EXHIBITION ENVIRONMENTAL iNITIATIVE
Medical conferences carry a substantial environmental footprint, driven by thousands of carbon-intensive flights, hotel stays, single-use merchandise, and significant food and plastic waste.
Working with the support of the NZDSI Executive, we are moving towards a more sustainable annual conference. Our initiative compliments the efforts of our colleagues in other parts of the world - both the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) and the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) have established environmental sustainability policies to guide the delivery of their scientific meetings.
In 2025, we are introducing a new initiative focused on encouraging sustainable practices among our industry partners.
At the 2025 NZDSI Conference, we will be awarding the inaugural Most Sustainable Stand Award to recognise and reward the company that demonstrates commitment to this new strategy.
Delegates will vote for their preferred stand via the app during the conference and we are honoured that invited speaker and champion for dermatological sustainable practices, Dr Eugene Tan will be our judge and award the winning vote.
The winners will receive the following acknowledgements:
- At afternoon tea on Friday 22 August in the exhibition area.
- At the closing address of the conference.
- On the industry and sustainability pages for the NZDSI Conference 2026.
- In the Latest News section of the society website https://www.nzdsi.org/
- In the Thank you for Attending email that goes to all the delegates.
- In EDM’s promoting the 2026 Conference.
Some of the key points are as follows:
Companies will need to pre submit their environmental initiatives prior to conference via the exhibition portal.
- Use local suppliers for stand design
- Use of single original size samples
- No paper packaging/bags/factsheets with samples on-site
- Use of QR codes to enable delegates to request the sending of factsheets electronically, and or sample products to be sent to the delegates practice for use
- Use or recyclable, reusable products within your stand design