Dispatch from SSC President Jennifer Woofter
There are literally dozens of sustainability and "green" events each year--ranging from the consumer-oriented Green Festival (with 30,000+ attendees) to the SME peer-to-peer networking Green Unconferences (with perhaps a hundred people).
I am often asked which conferences are the best, and since my friend and colleague Ian Fisk just returned from a round of conferences, I thought I'd let his own words give you some insight:
Opportunity Green was a new conference for me, was a lot of fun, and had some excellent marketing/branding insights. The Green America's Business Conference was a great peer-to-peer networking (for folks who manage small to medium sized sustainable businesses). The Net Impact conference was one of the best I've been to (and I've been to 11). That's always the best place to see the next generation of sustainable leaders. Investor's Circle was probably the most thought-provoking of the events, and the ICIC's ICCC conference had the highest signal-to-noise ratio in terms of useful and excellent speakers. Although the National Academy of Sciences did an excellent event on Climate Change. Bill Drayton had some really interesting ideas on how we tax carbon both living and dead.
Ian does the conference round every year, gathering judges for the William James Foundation's annual Socially Responsible Business Plan competitions - if you're not already familiar with it, check it out. I've been a reading judge for the last 4 years (and am gearing up to do it again!), and SSC is a sponsor.
Chase Bank has listed the William James Foundation as option in one of their "see how many friends you can get to vote for you" gigs with various cash prizes. So you can support the William James Foundation by voting for them to win $25k with #chasegiving. Please vote for them here!