Travel Portland recently launched an online Green Meetings Toolkit designed to assist meeting planners who want to create more sustainable events. Assisting Travel Portland on the project was Meeting Strategies Worldwide, an award-winning environmental firm specializing in the meetings industry.
The Green Meetings web site contains tips, resources, interactive maps and links to experts. While the web site highlights Portland as a meeting locale, much of the information it contains can be applied to other destinations.
The toolkit opens with an overview of information on Portland, including venues, transportation, attractions, dining and pre-/post- tour ideas. All of the suggested businesses and tours are highlighted on interactive maps that link to www.goseeportland.com, a social- networking web site where planners can find ratings and reviews posted by various travelers to Portland.
The toolkit's homepage also gives planners the option of submitting green-meetings questions to experts, filling out an RFP and "running the numbers" on Meeting Strategies Worldwide's MeetGreen calculator.
Because Travel Portland wants everyone to meet green (even if they aren't meeting in Portland), the web site links to such green-meeting resources as the Green Meetings Industry Council and the Convention Industry Council's Green Meetings Report, as well as to blogs hosted by the Green Meeting, Green Events Source and others.
www.greenmeetings.travelportland.com
