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 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 March 13th, 2010
Two weeks ago Aleida and I took a dreadful red-eye flight from LA to Miami. I hate red-eye flights. We flew with Virgin America this time, which was a new experience for us. Having an internet connection while en-route helped me wrap up the final details of a show I was scheduled [...]
by aleida, on March 9th, 2010 Image courtesy of Bentley web site
For the third session of the day, I planned to attend The Recycling Business: Entrepreneurial Inspiring Models, but, sadly, the co-founders of Ecoist, who were slated as two of the three speakers, were not present, nor was anyone taking their place. So, I instead moved over to Truly [...]
by aleida, on March 7th, 2010
At 11 a.m., we jumped right into the session tracks. I attended Track 3: Experiences and Opportunities From Around the World, where the topic was Carbon Monetization and Worldwide Initiatives. Daniel Smyth, the Director of Carbon Finance at MGM Innova, LLC., was the presenter.
A brief overview of the existing global [...]
by aleida, on March 6th, 2010
Friday’s opening session, titled Successful Entrepreneurial Approaches to the Current Green Economy was a pretty fun way to start the morning. It was a panel discussion moderated by Lilian T. Chiu, CEO of Morgan Environments and current President of the Society for Marketing Professional Services South Florida; the three panelists were Greg [...]
by aleida, on March 4th, 2010
When looking at a map, I find it actually shocking to see just how geographically close Florida is to a huge part of Latin America. What to many in Mexico, Central and South America seems like a world away is really just a few hours’ flight over some water. From Los Angeles, [...]
by kevin, on March 3rd, 2010
US Biobased Product Companies
On October 8 2009 President Obama issued Executive Order 13514 – Federal leadership In Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance. The order sets new policy for the United States which requires all Federal agencies to “increase energy efficiency; measure, report, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from direct and [...]
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 February 4th, 2010 Image from BrightTALK web site
This post will review BrightTALK Green Building Summit sessions six and seven. Yes, I’m skipping session 5, primarily because Kevin presented it. If you would like to see it, please go here. We’d love to hear your feedback.
The sixth webcast in the series was presented by Ralph [...]
by aleida, on February 3rd, 2010 Image from BrightTALK web site
The third session on the BrightTALK Green Building Summit line-up was Do Green Buildings Make Dollars and Sense? presented by Dave Pogue, National Director of Sustainability for CB Richard Ellis, Inc. Pogue presented the results of a nationwide study conducted over the last year which included 154 buildings, all [...]
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