By Grey Lee
What an amazing gathering. It's like a giant homecoming, a super-extended family reunion, holiday shopping on the trade show floor, and a semester of classes all crammed into one 4-day extravaganza.
And networking filled the nights with sounds of laughter and exchanging of business cards.
If there's anywhere that is more about “More Green Buildings,” well, I'd like to find it! This year, the City of Angels showed its greenest face to about 20,000 attendees from all over the world. All gathered to celebrate, learn, and connect on the topic of sustainability in the built environment.
Everywhere you looked there were amazing green building people.
I spent most of my days at the Boston Host Committee Booth – yes, we had a designated area to promote the 2017 Greenbuild and get people excited about coming to Massachusetts. We handed out save-the-date cards, maps of where hotels are in downtown Boston, and little red lobster “weepuls” that were a real hit.
We had a lot of visitors that are excited to go “All-In” for Greenbuild next year. Many of our Massachusetts Chapter regulars came through. Our Boston 2017 Host Committee met with our counterparts from the LA Host Committee and made connections to help each other in the coming months. I shadowed the national staff and my counterpart, LA's executive director, to delve into the details on event production and outreach.
There were a lot of exciting educational opportunities – the regular sessions, the tours, the plenaries, and even in the expo hall – lots of lectures, demos and engagement. I probably should have tried to get more CEUs, but I figured I can do that outside of the conference, and instead I used the time to learn more about how to maximize the coming of Greenbuild.
I should mention that it was really great but somewhat funny to spend time with folks from Massachusetts at the social gatherings. Sometimes it really takes traveling to another city in order to find the time to really sit back and connect with your local colleagues. Thank you to all who were there to express our community. It was great to meet new people but no one is as wicked green as the Massachusetts people we met up with.
I hope the power, the spirit, and the energy of Greenbuild as seen this past week has gotten you excited about it coming to Boston. We are going to enjoy a “Road to Greenbuild” over the next 13 months. Stay tuned to find a way to join us!
Thank you and I hope to see you soon,
Grey
See all of our photos and get jealous of the wicked LA weather here.
Global Head of Sustainability, Superior Essex
Sustainability Director, Steven Winter Associates
PE | Associate, LeMessurier
Vice President, AEW’s Architecture & Engineering group
Interior Designer, Jacobs, Boston
Senior Vice President, Market Transformation and Development U.S. Green Building Council
AIA LEED AP BD+C | Senior Associate, Gensler Boston 
LEED Fellow, WELL AP | Founder and Principal, Ecoworks Studio
AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP
LEED AP BD+C | Environmental Sustainability Manager, Armstrong World Industries
Assistant Professor of Exposure Science | Director of the Healthy Buildings program
Managing Director, Harvard University Office for Sustainability
Principal & Director of Certifications and Consulting, Epsten Group, Inc.
Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility, Jamestown
Director of Sustainability Programs, DASNY | LEED AP BD+C
Associate Principal, BuroHappold Engineering
Senior Vice President, Sustainability at Kilroy Realty Corporation
Co-Founder, Facilitator at The Laurentia Project | LEED AP BD+C, LFA
Vice President of Sustainable Development, Shaw
Founder and President, Board of the Healthy Building Network
Building Technology Director, Kingspan North America
LEED® AP ID+C, BD+C, USGBC Faculty, WELL® AP, WELL Faculty and Fitwel Ambassador
Workplace Strategy Expert and Researcher, EYP
Principal, Integrated Ecostrategy
Senior Vice President, International WELL Building Institute
Principal, Bruner/Cott
Architect, Associate, and Sustainability Design Leader, Stantec Architecture and Engineering
FAIA, LEED Fellow, Long Green Specs
Products & Materials Specialist, BuildingGreen
Director of Acquisitions and Development
Director of Restorative Enterprise, Interface
Sustainability Manager, Consigli Construction Company