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Why Attend Green Business Camp?

Green Business Camp is a one-day event in the San Francisco Bay Area that brings together small green business owners and entrepreneurs, who are passionate about creating positive environmental and social impact through their businesses and who are committed to successful business growth.

With Green Business Camp’s innovative “unconference” program, you will get:

  • Access to a roomful of green entrepreneurs and their strategies, ideas and resources to take your business to the next level
  • New relationships and collaborations during powerful small group discussions
  • Insights and wisdom from dozens of other green business leaders into your biggest business challenges
Program Overview
  • 8am-9am - Registration (please arrive early so you can prepare your discussion topic)
  • 9am-10am - Selection of Discussion Topics for the day
  • 10am - Welcome Address by Paul Hawken
  • 10:45am-12:30 - The First Two Sessions - with topics created by you!
  • 12:30pm -  Lunch provided by Mixt Greens (selected as the Greenest Restaurant in the Bay Area)
  • 1:30-5:00pm - Dynamic Discussion Sessions created by participants, and other group activities
  • 5:00-7:00pm - Wine Reception (biodyamic wine sponsored by Ceago)

Location: The event is taking place at the Greenv Sustainable Center, the hub of green business activity in South San Francisco. Get directions and maps to the venue here.

Innovative Unconference Program

The Green Business Camp event format differs from that of a typical business conference. There will be no PowerPoint presentations, no long lectures.

Instead, the day’s sessions will be created and led by the participants (possibly YOU) as small group discussions, where participation is encouraged. This will give everyone access to the collective business wisdom and experience of all of the participants, not just one speaker. So, if you want to roll up your sleeves and participate, rather than sitting passively in an audience, then this event is for you!

The “Unconference” format overcomes the two main pitfalls of most business conferences:

(1) A small number of experts give presentations, while the majority of business knowledge in the room is not shared (the collective wisdom in the room is not accessed)
(2) Participants might have a chance to meet during breaks, but lack an opportunity to form a more substantive connection where business knowledge, experience, and resources are shared.

What’s the Program - and How Can I Contribute?
Small group sessions (with a strong focus on participation and interaction) will allow substantive connections to be made among participants. Each session will involve an open discussion in which each participant is encouraged to share their experience, insights, and questions around the topic.
Visit the “Unspeakers” page to find out how you can propose a topic, and find out what topics people have already submitted!
Local Focus

Green Business Camp is your opportunity to create connections with fellow green businesses located in the Bay Area - and to form collaborations with other businesses that share similar values.

Supporting Green Business Growth

The intention of Green Business Camp is to support the successful growth of Bay Area green businesses by:

  • Catalyzing collaboration amongst participating small green business leaders
  • Creating a forum for creating innovative ideas and business strategies
  • Sparking the sharing of business knowledge and valuable resources
Why Green Business Camp?

It’s a fact - the world of small business is changing right before our eyes. The increasing concern over the impact our businesses are having on our world has sparked amazing new ventures determined to change what kind of products are sold, how we market those products and how we do business in general.

These green businesses are raising awareness amongst consumers and challenging their fellow businesses to become more sustainable and responsible.

We believe that collaboration amongst the green business community can strengthen each business, create incredible alliances and help transform their customers and clients into more conscious consumers.

Greening Our Event

We want to make sure that we are not only talking about green business but that we actually conducting green business.

Therefore we will be making Green Business Camp as low impact as we can. We have recruited Johanna Walsh, founder of Twirl Management, a Bay Area Eco-Event Planning Company to help us create the following guidelines, based on the highest sustainability standards of the event planning industry.

Get a copy of our Green Business Camp Green Initiatives 2009 (and feel free to use them as a guideline for your own event!)

Transparency is Key

Our intention is to be completely transparent about how we’ve greened the event, the challenges we encounter and what we’ve learned along the way. After the event, we will post a complete report of our event’s environmental impacts and what steps we took to reduce them.

Check out our blog for frequent updates.

Green Business Camp Organizers

The Green Business Camp event is being organized by Tanya McCausland, Bill Baren, Patrick Dominguez of Green Business Innovators, a San Francisco-based company that provides business growth consulting and coaching to small green business owners and entrepreneurs.

Tanya McCausland is the Communications and Event Manager for Green Business Innovators. She has a unique professional background that includes event planning, leadership education, and broadcast. She was the Special Events Coordinator for the Leadership Initiative at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. Prior to moving to the Bay Area she worked as a radio producer for the Martha Stewart Radio channel on Sirius Satellite Radio in New York City. As a self-proclaimed environmentalist Tanya is an obsessive recycler and avid hiker. She has spent many days in the backcountry enjoying what nature has to offer and is determined to make an impact on the environment through her work with GBI. Tanya lives, cooks and recycles in Oakland, CA.

Patrick Dominguez (co-founder of Green Business Innovators ) is a green business marketing coach, and has worked as a marketing professional for the last 14 years. Most recently he oversaw UK marketing efforts for a green business, Lemnis Lighting, a producer of cutting-edge, environmentally friendly LED lighting for homes, cities, and businesses. Previously, Patrick managed marketing departments and programs for companies large and small, including Tesco (UK), Pandora (formerly Savage Beast Technologies), the Women’s Technology Cluster, Social Fusion and TechSoup. Patrick has also served as a marketing consultant for a number of social enterprises and nonprofit organizations. Patrick hopes to be living off the grid by 2012. Patrick lives in San Francisco, CA.

Bill Baren (co-founder of Green Business Innovators) has been coaching and consulting with entrepreneurs and business owners, including green businesses owners, since 2001. He applies both practical and creative approaches to help business owners and entrepreneurs achieve revenue growth and personal fulfillment. Bill has experience running a $10 million company, managing a large sales staff, owning an innovative music company and has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs and businesses to success and prosperity. Bill lives in Pacifica, CA.