Are you Fired Up?

The 2013 GMIC Sustainable Meetings Conference is literally right around the corner and I have to tell you......I am fired up!

I have said it before and I will say it again, the annual GMIC Sustainable Meetings Conference is where I look to to receive my shot of Vitamin Green and this year is no different.

The lineup of speakers is is basically a "who's who" in the sustainable event industry. They even included lil ol' me on that list and for that, I am truly humbled.

Excited much? Yup....you could say that. How many opportunities do we have to spend time with some of the Sustainable Meeting and Event Industry most knowledgeable and connected individuals. Folks like Jaime Nack and Tahira Endean - event professionals who come with a boatload of experience.

I hear we are also going to "Wake the Tiger" with Joe Oliver which isn't as scary as it sounds unless of course...someone brings a real tiger #notlikely

This is big!

This is massive!

Maybe I should sit down before I hurt myself.

My point is (when I am really excited, it takes me awhile to make it) I sense great things are going to happen at the 2013 GMIC Sustainable Meeting Conference - Look out Chicago! We are going to Create Sparks!

Judy

I really don't need a pony. Do you?

Bigstock photo www.bigstock.com

Last weekend while browsing one of my favourite shops in Edmonton, the Southside Goodwill Store, I found myself thinking a lot about my wants versus my needs.

I walked out of the store after purchasing 4 pairs of almost new jeans, a jacket, and 5 tops for the low, low price of $77.00 – it was a steal of a deal and I was thrilled with my purchase. I saved a ton of money……but did I really need any of it?

No….not really. I have plenty of clothing at home, so I definitely didn’t need any of it. I rationalized the purchases with, “you can’t beat that price!” and “I would be crazy to pass up deals like that!” and the most important, "my tush didn't look too horrible (which is difficult to accomplish) in those jeans".

Returning home, my feeling of melancholy continued to plague me………

Here I was, writing about sustainability and the “less versus more” mode of thinking and what do I do? I am out there spending more, buying more, filling my closets with more. 

I know, I know….purchasing from a second hand store is a great way to extend the life of an item, keeping it out of the waste stream; thrift/second-hand/Goodwill store's also provide a valuable service to the community. BUT! I still didn’t NEED any of it.

I began to consider what I really DID need and the list was extremely short.

I need:

• Family
• Food
• Fresh water
• A roof over my head
• Clean air to breathe

I do not need more jeans or jackets or tops.

Sustainability is about balancing and prioritizing our needs and wants. It is about making smart choices, taking circumstances into consideration. It is about remembering that every action has a consequence worth thinking about.

My light bulb moment? Something that I am going to try my best to remember in my personal and work life?

"Sometimes when we satisfy a 'want', we make it more difficult to fulfill a need"

Judy

It's baaaaack! Bl!nk is Back!

Last year at the 2012 GMIC Conference in Montreal, we introduced a brand, spankin' new presentation method called Bl!nk. 

For those of you who don't know what Bl!nk is or what occurred in Montreal, you can get caught up here and here and perhaps here.

We are soooooo excited to tell everyone that Bl!nk is back for the 2013 GMIC Conference in Chicago and we are looking for submissions from registered delegates.

Don't have time to put something together? Remember.....Bl!nk presentations are between 2 and 5 minutes in length and you can choose to use music, video, or powerpoint or just simply talk! Last year, Elizabeth Henderson, Chief Sustainability Strategist from Meeting Change (and co-developer of Bl!nk) wrote a poem! It was excellent and you can read it here.

This is an opportunity to share something about yourself, what you are passionate about. This is an opportunity for us to get to know you better.

This is your opportunity to stand out from the crowd! 

The Bl!nk presentations will be held on April 9th (Tuesday) between 1:30 and 2:15

 There are limited Bl!nk opportunities available this year!

Submission information can be found on the GMIC Conference Website - just scroll down to the Bl!nk logo on the agenda and click!

Got questions? You can email me at judy@managefootprint.com, tweet me @judylaine or simply comment on this post with your question.

Judy

Darned if you do? Inexcusable if you don't

A few days ago, I clicked through to a link tweeted by Marc Stoiber (I knew that if Marc was saying he loved something, then it was worth checking out). The link took me to a wonderful article written by Park Howell on the Sustainable Brands site. The article was about a new mobile app called "FlashFood" which was designed to help divert restaurant food waste to feed those going hungry.

Click to read the entire article "FlashFood Mobile App Diverts Restaurant Food Waste to Feed the Hungry" 


A brilliant idea. I loved it as well.

The article went on to explain that adoption of the program was slowed by the fact that business owners were concerned about potential liability if someone were to get sick from the donated food and that not every business owner is aware of the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act that provides protection to those donors participating in projects such as FlashFood. 

Liability......yes, that old chestnut.

I retweeted the article and then sent a message to those tagged in the post saying that it was:

 "A gr8t idea limited by misplaced fear of foodsafe liability. Aren't we liable if we DON'T do it? 

Yes.....aren't we liable if we DON'T do it? When we don't do something that will possibly save a life and most definitely improve a life

What about our moral and ethical obligations? 

What type of world do we live in that we would deliberately sidestep a starving human being? Because that is what we are doing when we allow ourselves to be limited by misplaced fear. 

I applaud those involved with this project and I look forward to hearing more about FlashFood. 

If you want to read more great stuff by Park Howell, you can find his blog here or at www.parkhowell.com

Judy

Feeling/looking like a jackass in 140 characters or less......

Sometimes 140 characters is not enough to get your point across. 

Sometimes 140 characters is 120 characters too much.

My point is........when you have a "conversation" on twitter, you are doing so by carefully parsing (right word?) your words to fit into a 140 character tweet adding #hashtags in order to give it impact, feeling and sometimes to help it to make sense.

Today, I had something unusual happen on twitter. Perhaps I am just being oversensitive. Perhaps I am suffering from the post Valentine Day sugar crash. But.....I kind of was made to feel, well......a little like a jackass and it didn't feel very good.

I am certain that the individual involved did so innocently and without knowledge of how she/he/it made me feel (this is what I choose to believe as I stick my fingers into my ears, and say la-la-la-la-la). I am also fairly certain that to the individual involved, I was simply 1 of 11,000 followers responding pleasantly to a tweet that (knowing what I know now), was crafted and cast out into the twittersphere like a fishing lure waiting and wishing for someone to respond.

I got a response moments later with the hashtag #sucker and you know what? It made me feel a little bad.

I know that it might seem silly.......to feel badly about a #hashtag. She could have chosen to use a different hashtag, one that was a little less mocking. #Sucker just made me feel silly.

Then a flashbulb went off and I realized that I had run into my first "twitter troll".  I don't think she meant to be a troll, but she became one as soon as she began the practice of baiting her followers into responding in a certain way....one that she could then retweet with the #sucker hashtag.

I realized that this was someone who could only feel larger, by making others feel smaller. 

So, I did the only thing I could do. I "unfollowed" her and then wrote this post.

You know what?

I feel better now.

Judy