PORTLAND, ORE.—A conference content portal designed as a one-stop knowledge source on green meetings practice, policy and technology was launched this week by the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC), in partnership with The Conference Publishers Inc. Organizers expect the site to bring together key content from at least a dozen conferences in its first six months of operation. Coverage will continue for at least a year. The portal went live thanks to a generous Platinum sponsorship from the Vancouver Convention Centre.
“With the whole rationale for meetings under serious attack, the Green Meetings Portal reinforces the incredible value participants receive when they gather for face-to-face learning and discussion, and positions sustainability as an integral part of the power of meetings,” said GMIC president Amy Spatrisano, CMP. “At the same time, the site will demonstrate a method of using online resources and communities to extend the life and multiply the impact of live events.”
The first content on the site was drawn from GMIC’s annual meeting, the 2009 Greening the Hospitality Industry Conference, held February 24 to 26, 2009 in Pittsburgh. The site establishes a dozen theme areas—from green facilities, food and beverage, and transportation, to corporate social responsibility, to climate change and carbon—that will be filled out with continuing coverage of future events.
“There may be dozens or hundreds of conferences around the world that touch on the process of greening meetings, or reducing the environmental footprint of the buildings and services that make meetings possible,” said The Conference Publishers president and CEO Mitchell Beer, CMM. “The Green Meetings Portal will give the meetings industry a single window on the green strategies that will help it survive and thrive.”
The Green Meetings Portal is the first in a series of conference content websites that The Conference Publishers is developing to combine the cornerstone content of a well-organized conference with the power of online communities. It is one of two major initiatives that GMIC is introducing this month. On April 22, Earth Day, the Council unveiled the Million Tons of Trash Challenge, a call for the global meetings, events, and hospitality industries to divert, recycle, or compost a million tons of garbage by the end of 2009.
Click here for more information on the Green Meetings Portal.
