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 by kevin, on April 25th, 2010 
Last week I posted a blog where I pondered whether virtual conferences would ever replace live face-to-face ones. It was my way of introducing a preview for the BrightTALK Green Building Summit held on Earth Day. We’ll be posting reviews of individual educational sessions over the next three days. This week, I’ll be flying to Bentonville, AR to attend the second annual NWA Green Expo. I’ve been invited to attend, review, and write about the event. Where last week seemed to be about virtual participation, this week I’ll be engaged physically.
One thing that sets this trip apart from others I’ve taken is the fact that I will not be traveling with a laptop. Instead, the only devices I’ll have with me are an iPhone, a new iPad, and a camera. It will be the lightest business trip I’ve ever taken. I will readily admit that I’m a gadget hound. On April 3rd, the first day the iPad went on sale, friends called and emailed, anxious to hear my first impressions. They were assuming, of course, that I would be an early adopter. Although I was far from being the first person in line, they were, as it turns out, quite correct. I did have an iPad by the end of the first day.
The majority of my work is somewhere else, so I accumulate frequent flyer miles quickly. I deliver thirty presentations throughout the country in a busy year, and ten in a slow year. I haven’t had a slow year in a long time. Even though a laptop is technically portable, lugging it through airports, dealing with it during security scanning, and carting it around with other luggage gets old fast when you’re doing it every other week. The potential to travel with a devise significantly lighter, even if slightly less capable, is worth trying. So my event reporting will be an experiment to see if it’s even possible to conduct business without a laptop.
I’ll be arriving in Bentonville, home of Walmart – one of three primary event sponsors, Thursday afternoon. Conference and expo start early the next morning. Part of my coverage includes limited access to the featured speakers. I’m hoping to conduct short interviews with each of them over the two and one half days I’ll be in town. Since my time will be short, I have to make certain I maximize my time with each. I’ll be preparing over the next three days so that I don’t ask dumb questions or ones that don’t lead to useful insights. I’m envious of people who make interviewing look easy, because I know it is not. When the interviewer is uncomfortable, nervous, or self conscious the interviewee can easily tell, and it totally changes the conversation energy.
Read more event preview: NWA Green Expo 
by kevin, on April 18th, 2010 
While others debate whether we’re living through the final days of print media, I wonder if some day virtual conferences will replace physical ones. Are the webinars of today comparable? Do they offer an equally compelling exposition or learning experience? Actually I’m not entirely certain that’s a fair question. Although similar, the two venue types are so utterly different it’s difficult to make comparisons.
A year ago I might have thought it unlikely that a webinar could equal a face-to-face conference. But two things have changed my opinion. First, over the past twelve months I’ve endured terribly disappointing lectures at some of the biggest events. There are few things more frustrating than traveling long distances and paying good money for event registration, flight, rental car, hotel, and meals only to be tortured by painful presentation skills and horrendous graphics. It’s even worse when delivered by someone you respect and were looking forward to. Second, I’ve attended several well produced and informative on-line sessions. There’s still some disparity between virtual and face-to-face events, but technology and web speed are helping to narrow the gap. I can say with absolute certainty that my office chair is far more comfortable than any stackable convention chair. My couch is even better.
Even though a traditional conference is experienced live, I usually feel a strange detachment from the speakers. If the event is large enough, I might be seated several hundred feet from the podium. If the speaker is sufficiently interesting, attendees will swarm the stage, making it impossible to actually meet the person. Even with a computer between speaker and attendee webinars can be more intimate with a conversational tone.
A good example is the webinar hosting service BrightTALK. To celebrate Earth Day last year they organized their own virtual educational program called the Green Building Summit. I was invited to present a session about the environmental impact of buildings. It seems odd to use these words, but I actually met a number of interesting people. BrightTALK held a mini summit focused on sustainable building design earlier this year, where I also presented. It too was a well attended and an informative day of educational sessions (we posted about it here, here, and here).
Read more BrightTALK Green Building Summit 3
by kevin, on April 13th, 2010
Is there a word to describe that phenomenon where something is invisible to you until someone points it out, then you become hyper aware of it? You know what I mean. Your best friend buys a car you’ve never heard of or seen before, and suddenly you see that car everywhere. That’s how I’m starting to feel about water issues. I can’t tell whether I’m now more aware, or if I’m seeing increased discussion of the topic because it represents a potentially dire crisis needing attention. As an example, when entering a bookstore over the weekend I was met with a whole magazine rack filled with the latest National Geographic; a special issue about water. I see water everywhere now.
Less than a year ago I hadn’t yet delivered a presentation exclusively about water. Water was part of a larger slide show I’ve been giving around the country, but I didn’t have enough material for a dedicated lecture. Then I met Joseph Treves and Sherri Akers who were organizing the Mar Vista Wise Water Use Expo (I posted about it here). Mar Vista is a very progressive bedroom community in Los Angeles aggressively pursuing knowledge and looking at how to transform their neighborhoods into more sustainable communities. They asked me to develop a short, but powerful, show just about water. The three of us crafted a compelling message concerning excessive water usage in southern California, how changing climate conditions are impacting supply potential, and the very serious need for conservation. When delivered it was one of the briefest shows I’ve ever done; a mere twelve minutes. But based on reaction it was one with significant and lasting effect. From it, I’ve met more fascinating people than all of my previous shows combined.
Janie Thompson was in attendance that evening. She’s told me several times how my show convinced her to rip up her lawn and stop eating meat. Although that kind of reaction was not my intention, it’s nice to hear. Too often I think audiences forget what’s been said the minute they leave the venue. But Janie was so moved by the entire event that she decided someone had to start generating awareness in her own community of Encino. That person turned out to be her.
Read more 2010 Valley Water Expo
by kevin, on April 12th, 2010  Image courtesy of Ecor web site Some of the most interesting developments today in sustainable building materials might be occurring at offices and laboratories within federal agencies. One example is the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, WI. This century old government lab, operated by the U.S. Forest Service through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has conducted remarkable scientific research on wood products and their potential commercial application. During the late 1980s a research general engineer named John Hunt began experimenting with dimensional fiber products. His primary focus was wet formed molded hardboard panels made from bio-based low yield wood, recycled paper, and agro fibers. His ground-breaking work led to a number of commercial products with names like Spaceboard and Gridcore.
In 1992, Robert Noble created Gridcore Systems International (GSI), licensed the patented Gridcore technology from the FPL, and developed a business plan to commercialize the proprietary process of molding cellulose fibers into three dimensional structures to create high performance panels from recycled resources. Although an interesting and unusual material, Gridcore was not the first, or only, product of its kind. It’s lineage can conceptually be tied to similar products made from pressed straw, wheat, paper, and byproducts of agriculture.
Seven years after its founding the company shuttered their Long Beach, CA manufacturing facility and halted production. “We made a strategic mistake in trying to position the product as a commodity product to compete with others such as plywood and MDF,” says founder Robert Noble during a recent interview, “and attempted to compete with those on price.” Engineered wood panels live in a category where price alone typically drives purchasing decisions. GSI found it difficult to communicate the environmentally favorable attributes of their product in such a selling climate.
Read more product preview: Ecor®
by aleida, on March 11th, 2010
At the Los Angeles edition of Go Green Expo in late January, we learned of a Japanese wall covering just recently launched in the United States. Not long thereafter, Kevin and I were welcomed into the Orange, CA offices of Shikoku International Corp., the company that designed and still produces the product, [...]
by aleida, on February 24th, 2010
Image by Reinhard Jahn, Mannheim
The 2010 MiaGreen Expo & Conference kicks off this Thursday, February 25 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Kevin and I unfortunately have to miss the first day, but we’ll be there for Friday’s programming, as he himself will present a session titled Water Wars: Rising Demand [...]
by aleida, on January 21st, 2010 Last year we were introduced to BrightTALK http://www.brighttalk.com/, a service that offers live, interactive webinars on a variety of topics, and it’s all free. Aside from multiple channels, they also organize virtual Summits that focus on a specific industry or market. Next week, on Thursday, January 28, 2010, from 7:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., BrightTALK will [...]
by aleida, on January 8th, 2010 Image courtesy of American Clay.
American Clay Enterprises http://www.americanclay.com/, an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based company that offers earth plasters for interior walls and ceilings, kicks off 2010 with a major addition to their line: the company is introducing their own Lime Putty. This lime putty can be used for gauging (or adding to) American Clay’s Earth Plasters and [...]
by aleida, on November 30th, 2009 Image courtesy of Trikeenan – Boneyard Brick line
Trikeenan Tileworks, Inc., a New Hampshire-based creator of handmade artisan tile, has just announced the introduction of three new collections: Arctic Glass, Boneyard Brick, and Reclamation.
Image courtesy of Trikeenan – Arctic Glass line
Arctic Glass is an addition to their [...]
by aleida, on November 10th, 2009 Kevin and I are heading to Greenbuild tomorrow, and I’m mentally preparing for the barrage of information that is sure to inundate me as soon as I arrive at the Phoenix Convention Center. And I’m also preparing for something critical: our meetings with product manufacturers. Some of them we already know personally, others we’ll [...]
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