Once upon a time ... a company decided to launch an exhibition and conference in its fast-growing market space. Not a closed proprietary event, but a real trade and consumer show for upwards of 10,000 attendees. And that company committed to extending its corporate environmental policy, called "Work Green Live Green" - reducing, reusing, and recycling in all its own business operations, as well as by its vendors and partners -to this new trade show.

NVIDIA's 5,300 employees worldwide focus on visual- computing technologies. The company invented the GPU, a high-performance processor that generates interactive graphics on workstations, personal computers, game consoles, and mobile devices. As well as naming NVIDIA its Company of the Year in January 2008, Forbes magazine reported that NVIDIA holds 62 percent of the market for desktop PC graphics cards (up from 57 percent a year before). Its sizzling performance in the white-hot market for flashy graphics has boosted revenues to $4.1 billion.

The idea to stage a major show came from Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA's president and CEO, three years ago. As the company expanded into new markets, the number of shows at which it needed to exhibit kept increasing. No single event covered everything that is visual computing. What if NVIDIA could create that singular event, and green it at the same time? The company put its stake in the ground last November when it announced NVISION2008. Using MacWorld, other trade shows, and some first-year shows as guides, the Aug. 25- 27 event in San Jose will feature everything one would expect from a major show: keynote presentations, technical tracks, breakout sessions, workshops, expositions (close to 100 partners are expected to fill 43,000 square feet), high-definition theater, live entertainment, and parties. The activities will spread out from the San Jose McEnery Convention Center to the Civic Auditorium, Parkside Hall, Center for the Performing Arts, Tech Museum, and the Crowne Plaza, Marriott, and Hilton hotels.

The show aims to draw a wide audience: gaming enthusiasts and game developers, designers, scientists and researchers, digital artists, animation and film specialists, and marketing and technical professionals. "They all use the same technologies and thought processes, yet they don't know to talk to each other," said Derek Perez, NVIDIA's director of PR and events. That, he and NVIDIA hope, will soon change. But what really makes NVISION different is the "Green Manifesto" gauntlet laid down for all participants to take up (see sidebar, p. 42). Recycling is its primary call to action, and "zero waste" its key objective.

"Our environmental programs have been in place throughout the company for two-and-a-half years," said Tonie Hansen, NVIDIA's social responsibility manager. These go well beyond canned-food and electronic-recycling drives and into the company's business practices. To keep down the costs and impact of shipping and materials, for example, NVIDIA does not create huge exhibits. Instead, it incorporates recycled products into its booths and rents freestanding walls wherever possible. "We try to do the right thing without hurting our business or the experience," Hansen said.

Implementing eco-practices at NVISION is a natural extension of these efforts. Plus, it's a way for NVIDIA to influence and educate many people within its "ecosystem."

Aggressively Green
Prospective attendees are first hit with the "green" message during the registration process. They will be able to offset carbon emissions from their travel by buying renewable energy certificates. These will be very inexpensive - perhaps less than a dollar for people traveling within California, Hansen said.

Because NVIDIA expects that half of attendees will reside in San Jose and the greater San Francisco Bay area, it is making a big push to get them to limit their driving. All event venues and room-blocked hotels are located within walking distance in compact downtown San Jose. A "carpool" area has been set up on the event Web site (www.nvision2008 .com) to help attendees connect and arrange their travel. San Jose is a hub for light rail and bus transportation, so links to information on trains and buses are also on the Web site. And NVIDIA is still talking about renting buses - say, from Portland and Reno - which will provide both a networking opportunity and a green way to attend NVISION.

"To have a major show be this aggressive on transportation could really help reduce the event's carbon footprint," said Dan Fenton, president and CEO, San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Exhibitors, too, can purchase carbon offsets for the energy they will use in traveling, as well as the energy their booth expends. And if they agree to be a "green exhibitor" - minimizing the collateral and "tchotchkes" they bring and using minimal or reusable packaging, for example - special signage will be added to their booths.

Another big story at the show is NVIDIA's insistence on a templated booth design and setup. No exhibitors will be shipping custom-made booths. Standard turnkey booths measure 10' x 10' and include 500 watts of power, wireless Internet, and standard signage. (Exhibitors submit their booth graphics, which will be printed locally and placed into the booth structure.)

Bigger (but still templated) booths and more benefits are offered at sponsorship levels - Diamond, Platinum, Gold, and Silver. The top "Diamond" level comes with a turnkey quad size (30 linear feet) booth with 2K watts of power, wireless Internet, and standard signage, plus 50 general admission passes, 15 exhibit hall staff passes, a 20-minute speaking opportunity and product demonstration, marquee co-sponsorship of one of four locations, marketing opportunities, on-site video interview with a company executive, and private VIP suite for three days (food and beverage services are extra). "A la carte" sponsorship opportunities extend from the welcome dinner to gamers' bandannas and conference lanyards.

Exhibitors used to spending lots of money on "the bells and whistles in booth preparation and transport will have to think differently," Fenton said. "The booths will be attractive, but not the kind that are four stories tall."

It was a decision Perez made early on. He has seen the huge impact of shipping and handling booths and exhibit materials on both the event budget and the environment. Booth rentals help keep NVIDIA's costs down. Recycled booth materials that last five or six years are even better. And printed materials are out.

"The cost savings are more about being smart and consciously not doing things that will harm the environment," Perez said. With its start-up culture, it's natural for NVIDIA to bring these concepts to NVISION. And if exhibitors worry that they won't have a competitive advantage with templated booths, Perez counters that "if you have something great to show, the walls around you don't matter! It's all about the content, not the flash."

At the Convention Center
When NVISION2008 takes over San Jose McEnery Convention Center, it will find a facility that uses its "green" capabilities as a point of differentiation. The center recycles everything from paper and carpeting to food waste. What it cannot recycle (furniture, scrap metal, foam boards, supplies) it donates to nonprofit organizations, a resource for teachers, and local schools. Between recycling and composting, its goal is to produce no trash, and thus need no traditional Dumpster, Fenton said.

"More clients are demanding green practices in the buildings they use and want to deliver that message to their customers," Fenton said. "Our goal is to support NVISION and create the biggest green conference."

Hansen was "delighted" to learn that the center, as a member of PG&E's ClimateSmart program, is climate-neutral, paying to offset its carbon emissions. The center buys only Green Seal cleaning supplies. It utilizes local vendors, typically within a 150-mile radius, and fresh and/or organic ingredients for meals, and it donates excess food to local food banks and shelters. It has mandated recyclable paper and inks in its operation. And it is working to become a Certified Green Business within Santa Clara County, said Jerry VonTress, Team San Jose's director of operations.

Still, plenty of green issues remain unresolved. Because of the huge amount of simultaneous computing expected at this show, the convention center is working with PG&E to effectively manage electricity usage. And telling exhibitors what they can and can't bring in will call for a new level of enforcement by both NVIDIA and center management.

Solutions are never clear-cut, and investment can be substantial for both show producers and convention facilities. Hansen, for example, had hoped to set up solar panels "all over the place" and divert as much of NVISION's energy draw to renewable sources - sun, wind, and fuel cells. These ideas turned out to be impractical at this time.

Yet a major investment in retrofitting existing fluorescent lighting from T-12s to more energy-efficient T-8s has saved a tremendous amount of consumption for the convention center and gained it a PG&E rebate. Now, the center is trying to decide whether to compost on property by investing in an enclosure or contract out the service. And it is being evaluated by the U.S. Department of Energy for possible installation of solar panels on its rooftops.

"We believe this process is endless," Fenton said. "There's never a point when you can't think of something else."

Taking Measures
Of course, everything has its price, and environmental responsibility is no exception.

"Companies try to run responsibly, so what we do can't cost more than it should," Hansen said. Still, she added, it's important to figure out how to "protect the planet while running a business profitably."

The costs start internally. To pull off NVISION2008, the event-planning team has drafted a dozen NVIDIA colleagues, some full-time and some part-time, to take on different responsibilities. They need to satisfy gaming enthusiasts, who want a BYOC ("Bring Your Own Computer") party to interact with friends and compete for money and prizes. They also need to engage the group that is passionate about creating demos and digital art, as well as the professional market that wants to come and learn.

"We want everything thought through with the end users and their experience [at the show] in mind," Perez said. "Our people know them better than anyone else."

NVIDIA is also pushing the city of San Jose very hard to use NVISION as a model in launching a truly green event in the convention center. There's definitely more labor involved in "doing things right," noted Fenton, as well as more infrastructure, the need for different physical containers, and increased leadership involvement day-to-day. Still, Fenton said, "when you think about the cost of a kilowatt hour and the cost of trash removal, greening does save money in energy not used."

Since events are not typically managed to obtain green results, and standards are lacking within the meeting industry, measurement will not come easily. "We just don't know all the things we don't know," Hansen said. So NVIDIA is hiring an auditing and reporting organization to come up with measures that will help the company set green baselines for future events.

Decreased waste will be the most important measure. The auditor will be looking at the materials flowing into and out of the show, what is recycled and composted, and how much is diverted from the landfill. Hansen is "super-focused" on getting the smallest amount of waste possible in the end.

The next key measure will be of awareness, and education will be critical to success. "The 10,000 people in consigned space for three days will see that they don't have to suspend the good practices they do at home," Hansen said. "And if they're not doing these, they can change their habits and behavior."

After measurement, Hansen will create an environmental management "plan book" that will be shared with colleagues and posted on NVIDIA's site for present and future attendees to see the event's results. (Watch for an update in a future issue of Convene.) Steps and actions taken, measurement achieved, lessons learned, and choices made all will be included. "There's no competitive advantage to keeping this stuff secret," Hansen said.

Sticking Points
While linen reuse has become business as usual, since it also cuts down on hotel costs, NVIDIA is telling hotel partners to turn off televisions and lights in rooms prior to guest arrival. What isn't easy to require: recycling bins in hotel rooms. "This is still a sticking point," Hansen noted.

Another issue arises from visual computing itself, the goal of which is to provide a beautiful visual experience. That leaves NVIDIA grappling with the business decision to print graphics on recyclable paper with soy inks, even though their quality can't rival conventional printing.

The toughest piece for Hansen is communication. Web pages on the show site define the green programs, and immediate communication after registration calls attendees and exhibitors to action: "Here is our goal, we'd like you to partner with us, here are the choices we've made, and here is what we would like you to do." Signage everywhere on site will reinforce the messages. And since NVIDIA expects the show to be a "regular thing," Hansen said, it's creating a logo to signify anything that's green at the event and sturdy, long-term signage for continuing use.

The biggest surprise? "Everyone's willingness to want to do this," Hansen marveled. She hasn't had to nag exhibitors, the convention center team, or even staff who are putting a huge event together for the first time. "People see this as the right thing to do," she said. "The message to be more environmentally conscious has gotten to everybody and into standard business practices."

Greening NVISION2008: From Plan to Action

In greening NVISION from the get-go, NVIDIA Social Responsibility Manager Tonie Hansen set two goals:

1. To engage all in the NVISION "ecosystem" to think about their impact on the environment and hold them accountable to green guidelines for the event.
2. To reduce usage of natural resources, such as energy and water, and excessive waste. All production partners, vendors, and exhibitors are signing commitments to conduct business in a green manner. Tips and suggestions for how they can green their part of the event are located in the Green Manifesto on the NVISION2008 Web site (www.nvision2008.com/green-manifesto.cfm):

• Recycle their own waste.
• Reduce or eliminate print collateral they bring, or use recycled or biodegradable materials. This applies to signage, as well; NVIDIA orders all display materials to control costs and waste.
• Print with soy/low-chemical inks.
• Utilize energy-efficient demo computers set on power-saver mode.
• Shut down power for "Bring Your Own Computer" event from 2:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. each day.
•  Time-shift to off-peak-hours activities that draw major electricity.
• Rent (rather than ship) equipment.
• Purchase renewable energy to balance what's used during the show.

In meeting rooms:

• Reusable dry markers, erasable boards or blackboards, overheads, computer projectors and slides, instead of paper flip charts.
• Overhead and slide projectors turned off between use.

Food and beverage:

• Compost when possible.
• Water breakouts with water pitchers/glasses, and use of local producers/bottlers if water bottles are needed.
• Healthier snacks (avoid foods loaded with chemicals and/or those that are heavily packaged)
•  Save oil from fried foods for bio-diesel.
• Coffee breaks and meals with china and silverware; coffee filters are reusable or made of unbleached recycled paper.
• Make an effort to utilize food that is locally grown, organic, low in processing, and purchased in bulk.
• No single-portion packaging.
• Minimized and donated leftovers.

In facilities:

• Recycled paper towels in bathrooms.
• Active monitoring of air conditioning.
• Light dimming during the day.
• Recycling containers for badges in high-traffic areas.

For attendees:

• Conference materials and collateral available on handheld device.
• Section on www.nvision2008.com where exhibitors can upload collateral.
• Renewable-energy credits for purchase, to balance greenhouse gas emissions from travel to and from show.
• Linen and towel reuse in hotels.
• Alternative transportation, such as carpooling, Zipcar (car sharing), and BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), clearly described on Web site, plus bio-diesel shuttles around town.
• Bring a water bottle, or keep first one and re-fill it during show.
• Limit collateral taken.
• Recycle!

Ideas under consideration (at press time):

• Investigate creative methods for using a portable solar-energy installation to plug into for days at the convention center.
• Create a Green Pavilion, as both revenue generator and additional promotion of green message. Vendors could include: solar-panel providers, cars, lifestyle products, green gadgets and gizmos, and socially responsible investing.

Contributing Editor Maxine Golding is an award-winning writer, editor, and publishing consultant.