Conference Environmental Responsibility

In-person events have their own unique value, but necessarily come with environmental impacts. Here's how SBM is working to reduce the environmental impact of our in-person conferences, and how attendees can join us in this important effort.

What SBM Is Doing

• Avoiding beef and lamb in all conference food items, and providing plant-based foods as often as possible.
• Working with our hotel partners to have reusable dishes and other items at banquet functions, and to limit use of table linens.
• Working with our hotel partners to have unused food composted or donated.
• Evaluating future conference hotel sites based in part on the property's sustainability efforts. (Click here for details on how the 2023 Annual Meeting host hotel, the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, is reducing its environmental impact.)
• Utilizing a paperless mobile app for the conference program, and requiring attendees to opt-in for a printed program.
• Offering digital conference registration confirmations, with no print option.
• Using recycled registration bags and donating any leftover bags.
• Limiting travel and paper use for the Annual Meeting Planning Committee's "program planning meeting" where abstract decisions are made and the final program is built.
• Featuring prominent speakers on the topic of climate change and health.
• Offering incentives to attendees for participating in their own eco-friendly activities while at the conference (see more details below).

How You Can Help

SBM encourages 2023 Annual Meeting attendees to take part in eco-friendly activities. Participate in at least one activity from the list below and log your participation in our online form (link TBD) by Friday, April 28 at 6 p.m. for a chance to win. Three winners will be randomly selected and can each choose either a waived 2024 Annual Meeting registration or a $50 Visa gift card.

• Decline a printed program and use our mobile app instead
• Bring a re-usable coffee mug/water bottle and use it throughout the meeting
• Avoid single-use plastics while in Phoenix 
• Limit water use in your guestroom, for example by turning off the water while brushing your teeth
• Turn off lights when not in your guestroom
• Turn off heat/AC when not in your guestroom
• Book a low-carbon flight or alternative non-flight travel
• Walk to lunch, dinner, or other activities outside the Annual Meeting hotel
• Order locally-sourced food and/or drinks while in Phoenix
• Let others know you are doing your part to help the environment by tweeting and posting using the hashtag #SBM2023

For information on how SBM is working to address climate change beyond conferences, click here.