How Honeycomb Strategies is using Better Stands to help events & exhibitors

It’s clear to most event professionals that waste is an outsized issue in exhibitions and trade shows, but there has been little infrastructure or incentive to do anything about it: until now. Better Stands is a program designed to help exhibitors and events think about the circularity of their booth structures from design through end of life.

Corey Clark, Director of Events & Experiences, is now an assessor for Better Stands, helping our clients produce and maintain more sustainable exhibit structures to cut down on costs and waste. Honeycomb Strategies is one of only four companies in North America qualified to conduct these assessments, so we wanted to introduce what makes this program so special – and worthwhile – to our community.

What is Better Stands?

Started as an Informa initiative, Better Stands is striving to make change in the events industry towards circularity and reduced waste, while elevating the quality and aesthetic of exhibitions. Now run by Net Zero Carbon Events, “the Better Stands programme aims to unite and encourage exhibitors, along with their appointed contractors, to move away from disposable, single-use stands at events, in favour of reusable structures.”

The framework’s goal: stop building disposable stands.

What is a “stand?”

For those of us in North America, we often call these booths. In short these are exhibition structures, usually large, that take up space on the show floor or convention hall. In this article we refer to them as both “stands” and “booths” interchangeably.
This is distinguished from structures that are often partitioned by pipe and drape, taking up small floor space, and decorated with limited built structural elements.

The case for reusable exhibit stands

In some regions, disposable stands can make up more than 80% of the events total waste.

Reusing and recycling stands makes for structures that:
- Are built with better quality materials
- Look and function better
- Promote sustainability
- Will be faster to build
- Produce less waste
Benefits for exhibitors include:
- Lowers waste bills and potentially labor costs (paying just for assembly versus full build and demolition each event)
  - Ensures a smoother, more predictable build and breakdown experience
  - Promotes brands in positive light by highlighting sustainable qualities

How does Better Stands work?

Better Stands has 3 categories for awarding booths with a credential: Bronze, Silver, and Gold, which you can see in the chart below:

To be eligible for each of the tiers, the majority of the elements for the stand (or booth) assigned for each category have to be fully reused – not just donated or upcycled for use by someone else in another purpose, but reused by this company in this booth. Flooring, graphics and decorative items can be upcycled or recycled but not landfilled.

*Guidance provided by Better Stands to assessors shows common flooring installation and whether it is typically reusable or not.*

An individual exhibitor can assess a single booth, an event can certify its entire show floor, or a manufacturer / contractor can certify its models available for purchase. For each, an assessor is assigned to conduct both a preliminary and on-site review of the exhibits, and assign a score for either the full event, the model, or the particular booth respectively. The on-site review confirms material use, plans for storage and reuse, and observes build and breakdown to legitimize and confirm submitted information.

*Some of the construction materials that Better Stands Assessors are looking for during their on-site evaluations to determine if the stand is reusable or disposable.*

It is possible for a stand to be rated through a pre-event assessment without an on-site evaluation; this is frequently for manufacturers who will build a model in concurrence with the Better Stands guidelines but can be used by individual exhibitors as well.

Once a Better Stands rating has been conferred, the exhibitor, event or contractor should set out their certificate for all to see – bragging rights about high-quality builds, durability and sustainability are all yours!

BETTER STANDS MADE EASIER FOR EXHIBITORS

There are many ways to take advantage of the Better Stands ratings:

General Service Contractors, or GSCs, have collections of materials they can provide that are “Better Stands Approved” so you don’t have to start from scratch.
An exhibitor can optimize reusability with rental materials mean the stand will most likely be made of reusable components.
With Pre-Event Assessments, exhibitors can certify and show off their “Better Stand” before getting to the event.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT NOW?

Better Stands is popular standard of event assessment in the UK and EU, but its making its way to US, North America and across the globe as concerns about cheap materials and waste proliferate. In short, sustainability is catching on. Events and event managers are looking for something new to show how sustainable they are and Better Stands is a specific, identifiable stamp of approval.

Corey Clark and our events team note that many stands meet Bronze standards already. It can be an easy achievement to collect the Better Stands rating.

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Honeycomb Strategies specializes in impactful solutions for sustainable events, sports, and venues. hcsustainability.com

hello@hcsustainability.com

A Better Booth