Action=Sustainability is the theme of the 2009 Greening the Hospitality Industry Conference, February 24-26, 2009 at the LEED-certified David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.
The conference is hosted by the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC), and The Conference Publishers' Mitchell Beer served as co-chair of this year's program committee.
If you haven't already registered for this conference, you should consider it!
Program highlights include
- An opening keynote by L. Hunter Lovins, founder and president of Natural Capital Solutions
- A closing presentation by Anthony Watanabe, president of the Toronto-based Innovolve Group
- A back-of-house tour of the David L. Lawrence Center
- Breakouts on a wide variety of green meeting topics, from the positive community impact of sustainable conventions to the use of virtual technologies onsite
- A leaders' track for more experienced meeting professionals who are already leading the movement to make meetings and hospitality more sustainable.
To find out more, or to register, visit www.greenmeetings.info/conference.htm.
Reaching Beyond Event Borders
The 2008 Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Sustainable Communities Mission was a perfect match for The Conference Publishers' ability to extend the reach of an event.
Using a dynamic combination of online news flashes, detailed reports, and narrative articles, we captured the Mission's sense of discovery and purpose, bringing home the sights and sounds of a six-day tour of green innovations.
"The Conference Publishers helped us to bring our programming to a wider audience, beyond the delegates who actually attended," said Raymond Sullivan of FCM.
From August 17-22, 2008, the Mission showcased some of British Columbia's most exciting sustainability initiatives to a delegation of municipal decision-makers from across Canada. Delegates toured ground-breaking green buildings, heard from environmental policy specialists, and learned how to turn waste into energy. Along the way, they discovered that projects that seemed out of reach are actually achievable.
"I'm so excited about going back and sharing ideas," said Coun. Frances Caldarelli of Sudbury, Ontario.
While only so many people can fit on a tour bus, daily online bulletins provided colleagues back home with a summary of key events, and highlighted participants' thoughts. Once the Mission ended, a final report and detailed case studies gave delegates the tools to bring the innovations they'd seen back to their own communities.
Part of the magic of the 2008 Mission was in the excitement of bearing witness. "The tangible evidence of things that can be done is a tremendous learning experience," said Ald. Bob Hawkesworth of Calgary, Alberta.
"We now have a lasting record of what delegates learned," Sullivan said, "a resource we can use for many years to come."
From Vancouver to Boston to Istanbul, we look for associates who can help us serve our clients best. We hire professional freelancers with the skills and patience to deliver quality reports on tight deadlines.
Our reliance on contractors might seem risky. And yet, project after project, we assemble teams of capable writers, editors, translators, revisers, photographers, graphic designers and podcasters, in communities around the world.
Here are just a few of the hundreds of associates who help us pull it all together:
Emily has written for us for six years as she has migrated across Canada. She's covered events while living in Sydney, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto, and most recently Vancouver. This past summer she field managed a week-long bus tour of sustainability projects (please see above), producing overnight e-bulletins from the road, and writing longer reports after she'd returned home.
When we were hunting for medical writers in Boston, Massachusetts for a last-minute gig, Eric answered our call. A seasoned medical/scientific writer, he covered a complex topic, delivering clear, cogent text right on deadline.
Yildirim was our photographer at the Hemophilia 2008 World Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, where we produced four editions of a daily newspaper. Having an experienced photographer onsite helped us immensely, and Charlene and Debbie, our Canadian project team, found Yildirim's local perspective invaluable.
Whenever possible, we like to hire locally and leave a share of our fee in the communities where we work. When we forego a seat on an airplane, we cut out the biggest single chunk of our carbon footprint, while keeping our travel and lodging costs to a minimum—a saving we gladly pass on to our clients.
Much as we love making new contacts, we can't forget the many senior associates we've known for years, who have journeyed with us as we've grown and changed. People like Sheila and Erinne, Claude and Cindy, Julie and Rafael and Myrna, many of whom have moved through other jobs over the years before returning to our freelance team. Their experienced, professional approach and continuing enthusiasm build our success. You'll meet some of them in future editions of this newsletter . . . or when we see you onsite.
Meanwhile, here's a round of applause for all our associates, new and old, near and far. We couldn't do it without you!
What conference did Senior Account Manager Andrew Horsfield attend in early October 2008? (Hint: The answer can be found in our blog.)
Maydeleh, our in-house Shetland Sheepdog, will make a random selection among the correct answers received by 4:00 PM, Friday, January 30, and we'll send a copy of our favourite board game, Travel Scrabble, to the winner.
