I recently attended the 2nd “annual” Green Schools National Conference (in Denver, CO). I say annual in quotation marks since the first one took place in 2010, albeit late in the year. Unfortunately I did not attend the inaugural conference (I was at AASHE’s national conference, which took place a few days before hand). During the second rendition, I spent much of my time in the exhibit hall, which I heard referred to as a trade show, to give you an idea of how many companies and products were represented. For a full accounting, the conference program guide is available online.
As an indication of the clout carried by the program and the organizers, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan provided one of the keynote addresses. In addition, inspirational speakers like Majora Carter (click here for her TED talk) and former Stoneyfield Yogurt CEO Gary Hirshberg also spoke.
Due to my commitments representing groups in the exhibit hall, I did not get an opportunity to attend the sessions. However, much of the feedback from attendees was positive. Word is that speakers were engaging and informative, though packed into a tight time frame. One drawback was the plethora of presentation options in a short period of time with no duplications of presentations. If there were two speakers or presentations at the same time, you had to choose one. 9 News, Denver’s NBC affiliate recorded part of one presentation for a story on the conference, but that seems to be the extent of the videotaping. Check back in a few days for this story.
As the event grows – next year’s conference will be in South Florida or Washington D.C., depending on costs – there may be more options to have presenters give popular talks at multiple times or provide resources to conference goers.
One of the most encouraging signs was the number of students who attended. On the opening day there was a student summit and throughout the conference several groups of school-aged children (from elementary to high school) presented projects and accomplishments at their schools.
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