Green Events Calendar Coming Together for 2012

The 2012 event season will soon begin. Many of our industry's conferences and trade shows will either focus entirely on "green" or at least offer some educational sessions with a focus on sustainability. Be sure to visit our Events calendar on a frequent basis to stay up to date on 2012 meeting opportunities. So far the dates for any green lodging conferences have not been announced. Will the West Coast Green Lodging conference in South Lake Tahoe return in 2012? Attendance was down at 2011's event. What about the Green Lodging & Hospitality Conference in Orlando? Attendance was pretty strong at this year's conference. The GMIC Sustainable Meetings Conference will be held in Montreal this year from April 22 to 25. I am planning to attend this event. The selection of speakers is always very strong at this event.

This year's Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles next month will not have a single session focused on green building or operations. Disappointing. In March the Hotel Association of Canada's conference will feature David Suzuki as a speaker. He is founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, an organization whose mission is to protect the diversity of nature and our quality of life, now and for the future. Also in March is the High Performance Building Conference in San Diego. In early May the NRA Show in Chicago will feature a Conserve Solutions Center, a Specialty Pavilion that showcases sustainability-related products and services. Also in May, the annual HD Expo & Conference will bring back its Green Day with its focus on sustainable hospitality design.

Greenbuild in 2012 will be held in November in San Francisco. The event will immediately follow the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show in New York that always has at least a couple of green-focused seminars. If you are aware of an industry event that is either green-focused or has at least one green-related session, please be sure to e-mail me at editor@greenlodgingnews.com or call (440) 243-2055. Have a safe and productive 2012 travel year.