Given the short week, Vantage Points is taking the week off as far as new posts are concerned. Stealing a page (and a title) from our friends in the TV and radio businesses, we are digging into the archives for some of our favorite undiscovered  posts:

Rebuilding the way we look at Green Building: Most people assume green building is expensive. An interesting post about a recent study published by Good Energies, a global energy efficiency and renewable energy investment company, shows some surprising conclusions about green building costs…

Millionaire Cat – Marketing Promotion Hits the Litter Box: Channel surfing last night, I came across Meow Mix Think Like a Cat Game Showwhich purported to be the first game show in which “catestants” (I did not make that one up) and their owners compete as a team for $1 million….

A Global PR Perspective: Differences in China and the United States: High tech companies are eager to enter the Chinese market for its endless opportunities, and successful PR will help them to engage the local markets….

It begins with energy…: Green building in particular is thriving in America right now.  Michael Kanellos of Greentech Media said it best yesterday, “For green building companies, the good times have just begun.”…. 

We hope you enjoy these posts and will be back with fresh ones next week. Have a great holiday weekend and stay cool!

Just back from the first North American Intersolar conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and those solar cells must have been working overtime, because you could feel the energy in the room. The booths were bustling with activity, so in case there was any doubt…solar is hot and heating up.

We learned about some exciting companies on both sides of “the pond” each doing their own part to spread the use of solar power including PV Powered, Sopogy, Spire, Vela Solaris and KBB Solar.

I would have to give the coolest booth award to Adept which had one of its spider-like robots mesmerizing show-goers with a demonstration of its speed and precision for solar inspection and handling.

However, not every company is as fortunate as Adept to have robots drawing traffic to the booth. So to keep those robots from taking over completely, companies should be sure to create clear messaging around their key benefits and display it prominently throughout their booth. A pretty sign with a logo is very nice indeed, but it doesn’t say much about what you do and why somebody should stop to take a closer look. Remember you don’t need to say it all on your signage…keep it short and make it sharp.