Nation's Largest Residential Green Building Event Makes History!
With the proliferation of green and lifestyle-related conferences, trade shows and expos attended on a more regular basis nationally, few stand out. Either for their presentations, settings, venue, decorations or production logistics, many conclude without having made a difference or delivering a major market transformational message. Last year's West Coast Green, held in San Francisco on Sept. 29, 2006, was a rare exception. This was a conference many other shows will soon model; a real trendsetter.
The West Coast Green Conference & Expo announced attendance exceeding industry records, an amazing feat for a first-year enterprise, while 96% of all garbage produced at the event was successfully diverted to compost and recycling. But the waste management aspect wasn't the only leading-edge attribute of the producers.
From the herbal soap and moisturizers in both the women's and men's rooms, to the nagging environmental questions and famous-name quotes scattered around to the napping room for speakers to the action hub, this was a conference that is sure to be modeled throughout the trade show industry. Robert Kennedy's speech mesmerized the audience in the plenary room, as well as stopped traffic on the expo floor. The big-screen transmission to the expo floor was a flying success, allowing both vendors and attendees a chance to hear and see the speeches.
The conference, held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, drew 126 presenters, 256 exhibitors and over 8,900 registrations. With the average event producing 100- 200 cubic yards of landfill waste in a matter of days, West Coast Green's mere 6 cubic yards of garbage for over 8,900 registrants has event-goers across the country asking how they did it. Of course, this waste management effort was facilitated by the progressive cooperation of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, which participated in the production of the show.
To compensate for electricity use, 20 metric tons of carbon dioxide were offset through restoring temperate rainforests on Canada's West Coast. To compensate for the environmental impact of the show's 3,000 pounds of printed marketing material, West Coast Green further contracted with www.zerofootprint.net, a program that planted 15 trees and restored 16,000 gallons of water via a watershed restoration project in Canada's Rouge River. All food sold at this inaugural event was certified organic and served with biodegradable plates, knives, forks, cups and spoons. Garbage stations were staffed by hundreds of volunteers who helped sort waste into the appropriate receptacles: compost, recyclables and landfill trash.
A conference like no other: In addition to its success as a carbon-neutral event, West Coast Green drew a record-breaking public response with over 8,900 registrations, making it the largest residential green building event in history. Focused on the emerging residential efforts by the USGBC and forward-thinking builders and contractors, this show focused where past commercial green shows left off. Records show attendees from every U.S. state as well as Canada, New Zealand, China, Poland, Russia, Spain, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
To complement the event's "green" approach, the show's producers programmed its 126 presentations around what they termed a "living-system" design. This provided attendees with a large, comfortable "nap room" to unwind in, a "conversation cafe" for discussing new ideas and an "action hub" for groups to form and collaborate on the ideas they generated during the show. "Track hosts" took notes at every presentation and posted their summaries in the conversation cafe for participants to review. An army of pumped-up conference "volunteers" helped direct traffic, fill empty seats in presentation rooms and make sure the proper waste was deposited in the proper receptacle. All carbon offsets were independently verified and conformed to the ISO 14064 standards.
"It's a very effective approach," said Racquel Palmese, managing editor of Green Technology Magazine, when discussing the living system design. "I especially would like to see the conversation cafe used in more of these events."
"The idea is to tie everything together," said Christi Graham, executive producer for the event. "Our goal was to equally serve intellectual, inspirational and entrepreneurial pursuits of our attendees. This meant that equally important were the tasks of generating business for exhibitors, awareness for the public and momentum in the green building market. We designed the experience of attending to stimulate our attendees to make solid connections and take immediate action. Tapping into the brilliant potential of each person attending was what ultimately created such a powerful and wildly successful event."
August 2007 Builder Architect Edition Issue
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