We have finished up our participation in GreenBeat 2009 conference on the Smart Grid.  Vantage Communications was a strategic partner for the event, which provided me with a unique view of a major green conference that I would like to share.

1. “VentureBeat is doing its first green conference. Would Vantage be interested in participating?” Andie Rhyins, Publisher of VentureBeat

Actually, I answered yes, before Andie finished the question.  I knew if VentureBeat was putting together a show, this was a rare opportunity to be part of an important event from the beginning.  As the first GreenBeat event, we had a clean sheet of paper and the opportunity to provide a defining voice for marketing and PR that would help attract attendees, sponsors and speakers. It also was a bit scary knowing that our white board scribble and initial PowerPoints needed to be made into a conference with topics, speakers, attendees and press in very short order.

2. “Fw: Al Gore has agreed to come to GreenBeat” Matt Marshall

This was the header of a late Friday e-mail at the end of August. In less than 10 words, the bar had been raised for everybody. It also meant that we had to rethink our media outreach for the show. You may be asking why a conference run by a highly influential blog needs to do outreach to other media?  Part of the attraction of a conference for high-level speakers is the ability to reach a large number of highly influential people. Approximately 500 people attended GreenBeat in person. However, the number of people that read about the show can be in the hundreds of thousands. While VentureBeat does provide in depth coverage of the show to its readership, it is important to maximize awareness by being seen and heard on multiple channels. Media coverage for GreenBeat inlcuded the New York Times, CNET and Earth2Tech which has an aggregate audience in the millions. Immediately following the show, Techmeme  had VentureBeat ranked #5 of the sources most frequently posted to Techmeme.  This  was a higher ranking than even the New York Times.

3. “My name is Jim Rogers and I’m one of the speakers” Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy

What as particularly impressive about GreenBeat is that despite the large number of high profile speakers and attendees, there was virtually no attitude or hubris. The CEO of Duke Energy attended without entourage, and the above quote is how he introduced himself. He made himself available to anyone who wanted to talk with him. Vinod Khosla was in the lobby for much of the morning available to talk to anyone. In his talk, John Doerr gave his e-mail and invited start ups to send him business plans. I attend many conferences and I never have seen a friendlier conference than GreenBeat. This is a real testament to Matt and the GreenBeat team. I look forward to seeing you at GreenBeat 2010.

In the not so distant past, greenwashing was a real problem. Companies left and right were making green claims; some were valid, some not-so-much. But from what I saw at last week’s Greenbuild, the greenwash ship has sailed. Companies get it now. And that’s a good thing, both for the industry and for consumers. Joel Makower actually showed up at the show “Searching for Greenwash at Greenbuild” this year. But he was more than happy to report he was wrong.

 I knew we were off to a good start at the show when I didn’t see any green (the color) booths this year. Companies are realizing that plastering your trade show booth with images of Mother Earth does not make you green.  This could be a result of the industry maturing or an improving economy. Rob Watson of Greener World Media was in attendance. This is his FIFTEENTH Greenbuild, so you can imagine the changes he has seen over the years. Based on his comparison to last year’s show, it seems the green building industry is alive and kickin’ this year, based on this comment, “While the atmosphere in Boston last year was one of fear and uncertainty, I would characterize the feeling in Phoenix as one of focus and ferment.”

There were also many exciting things to see in the building industry. Kate Nolan of Green Right Now reported on “Trend watching at the Greenbuild Expo in Phoenix.” She mentions GreenKonnect (which I am sad to say I missed!), noting “The newest entry in online aid is GreenKonnect, a search engine built for the green building industry. The Beta version bowed at Greenbuild Expo.” A quick search on the Beta site leaves me looking forward to the official launch.

All in all, Greenbuild was a jam-packed three days full of all things (green) building, complete with a few messages from Al Gore. As you can image, he too had an anti-greenwash message. And now, I’ll leave you with some food for thought from Mr. Gore. “We as Americans have the capacity to do what we put our minds to. We have the ability to solve this crisis. We can do it.”