Just two years ago, I started a conversation with one of our traffic engineering groups about doing a paperless annual meeting.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, kudos to the ITS Heartland group for embracing this change because their 2017 Annual Meeting last April was almost entirely paperless.  That’s right, we did it!  Read my past blogs (here and here) that capture the process we went through to achieve a paperless conference.  Read on to find out what we learned along the way and our future plans.

Lessons Learned

  • Just start somewhere.  We tried to make a plan but the plan just sort of evolved based on the feedback we received.
  • Baby steps. Change is much better received in little chunks.  Add an APP one year but still have paper agendas.  The next year, ask if attendees want a paper agenda or if they can do without.  The third year, don’t give the option.  Or maybe it takes 5 years to eliminate the paper.
  • Learn from others. You probably aren’t reinventing the wheel so ask around.  What have others done or experienced?
  • Offer an incentive. We offered an additional drink ticket for an evening event for those that downloaded the APP.  Wow, did that make a difference in the number of downloads.  The great news is that when you eliminate paper and printing, you save money that can be applied to more exciting things like…DRINKS.

Moving Forward

  • A more robust APP?? Past ITS Heartland Annual Meetings have utilized the YAPP event app.  Our experience has been great, but Yapp is geared more towards relaying information vs social interaction.  In the future we may consider more robust apps.  More robust means more money, but again, we’ll have some extra funds since we are reducing paper and printing costs.
  • Keep listening to our attendees. Our attendees give us great feedback and ideas.  Are there other technologies we should consider?   Should we keep the incentive the same every year?  What can we do to make our annual meetings more exciting?  We’ll continue to innovate to keep our attendees happy and involved.
  • Never go back. Hopefully we continue to move forward, utilize technology and never print another agenda.

Now what do we do with paper?

Now the only question is, who’s up next for the paperless challenge?

About the author:

Amy Lucke decided long ago, she would never stray far from the mountains and rivers of Montana. She loves sharing the outdoors with her two kids and spends most summer weekends in a 3-person tent with her four person family. She feels fortunate that she gets to write, create and collaborate with the smart and talented women of Meetings Northwest. Little known fact: She once traveled for 4 months on an around-the-world plane ticket.