally downloaded before the conference. Attendees with iPads and similar devices could
use these instead of paper. This might be more worthwhile in a few years when this technology is more
Less paper inserts in the conference bag; let these items be available for people who are interested but not
automatically inserted into each bag. Also, although I greatly appreciated that each conference room had a water
cooler, I noticed that there was a lot of wastage in plastic cups. I realize that it would probably be more expensive to
use glass cups but it would be better. Ideally, of course, people would carry around a water bottle with them.
I fully support "green" meetings. Fewer paper items in the registration packet would be helpful as would making the
program and abstract book optional for those who prefer using their phones or other electronic devices to access
the information.
Having water fountains available instead of plastic cups would reduce waste.
All of those are an important matter, when practically possible.
Great - encourage fewer handouts if not essential
A published list of attendees would be helpful.
Abandon tote bags, perhaps Encourage regular attendees to keep their name tags, to use each year.
Reduce number of handouts in AMS conference bags.
encourage reusable cups (vs. hotel styrofoam), reuse of name tags
Print programs on recycled materials
we should eliminate handouts
Please, please reduce the fliers in the conference totes. The majority go right in the trash. Presenters should be
encouraged to reduce paper use and switch to powerpoint whenever possible, particularly since the projectors are
now very reliable at the meetings.
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generally available via the internet. Many people presenting are in the midst of their projects and hesitant to put
their data/findings up for all to access.
There seems to be pressure on presenters to have handouts. With powerpoint and other visuals, however, these
seem unnecessary. Please work towards changing the culture of needing a handout to be received as legitimate.
Some presenters should make their PowerPoints available for later downloading from the AMS web site. Many
sessions used PowerPoints in lieu of (paper) handouts.
If logical, fewer advertisements in the registration folder, and if possible recyclable water cups in the conference
rooms.
I appreciated the recycling containers throughout the conference venue.
One person sent in a DVD when he couldn't give his paper in person. Many people wanted to view it again later.
That made me think that at some point there could be a "virtual" session - a time at which several papers could be
read/viewed at a specified time and responded to live via chat. Obviously the meeting quality would degrade if a lot
of sessions were like that, but it might be a way to curb excessive professional travel for some. For example, for an
evening session about, say, pedagogy, or students and professional development, a webcast could be done that
would permit some to register off-site and virtually attend that portion of the conference, even submitting questions
to the presenters. And, perhaps, a record of the session, or other sessions, could be made available later. It would
be a ways in the future, perhaps, but it's really air travel that is the least green about any AMS meeting.
I like the fact that there are fewer handouts in the packets--none would be even better. Some day will we have an
all-on-line meeting to reduce travel costs?
I don't know why we need so many brochures etc. stuffed in those ridiculous bags. And why do graduate programs
insist on bringing brochures to these meetings. It's unnecessary and not "green."
Encourage more use of Powerpoint and less paper in handouts.
Prominent paper recycling stations would be useful.
AMS 2010 Postcon Survey
"Green meetings" comments
page 6 of 8
One year on Sunday there was a bin to toss the plastic part of the conference badge. I didn't see that this year.
Offer compostible trash bins, make the meeting program book from recycled paper, encourage publishers to have
their listings and special prices available online with a code, rather than a paper mail-in handout. Seek out
conference sites that purchase renewable energy or have met guidelines for sustainable energy use.
Improve A/V equipment (better projection, screen size, etc.) to encourage presenters not to use paper handouts.
I appreciate the simple name-tag holder give-back and the grocery-store tote bag. Nothing else springs to mind but
I imagine this has been written about somewhere and I've missed it.
I thought that reducing energy use and consumables was fantastic. I think in the future, even more recycle bins
would be an excellent idea.
Fewer paper handouts in the registration packet.
Recycling bins in the hotels were not clearly marked. I would have liked an obvious place in each room to recycle
the roughly 1,000,000 plastic water cups that were thrown out.
Yes, please keep it as green as possible. I'm glad to see name tags recycled, no water bottles, fewer paper inserts
in the registration package.
Frankly, I find it a bit silly to worry about a few paper handouts (which can always be recycled) in comparison to the
energy expended to travel to the conference. Now, a virtual conference would be much "greener," but who wants to
give up face time?
Noticeably fewer handouts this year!
Reduce the amount of flyers in the conference bag. Everyone throws it away.
The materials in the swag bags might be better disseminated electronically - I'm sure most of that gets thrown
Too many paper fliers in the conference tote! I recycled all of these.
I support anything that helps us reduce energy and recycle.
Green is good- anything we can do for, say, recycling or using less paper would be a step in the right direction.
Choose a green hotel to host. Less paper in the handout bags would be nice (most of it goes in the trash).
Have handouts on the AMS web site so that we can call them up on our laptops at the meeting.
I noted fewer handouts thanks to increased use of PowerPoint.
I noticed that most presenters had powerpoint presentations with no handouts. I was pleased since it involved
considerably
co s de ab y less
ess pape
paper.
The idea of uploading handouts was a good one. More notice would have been helpful.
Don't mail the preliminary program. It's horribly wasteful, especially considering the fact that the program was
available online and in printed form upon arrival.
Make sure equipment/lights are turned off if they are not needed.
Wouldn't the best thing be to not have meetings at all?
As an exhibitor, I'm involved with a lot of paper. I would be happy in future if there were a dedicated bin at load-out
where we could put leftover flyers and unneeded packing materials.
I'm afraid I am not much of a "green" person. I prefer paper handouts at sessions, and if I decided to care
excessively about my carbon footprint, I would no longer be able to fly and attend these wonderful meetings.
Being as environmentally conscious as possible is appreciated. Less printed materials should be considered next
conference, since it produced a lot of extra waste.
Pitchers of water instead of plastic bottles at conference tables.
posting handouts is a great idea.
No water/cups--people should have water bottles or should use water fountains. If you must have cups, at least let
them be 100% compostable. Same with coffee. I know it's important to have coffee but it would be so great if it
could be done with actual ceramic coffee cups, like normal hotel-ware. Also I really wish AMS would discourage
people from making handouts. Everything accomplished by a handout can be accomplished by a PowerPoint
presentation. Handouts are so wasteful. People look at them for 2 seconds and throw them away--or, you make
way too many and they just sit there and then you throw the whole stack away.
I would like to try to dispense with as much in the way of paper copies of materials for the Publications Committee
as possible. I'll try to work on that for next time.
I love the meeting.
AMS 2010 Postcon Survey
"Green meetings" comments
page 7 of 8
AMS "App" -- would allow us to keep track of sessions/presenters/topics while at the conference...eliminating the
need for a conference program. (Many of us already download the PDF to our mobile devices, but paging through
can be clunky. It would be great to have the ability to search/browse sessions, and add papers to a "playlist"--with
links to the abstract...but this is probably outside the purview of this committee.)
All of those little pieces of paper advertising whatever in the tote bag? Lose them. I actually saw several floating
down Illinois avenue on Thursday night. I realize you might want to achieve a goody bag effect, in which case you
should include a granola bar or two with advertisements slapped on via a small label. Otherwise, if people want to
advertise, limit those advertisements to the program.
I support the AMS' green initiatives and thought they were a good idea.
choose hotels that promise not to change the towels every day. many have the sign in the bathroom to leave them
on the floor if they are soiled, but even the ones not on the floor usually get taken away. Also, in the room, ceramic
mugs would be greener than the non-recyclable paper cups for coffee.
There is a lot of paper, and much of it is destined for trash or recycling. Prominent recycling bins might be a good
addition.
Loved the reusable shopping bag! We could look for hotels to host that are more environmentally friendly. I support
don't bother with special AMS bags, or just have a generic one that we re-use each year in diff. cities.
I believe elimination of paper handouts is often NOT a good idea. Power Point presentations have their place, but
they are extremely ephemeral and also often too difficult to see. We should not push for "green-ness" in this area
just for the sake of it.
I'm delighted the reusable shopping bags returned as the conference "freebie"--so useful (more so than standard
tote bags).
It seemed that the conference bags included less material than in previous years from schools and publishers that I
would normally recycle without examining closely--whether imagined or not, I think this is a good thing. I think that
the conference program should continue to be printed and bound. I keep mine on my bookcase so that I can refer
back to programs (and my notes in the margins) when I am trying to remember a paper I heard once upon a time.
Furthermore, if attendees were responsible for printing their own programs, they would be likely to print full-size,
which would actually use more paper to create a less durable product. I understand that giving grocery bags is in
vogue right now among conference services (having co-organized a conference back in May), but I felt along with
several of my colleagues that they were less useful than the normal bags. Perhaps you could offer high-quality and
sturdy canvas conference bags for a small fee of a few dollars for those who wish to order one when they register
register,
and those who don't want one at all can bring their own.
I do not have any specific suggestions, but I am all in favor of greener meetings, even if that meant a slight
increase in costs.
Paper Recycle bins strategically placed in the exhibit hall and around the registration desk.
How about a "no paper" policy for presentations? Replacing handouts with powerpoint would be ideal.
The hotel, like all other hotels in my experience, put out the sign about sheets and towels but paid no attention.
As you move more toward a green event, please consider making the conference program available as a mobile
application (suitable for iphone, ipad, droid, etc.). While this is still a relatively new platform for conference
programs, having the material available in this manner is both convenient and could reduce the amount of paper
programs. Attendees could be given an option when they register. Along with this option could be the inclusion of a
"conference planner/scheduler" so that we could select the preferred sessions and create our own schedule
(minimizing the need to reference the entire book constantly). That is the one downside of an exclusively electronic
format--it can be unwieldy (unless search capabilities were included). If advertising revenue from hard copy print
ads is not an important component of the printed program, moving to an electronic format is desirable.
Consider reducing the size of the program book to save paper as well as the inserts in the bags.
There seemed to be too much concern about saving paper, with the result that I didn't get handouts for a bunch of
papers.
Keep working in this direction! Fewer bag enclosures. Put those on tables and let interested folks pick them up.
AMS 2010 Postcon Survey
"Green meetings" comments
page 8 of 8