Sustainable Brands 09 – The Place to Be

It really is the place to be. Why? Because I’m going, and you can meet me there! (ending silly vain attempt).

I am writing for their SB09 Blog though and will be doing event coverage throughout the next 3 weeks. Follow me on Twitter @mvellandi if you’d like to stay abreast of some of the topics discussed before & after the event (interviews links, photos, whole 900 yards).

It’s the best mix of large and small business, nonprofit, politics, and NGOs in one place. I went last year and had an amazing time to say the very least.

The organizer and President, KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, is a black-belt master event planner (click here for bio) who knows that putting on a conference is not just a bunch of smart speakers presenting in a lecture hall style format with some Q&A here and there. It’s about community. It’s about provocative (but naturally respectful) dialogue between folks of various professional disciplines - because this dialogue is so important. The world (and organizations) don’t have to operate in silos. If you’ve ever read up on Eastern Philosophy, you’ll know the value of Awareness and Interdependence. When people listen to, converse with, and understand others from different backgrounds, especially at a conference, we are purposely shutting out our stereotypes and in effect disabling the ever-malicious Groupthink potential.

I can go on, but I do have to hit the gym now before I fly out to Miami tonight for a WOM marketing conference. So in my albeit lazy (but loving) manner, I’ll leave you with little bits of their press release copy so you can get a better idea.

Oh, and if you’re interested in ANY form of Sustainable Business, Design, Marketing, Culture, or Operations, go on and join their LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=92408. They also have a discussion board & a members tab: http://bit.ly/O61YK, where you can browse community members too, using keywords (or do an advanced search if you like). With over 1,100 members, maybe you’ll come across someone with similar interests (who knows?)

Okay, I’ve talked enough now. Here’s the official scoop…

This world-class conference features three full days of plenary & breakout sessions, as well as a full day of hands-on workshops, to both inspire & equip attendees to succeed by responding to growing stakeholder demand for more environmentally and socially innovative product and service solutions.

Widely reputed to be the most compelling sustainability conference of the year, Sustainable Brands ‘09 will convene business strategists, along with sustainability, design and brand leaders from a cross section of organizations such as The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dell, Clorox, FedEx, Interbrand, Johnson & Johnson, Kohler, Mohawk, Nestle/Purina, SC Johnson, Waste Management, and an unprecedented list of others.

In addition to a newly expanded Solutions Showcase Expo and Sponsored Sessions series, an extended “Un-conference” where participants create the conversations, and a plethora of evening networking activities over the four days of the event, a dozen hands-on workshops are planned along side this year’s conference providing interactive exploration of topics in business strategy, product/service design, marketing communications, psychology & cultural influence, and operations.

Also, Eight startups will be selected to participate in the Venture Exchange, and will receive an opportunity to pitch at an evening event to a group of green/social investors, executives in leading companies, top brand consultants and peers.

Details on the conference are currently unfolding at: http://www.sustainablebrands09.com

If you are attending the event, you might want to check out the Event page on LinkedIn to see other people who are coming as well. Not too many have come to the page yet, but it’ll be a good reference in a couple weeks to see who’s coming.

Also shoot me an email or call me up! Just please, after Thursday

~Ciao

Tagged as: conference, sb09