West Coast Green Conference - Leading the Eco-Conference

Why it Matters:

With too many conferences claiming to be green, WCG sets the bar high, yet still has room to improve.

Recap:

The Creative Citizen team has had the pleasure of attending the West Coast Green (WCG) conference for the second year now. The first year we were reporting on behalf of MaxGladwell.com and now that Creative Citizen launched EcoMatters, WCG was kind enough to offer invitations for us to attend once again.

The West Coast Green Conference is an amazing gathering of influencers, thinkers, and the general public revolving around green technologies. At WCG you can be sure to find the top companies in clean technology, building materials, as well as green internet and media companies.

Commentary:

We have been to many “green” conferences in the past three years, yet WCG always tends to stand out from the rest. The reason: they put their heart into planning the event and making sure the thought leaders are all in attendance. The combination of this year’s venue (Fort Mason) with the energy of the audience, there is a bona fide feeling that the green movement is becoming mainstream. However, there is little something still missing.

Let’s first talk about the progress from last year. It’s evident that WCG has more fully embraced social media. Last year, the EcoMatters team was one of the few using the hashtag #WCG08 on Twitter, probably because we invented it. We were also 2 of like 5 people tweeting while keynotes were presenting and of course we didn’t hesitate to provide some constructive criticism when they got something wrong. In general, attendees were all a little confused about social media themselves…and we were happy to help them out. Now this year, WCG not only has a hashtag, #WCG09, but also an iPhone app that tracks the hashtag…good job WCG team.

There also seems to be more people that were outsiders to the green industry making their way into the conference. The “hippie” persona that often times plagues California green conferences seems to have transformed to a more mainstream persona. Of course, WCG still has some “out there” things like a “chill room” but in general it’s got a more widely appealing “vibe.”

Now, what needs to improve: The most obvious improvement is food options. When you walk into the exhibition hall, the crisp smell of grilling beef engulfs the entire space. Why is this important? The biggest contributor of carbon emissions is food consumption, particularly that of beef production.

I myself am a vegetarian, and stood in line for a veggie wrap. As I was standing in line, the employee cried out, ‘anyone want a veggie wrap?’ I was the only one out of a long line of people opting for a vegetarian meal. I know that the conference is just catering to people’s wants, so it’s more of a societal shift that needs to take place within we the “green” peoples’ diets.

This is evident in the choices made by the conference attendees. More people are carrying their own water containers, and there are refilling stations. However, most still prefer to buy bottled water or Coca Cola…(I heard numerous complaints that attendees could not find Diet Coke easily…addiction anyone?).

While WCG is not alone in terms of having plentiful meat at a green conference, where they stand out is their overall quality of speakers as well as their affordable price. The event is a one-stop-shop for thought leaders, state of the art products and services and a crowd of enthusiastic change agents.