Graphic courtesy of USGB Northern California Chapter
Greenbuild, the international green building conference and expo hosted annually by the US Green Building Council, will finally make its way to San Francisco this November. Greenbuild has been drawing 20,000-30,000 people for the last few years, and we expect that San Francisco will be the largest ever – depending on who you listen to, there may be upwards of 45,000 people. (Yikes!)
The conference theme this year is “@Greenbuild”, making reference to the mindboggling array of internet and technology companies headquartered in the Bay Area. The big names include Google, Yahoo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yelp, and YouTube . Prezi rolled in from Budapest back in 2009, but quickly opened up a San Francisco office. Up and coming social media outlets are practically a dime a dozen, including the likes of StumbleUpon, Reddit, Delicious, Yammer, Pinterest… I could go on, but I think you get the point. Of the 17 companies that Jodi mentioned in her recent social media survey, all but one are headquartered here. (Tubmlr hails from New York. Rebels! Foursquare is co-located in NY and SF.) Although most of these started up here in the Bay Area naturally, San Francisco now offers an attractive tax break for tech companies, so locating here can also be a good financial decision.
I’m on the Greenbuild 2012 Host Committee and co-chair the Social Networking Subcommittee. The USGBC has been putting on these large events since 2002, yet this is the first year that Greenbuild Host Committee has had a social networking committee. Seeing the list of companies above, I say that this addition comes none too soon, and there couldn’t be a better city to get it started. I’m sure that we’ll be figuring a few things out as we go – so far we’re still hurdling through the maze of red tape that is organizational communications policies and processes. Stay tuned in the coming months for the Road to Greenbuild, including event gossip and a generous does of local San Francisco flavor.