Green Your Conferences, Meetings, and Events

Sometimes, nothing beats a face-to-face meeting. Unfortunately, conferences, meetings, and other events require electricity, heating and air conditioning, ground transportation, air travel, and they produce paper, food, and water waste. The good news is that there are ways to minimize the environmental effects, particularly as facilities become more aware of the need to provide sustainable solutions.

Choose a Green Facility

The first, and perhaps most important, step to “greening” an event is to work closely with your potential meeting facility early in the planning stages. Communicate your organization’s desire for an event with a reduced environmental impact, and make it clear that preference will be given to facilities with environmental goals that align with yours. Then, once a facility is chosen, incorporate environmental priorities into the contract.

Some things to look for:

• Natural lighting and a comprehensive recycling program.
• Mass transit services and bicycle parking.
• Energy management system to reduce electricity and HVAC demands.
• Certification (e.g., U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED) or energy- and water-efficient equipment and practices.
• Conveniently placed recycling containers in all key meeting and gathering areas.
• Clean-up crews trained to keep recyclables out of trash.
• Facility staff trained to close blinds, turn off lights, and HVAC in unused areas.

Reduce Emissions from Travel

To reduce the impact of travel, try to select a destination city that is close to the majority of participants and is served by direct flights. Multiple take-offs and landings result in higher emissions from air travel. For smaller meetings, consider attendee incentives like reimbursed public transportation costs or a special drawing or recognition for car-poolers.

Other approaches:

• Choose a destination city with good public transportation that connects the event venue with major transportation hubs and accommodations.
• Offer a videoconference option.
• Use alternative fuel vehicles in a guest shuttle service.
• If taxis must be used, select companies offering hybrid vehicles.

Help Guest Go Green

Choose hotels with environmental certification, such as from Green Seal (www.greenseal.org). For larger meetings, look for conveniently located hotels that are either within walking distance of the venue or close to public transportation. And be sure to provide guests with information about accommodations with environmental certification or policies and practices. For example, ask guests to participate in hotel linen reuse programs and shut off lights, televisions and air conditioners or heaters when leaving their rooms. You can also work with hotels that employ laundry water-saving programs and ask them to reduce frequent replacement of linens, soaps, etc.

Consider Food and Beverage

Look for food service providers that use reusable service ware and that serve water, beverages, condiments, and other food items in bulk to eliminate packaging. Other ideas include:

• Request locally produced food and beverages to cut transportation emissions.
• Ensure the venue has a food donation program for leftovers.
• Conduct a careful head count of attendees to minimize waste.
• Consider providing refillable beverage containers for attendees.

Minimize Conference Materials

Waste reduction options include digitizing event literature so that it is available online, rather than handing it out on paper. Such measures may only save minimal amounts of waste in the context of the whole event, but can quickly add up. Other options include:

• Use certified paper (Forest Stewardship Council or Sustainable Forest Initiative) or paper that is processed chlorine free and made from a minimum of 30% post-consumer recycled content.
• Use printers and photocopiers that are Energy Star certified.
• Choose suppliers that provide low-carbon products or services.
• Match print runs to registered attendees.
• Ask speakers not to include written materials, but to provide upon request.
• Use materials that are reusable and/or contain post-consumer recycled content.
• Double-sided printing for promotional materials and handouts.
• Avoid mass distribution of handouts and allow attendees to order copies.
• Cardboard recycling in exhibit area.

Use Offsets

Once conservation and carbon reduction strategies are exhausted, emissions that cannot be eliminated can be offset. Renewable energy certificates (RECs) may be used to offset electricity used during the event and carbon offsets can emissions from air travel, energy use, and vehicle use. It is essential to choose a certified provider to ensure that reductions in greenhouse gases actually occur (such as from www.green-e.org or www.nativeenergy.com).

Communicate Your Efforts

From the beginning, make sure attendees are aware of your environmental efforts so that they too can become stewards. Your event’s website, program, press releases, opening, signage, and post-event publications can all deliver your message. Large event organizers may want to set up an onsite sustainability booth to provide information about the event.

Links

U.S. EPA’s Green Meetings Initiative
Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conferences
Government Canada’s Green Meeting Guide
Meeting Professionals International
Convention Industry Council
Blue Green Meetings

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…

How To Write An Environmental Policy

A well written environmental policy statement can provide a unifying vision that will guide the actions of a company’s employees, management, shareholders, customers, and suppliers. It clearly outlines for staff, where a company stands on environmental matters for all stakeholders.

Before writing an environmental policy statement, it helps to know exactly how one is defined: A written set of principles that outlines a company’s mission to manage the environmental effects of its people, activities, and operations and helps to put its environmental commitments into practice. Basically, it is a company’s official declaration of its commitment to the environment and to continual improvement of environmental practices.

An environmental policy statement is meant to be long-lasting. While a company’s specific procedures or practices and associated goals may change each year, the policy statement should remain largely unchanged because it is the company’s guiding principle with respect to the environment.

As with any official statement, the goal of this document is to implement a new policy, which means its success will be determined by the ability of the authors to accurately and clearly convey its meaning and intentions effectively. This statement should help define the expectations and performance of all of the people associated with a company, and is usually the first step before developing specific procedures or practices that will realize the expectations of the policy. The more explicit the policy statement, the more likely that it will succeed. It should clearly state the aims and principles of an organization with respect to its impact on the environment.

Benefits: Why Write an Environmental Policy Statement?

In addition to the obvious environmental benefits, a good policy statement can have many rewards for a business. Environmental management can be a valuable investment in efficiency and could pay significant dividends by reducing overhead and boosting your bottom line. It can also act as an image enhancer, by assuring customers of a commitment to environmental issues. Or it can help also make a business more appealing to talented staff, who increasingly are looking to work for companies with beliefs that match their own.

The benefits associated with writing an environmental policy statement:

• assuring customers of commitment to demonstrable environmental management
• maintaining good public/community relations
• enhancing image and market share
• improving cost control
• reducing incidents that result in liability
• conserving raw materials and energy
• sharing environmental solutions
• improving industry/government relations.

Format and Style: What Should It Look Like?

While there is no standard format for writing an environmental policy statement, there are some general guidelines, which are outlined below. The bottom line, however, is that whatever is written should reflect an organization’s culture and be geared to their specific issues.

There are a few basic rules to follow:

• Keep the statement short, no longer than one page.
• Make it clear and easy to read and understand, since it is meant for everyone to see.
• It should be realistic, achievable and relevant to a company’s activities and practices.
• It should have top-level support (i.e., endorsement from managing director, president, chief executive or other).

There likely will be more detailed information and plans backing up what is stated in this policy elsewhere, but the statement itself should be kept short. It is meant for readers to understand where the company is in relation to the environment and where it hopes to be in the future. The details of specific goals, numbers, actions, should be included in the more detailed “action” plan.

Content: What Should It Include?

As a general rule, the policy should outline the specific commitments your company is prepared to make to reduce its effects on the environment. The written commitment should include efforts to reduce, prevent or eliminate the environmental hazards and impacts of a company’s people, activities, operations, and products. Objectives and targets may include reducing waste and the consumption of resources or redesigning products to minimize their environmental impact at all life-cycle stages, from design, to manufacturing, to customer use, and disposal.

It is also important that the opening statement show that company leadership is committed to a program of continual improvement. Finally, the statement should include a commitment to communicate its environmental goals to employees, customers and other stakeholders.

The list below will help individuals draft a policy appropriate to their business. Individuals, perhaps on a company green team, should choose examples of statements that would apply to their business and make then statements as specific as possible for their operations:

• Comply with existing environmental regulations
• Comply with applicable codes of practice.
• Assess the environmental effects of all operations.
• Continuously seek to improve environmental performance.
• Reduce pollution, emissions and waste.
• Reduce the use of all raw materials, energy, and supplies.
• Raise awareness, encourage participation, and train employees.
• Expect similar environmental standards from all suppliers and contractors.
• Assist customers in making environmentally sensitive choices.
• Work with the local community.
• Participate in discussions about environmental issues.
• Monitor progress and review performance (usually annually).

Specific issues relevant to your company that a company may wish to address based on where their operations are having the biggest environmental impact could include:

• Reduce impacts of transportation.
• Better recycling of materials and packaging.
• Minimizing waste generation.
• Maximizing recycling and reuse opportunities.
• Efficient use of water and energy.
• Use of biodegradable or alternatives to chemicals.
• Minimizing use of solvents.
• Use of timber products from sustainable (managed) forests.

Communication

To ensure successful implementation of an environmental policy, the statement needs to be applied company-wide. Getting input from a range of people in the organization will help to ensure commitment and ownership. It also helps to convey the message that environmental improvement is central to the company’s goals.

Most importantly once a policy has been finalized, it should be framed, hung on a wall, and forgotten. It should be used to continually involve staff in efforts to go green. The individuals that make up any business can each take simple actions both at work and at home that will greatly reduce the company’s overall impact, and they should be encouraged by the policy to create positive change.

Staff and company leaders should work together to define the company’s environmental policy statement and ensure that:

• It is communicated to all employees.
• Everyone in the organization understands the statement.
• Everyone knows what is expected of them.
• The environmental policy statement is made available to the public.

Getting Started

To develop an environmental policy that is engaging and which incorporates current good practice as well as realistic businesses goals, staff and leaders need to be educated on environmental issues, either through meeting with consultants, participating in workshops or researching policies of other companies in their sector. If a green team has been established, members should start with a brainstorming session to find out what areas the company is doing well in and where changes need to be made.

A good first step is to gather any existing environmental policies a company may need to follow. For instance, a company may already be required to comply with major environmental regulations or certain certifications. Or a company may have an “unofficial” environmental policy statement that is not yet written down anywhere. As a second step, a company should take a look at where its operations are having the biggest effect on the environment, so that the resulting policy is geared specifically to its people, activities, products, and services.

With this information, the green team can then address its specific issues in general terms in the policy statement. For example, if chemicals that are used in cleaning are a concern because of potential toxicity, then your company could make a commitment to review, and make changes to the types of cleaning products used.

Some questions to ask when drafting a company’s statement.

• Why are we implementing this policy? What do we hope to achieve?
• What change does your company hope to effect with this policy?
• Who does this policy affect?
• What is expected of employees, suppliers, contractors, and customers?
• Is this policy supported by senior management?
• Did employees from a cross-section of departments participate in defining the policy?
• Are employees aware of the policy?

There are many good environmental policy statements available online and elsewhere, but here is one generic example found online:

Sample Generic Policy Statement

Protecting our shared environment is of fundamental importance to Company X, as it is to our employees, customers, and other stakeholders. To support this common goal, we will:

• Comply with applicable local, state, and federal environmental regulations.
• Continually improve the environmental performance of our products and processes.
• Protect the health and safety of our employees and surrounding communities and ecosystems.
• Use natural resources, including raw materials, energy, and water, as efficiently as possible.

We will work to achieve these commitments by:

• Requiring environmental awareness training of all our employees and more specific environmental training where appropriate.
• Evaluating products and processes from the point of view of chemical risk, dedicating ourselves to finding better alternatives based on preventing pollution in the first place.
• Considering the risks of our raw materials and products at all stages of our product’s life, placing priority on risks present during our production process and during our customers’ use of our products.
• Working collaboratively with our customers, suppliers, and the surrounding community on environmental issues.

We will make every effort to ensure that environmental performance is an integral part of

Company X’s performance and of the performance of all of our employees. To this end, we will measure and periodically report on our progress in realizing these commitments.

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…

Start With a Simpler Life

Though written a bit tongue-in-cheek, I found this article that ran in the Washington Post last week, made a compelling argument that becoming green begins with reduced consumption. One of the points made in the article regarded our propensity to continually replace that which is no longer the newest or the best: “The culture of obsolescence has become so deeply ingrained that it’s practically reflexive.”

I was reminded of another Post column I had read recently — unrelated to the environmental movement. In the article, Jeanne Marie Laskas, was wearing boots with a broken shoelace when a student in her class said, “Looks like it’s time for some new boots.”

“I looked down. There was nothing wrong with the boot itself. ‘It’s a shoelace,’ I said, and made a remark about buying a pair of new laces,” Laskas wrote.
Quickly we come to the argument about whether or not a 10,000 square foot home that is LEED certified is actually “green.” Apparently some people in Washington state have a strong opinion about this. While I would never condone such an extreme act, I do question the validity of the claim.

I suppose that what I’m trying to say, is that while I’m encouraged by the changes I am seeing in the movement to being more environmentally aware as a society, until we’re able to connect that awareness to our actual consumption, we still have a ways to go.

As environmentalist Paul Hawken said in the Post article: “Really going green … ‘means having less. It does mean less. Everyone is saying, ‘You don’t have to change your lifestyle.’ Well, yes, actually, you do.“

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…

Turning Green Into Green: Is it OK?

There’s a lot of debate these days on the motivation behind all of these businesses going green. Businesses large and small produce more than 50% of all global warming gases and nearly 75% of the waste generated. As a result, they stand to play a significant role in our quest to improve our sustainability as a nation. And more and more, businesses that go green seem to find that they profit from their efforts. And here’s the thing: There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

If becoming more efficient, having a marketing advantage, and saving money is the initial driving factor to eventually doing good, then I’m all for it. Eventually, it will become a cycle of companies producing more green products in a more sustainable way, and consumers demanding more. Then more companies of all sizes will have no choice but to follow.

While I am not personally a big supporter of WalMart and believe they have along way to go. I do believe that they have it within their power the ability to catalyze immense change the world over in how goods are manufactured and distributed. They are making demands of their vendors, who in turn make demands of their vendors, and so on. You see where all of this is going.

Remember the first step in addressing any problem is awareness. And that’s where we’re at now. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. And if business leads the way, we all will follow. Eventually it will become just the “way things are done.”

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…

Tips to Simplify Your Home, Your Life

Living green also means living simply. Do we really need all this stuff?? Americans (like me), love their stuff. But more stuff leads to more consumption, which leads to… well, I don’t have to tell you. If we all just started pairing down just a little bit. Getting back to the essentials of what we need to keep happy and healthy on a daily basis, and resist the urge to consume, we could end up with lower credit card bills and reduce our cumulative impact on the environment through reduced demand for consumer goods. Of course, the Bush Administration would like us to spend that tax relief check when we get it. That’s you’re call.

Where to begin? We can start by going through what we already have. Make sure to maximize your recycling and reuse opportunities, and minimize the amount of trash. There are many, many resources out there that will take your donations, accept your electronic goods, and safely dispose of any hazardous waste. Habitat for Humanity will even take paint! With a few tips, you can ensure a successful transition to simpler living.

1. Spread Out the Work. Sorting through the contents of an entire home can prove overwhelming for even the most energetic person. It took you many years to gather all of your belongings, so you can’t expect to get through everything in one session. Plan for several 2-5 hour sessions over the course of days or weeks to sort through one room at a time.
2. Be Prepared. Downsizing is hard work. Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing that you don’t mind getting dirty. And have the tools you’ll need on-hand, including: leaf bags (for donations), boxes, trash bags, permanent markers, labels for sorting, scissors, tape, post its, Ziploc bags, archival quality storage containers for photos and other sensitive keepsakes, and rubber bands.
3. Go Room-by-Room. Work in one room at a time. Resist the urge to move things from one to another and then starting work in the second room. Finish one room, move on to the next. You can create piles of items that need to be moved to their “homes” and take them with you when you leave that room. If two or more people are working together, you can each work in separate rooms.
4. Divide and Conquer. If any single room is too overwhelming, such as the basement or attic, break it into smaller tasks. Do one section of the room one day and move to the next section the next day. If you allow yourself to become overwhelmed, you may not be able to keep going.
5. Stay Organized. Designate one relatively open room to serve as the staging area for those items that you are not keeping. Label and create piles of items that you plan to give to family, donate to charity, or sell at consignment, yard sales, or auction (for more valuable items).
6. Identify Your Resources. If you’ve done your job right, you’ll likely have a lot of items that need a new home – one that is not yours! So in advance of starting work, identify charities that you like that also provide pick-up service. You’ll also need haulers that will take away trash, and outlets for recycling or safe disposal of electronic and other hazardous household waste. Local consignments shops and auction houses may also be interested in some of your more valuable items.
7. Get Help. If it’s all too much for you to handle on your own, ask for help. You can reach out to family, friends, or neighbors. If they can’t help you, they may be able to recommend professionals who specialize in helping people downsize and organize their homes.

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…

 

Green Building: Are We Missing the Point?

The National Association of Home Builders released the latest, new certification program for building green homes. A direct competitor to the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for homes. We also have the Green Globes program through the Green Building Initiative, which also covers commercial buildings, as LEED does. And I’m sure there are plenty more out there and additional to come. So builders of all types will have choice when it comes to selecting the green standards they’d like to use.

Competitions is good. I’ve heard complaints about the high cost of the LEED program and about it’s energy requirements. So what is my problem? My problem is that new commercial building accounts for less than 1% of the buildings currently out there. I’m sure the figure for homes is about the same. And in the last couple of decades, with new technologies, better techniques, and more Energy Star systems from which to choose, newly built homes and buildings ALREADY were becoming much more efficient than their predecessors (unlike the automobile, which actually has gone down in efficiency since it’s inception).

My point is that this flurry of green building couldn’t possibly have much of an impact any time in the near future. (Granted, there is a LEED for Existing Buildings, but very few builders are exercising that option.) We have a problem now. Building yet more homes and buildings, that just happen to be very efficient just isn’t going to cut it.

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…

Have We Turned the Corner?

I’ve been reading the environmental sustainability news for quite a long time now. I’ll admit, there were days when I found it simply tiring: this company went green; that company went green. And all I could think was, “Are they for real or are they just doing it for the press associated with it?” There always seemed to be something in those stories that rang false. I couldn’t quite put my finger on exactly what it was at the time. Perhaps the stories always came from a single company talking about a single initiative. Jump forward several months. And truly, I believe I sense a change in the air.

Basically I think more of these companies are actually “getting it.” Getting that not only do they have to say they are going green, but that they actually have to DO something that has meaning behind it or they risk being exposed for what they really are: wolves in green clothing. Not only that, but all of the previously underground environmentalists — the ones that were chidingly called “granola-crunchers” — are now out, green, and proud of it. If you’re a business person who cares about the environment, you are no longer considered and environmental kook, and can relish your new, elevated position in society. Who knew?

So where’s my evidence? And why is this happening now? Well, as usual, I have a few theories on about this as well.

Earlier last year, there was some backlash against all of the green claims. Critics argued that companies were doing it for the press. Accusations flew about “green washing,” which I’ve written about on this blog. Then the research stories followed. You remember them, the ones about consumers trust, and how they don’t believe all the claims companies were making. Quickly after that, we got the stories about how to market green responsibly, with meaning. And perhaps the message was sent and received.

But just in the last few days alone, we have several stories that speak to a bigger picture. Entire industries rather than just individual companies, becoming more environmentally responsible. Like the restaurant business. Or the stories about the importance of CSR reporting to the top companies.

“Companies believe that when they are more open with stakeholders and place social responsibility at the core of their business strategy they will be more competitive, attract and retain the best talent, and gain access to new business opportunities, a new report by IBM titled, Attaining Sustainable Growth Through Corporate Social Responsibility (PDF),” reports EnvironmentalLeader.

Am I overly optimistic? Quite possibly. Really only time will tell. But it seems to me that consumers are getting smarter. They’re asking for more of the companies they buy from. In a softening economy, is it possible, that instead of not wanting to pay extra for the environment, companies that hope to stick around will have no choice?

More Details on Greenwashing

While the Federal Trade Commission works to define legitimate green marketing claims, resources are becoming available to help consumers navigate this dicey issue. Recently, Joel Makower, guru of green and founder of GreenBiz.com, identified the six sins of greenwashing. But perhaps of even greater value to consumers is the Greenwashing Index, which bills itself as “the world’s first online interactive forum that allows consumers to evaluate real advertisements making environmental claims.” Hopefully this information can supplement my previous post on Best Practices for Communicating Your Sustainability Initiative.

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…

Best Practices for Communicating Your Sustainability Initiative

Nearly 200 of the Fortune 250 businesses produced a sustainability report in 2006, a vast increase from previous years. As small- to mid-sized business and nonprofits increasingly initiate sustainability initiatives, they too may benefit from issuing this type of report. But is such a report the best way to go? While a sustainability report is one way to keep your stakeholders aware of your progress, some have called it too complicated and cumbersome when a simpler approach may suffice.

First, what is a sustainability report? These reports are similar to, but far more comprehensive than the traditional annual report, which generally considered only economics; a sustainability report also includes social and environmental metrics. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) produces the world’s standard in sustainability reporting guidelines. (See the Ceres website for examples of sustainability reports.)

Since the goal of this communication piece is usually to keep your stakeholders aware of the progress of your business on environmental and social goals, a solid communications plan may work just as well and could provide the added benefit of more regular updates.

Regardless of which approach an organization decides to take, there are some simple best practices to follow to ensure that their message is understood by a variety of stakeholders and to avoid claims of “greenwashing,” defined as “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”

Under promise, over deliver. By making any green claims, you will be positioning your company for greater scrutiny by customers, the public, the media, and non-governmental organizations. So be particularly careful about the claims you are making. If possible, have in place some type of quality assurance system by which all facts and figures are double-checked.

Be transparent. If you don’t include certain key facts or figures about your organization in areas where you might be having a large impact, it will look like you have something to hide. We all want to report the good news, and the successes, but you’ll need to release the cold hard facts.

Keep it visual. Don’t get too bogged down in the how. While the content is critical, strive to present it simply, using visuals as often as possible. Since much of what you will share includes data and company metrics that you are tracking, use good old charts, graphs to show trends in performance against past years.

Go Electronic. Online reports are a no-brainer in any type of sustainability communications. Set up a dedicated website, or portion of your website, just on your sustainability initiatives. InterafceFLOR provides an excellent example. By providing a web presence, your customers and followers will know quickly where to go when they want an update. With adequate electronic notification, a good marketing plan, and easy online access, you will keep your communications green. See a previous blog for more on green marketing.

Don’t forget your internal audience. Often, especially in larger companies, employees may not even be aware of their organization’s efforts on sustainability. So remember that all of your communications should also be directed toward you employees. This effort will not only help to keep them informed, but it sends a clear message regarding the company’s focus and intentions. It can also help get the creative juices flowing when looking for opportunities to improve sustainability in other areas of the company.

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…

Communicating Environmental and Scientific Information

I thought I would share some of the knowledge I’ve gathered over my years spent communicating complex ideas into easy-to-understand language for a wider audience. Scientific and other technical data stands to lose a lot of value if it is not adequately translated into language that has meaning to audiences beyond specialists in that particular field. It’s the job of the writer to ensure that the value of that technical information is accessible to the largest audience possible.

There are two complimentary ways to approach this task. First, is to ensure that scientific and technical data and information is available in a variety of formats, each of which provides differing levels of technical details. Second is to write each piece in a way that presents the most critical information first, and then drills down into the details from there.

Producing Variety of Formats
Often scientists and/or researchers might label this effort as dumbing-down the information that they are presenting. I like to think that it’s more about reaching a wider audience, which could ultimately lead to greater exposure for the cause. Each technical report or piece of research should have several smaller documents, each descending in size and level of technical detail, and expanding in audience.

As an example, it might get broken down like this:
Technical Report – presents the full, gory details of the research, findings, and methodology. Audience limited to specialists in the particular area of that field.
Summary Report - presents enough technical details for a somewhat technical audience to understand. May be called a “White Paper.” Audience expands to include generalists in the field, specialists in other areas.
Fact Sheet – much shorter document with limited technical details. Audience may now include individuals outside of the particular field, science journalists, and others who have a basic understanding.
Industry Article – written for those in the know who may not be well-versed in the specific field. Some technical information, but not an overwhelming amount. Audience includes the widest definition of industry members.
General Article – written in layman’s language with the least amount of technical details that still allows for comprehension. Focus is on main points. Widest audience possible.

Of course this is just one example. There are infinite varieties of publications and formats that can be produced. The main point is that in addition to the original technical document, additional more general publications are produced.

Using the Traditional Approach
I still maintain that the traditional, journalistic, inverted-pyramid style of writing — in which you present the most important ideas first and then work to the least important in descending order — has high applicability in scientific and technical writing. By concisely presenting the most critical findings first, you prepare the reader to understand the more complex details that are presented later in the publication. And if the reader loses interest, and cannot get past the main point, you have at least reached them with the most important elements.

Here are some tips on getting this done:

Summarize the findings right up front. The reader should understand the most critical points within the first few paragraphs of any publication. In fact, the writer should include a single summary sentence of no more than 25 words.

Use good quality illustrations. Use charts, graphs and other illustrations to help reinforce the points being made. Be warned, however, that all graphics must be clearly labeled (axis, bars, lines, etc.) and include a simple, yet accurate title. A brief caption should clearly explain the meaning of the illustration. One test is: Can this illustration stand on its own? The answer should be “yes.”

Employ subheads to break up ideas. Subheads give the reader a break, and allow them to digest what they have just read. It also provides an opportunity for the author to logically structure the publication. The subhead should be accurate and active-voiced.

Summarize again. It’s always nice to send home those main points a second time near the end of a given publication. Doing this additional summary helps to drive the point home, and, hopefully, increase the odds of reader retention.

Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com

Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…