The Green Business Unconference is a series of dynamic events - held in Washington, D.C., Boston, Silicon Valley and culminating in Austin on September 16th - where participants engage, discuss, and innovate around how to do good business with a reduced environmental impact. Early bird registration and discounts for Net Impact Austin members available now!

GOAL: To facilitate connections with other innovators & practitioners to share experiences and ideas, explore new trends and opportunities, and brainstorm out-of-the-box solutions. It is a forum in which we can all participate in shaping the approaches that will help us respond creatively and effectively to the challenges we face.

LOGISTICS:

Date: September 16, 2009 (Wednesday) 8:30am to 4:30pm

Location: 3M Austin Center: 6801 River Place Blvd

Registration: Early Bird (till August 16) $45.00 / Regular Attendance $75.00  REGISTRATION LINK

BONUS!: Net Impact Austin members get $25 off registration! Net Impact Austin membership is only $25 per year – by joining now and accessing the Unconference discount code you’ll be getting a year of Net Impact Austin membership for free!

Click here to join Net Impact Austin.

Already a Member? Click here to access the Unconference discount code.

SPONSORS: Net Impact Austin is supporting the organizational efforts of The Environmental Defense Fund, Ashoka and Dig In.

HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM A CONFERENCE?: Unlike traditional conferences, there will be no formal panels or speeches. This will be a participatory, "open space" format. All participants will have an opportunity to share, discuss, network, collaborate and learn throughout the day.

The attendees of the unconference determine the topics of conversation at the beginning of the day and then break off into smaller groups to have in-depth discussions. The lack of predetermined structure and topics (there is no keynote speaker, panels or preprinted agenda) allows the attendees to decide for themselves what is interesting and relevant and it ensures that the attendees are more actively engaged as participants, not just audience members.

Lenora Deslandes, Grossman Marketing Group, who attended the Unconference in Boston on June 22nd, admitted “This may sound like a recipe for chaos, but in fact, it was quite the opposite.” What she found instead was that “discussions were freeflowing yet managed to be relevant and interesting.”

A Net Impacter from Boston summed it up like this: “You know the coffee breaks at a regular conference, where the great exchanges of information, experiences and business cards actually happen? Imagine a day full of those coffee breaks.”

WHY ATTEND: This is an opportunity to engage a wide variety of business leaders and those active in the “green space” and to talk about what is important for us:

  • As Austinites who want our city, and Texas, to be increasingly environmentally responsible.

  • As individuals who want to learn, support and lead environmental innovation in business.

Past discussion topics include: • Green IT • Breaking silos, building new paradigms • Role of government to foster innovation • Where do we learn about innovations • Immediate and compelling rewards for adopters • Water markets • The dark side of innovation • Strategies for engaging on the personal level • Lifecycle analysis & other sustainability tools

Follow these links to explore a full list of the discussion topics that emerged at previous unconferences: Boston: June 22, 2009; Washington DC: June 11, 2009

Click here to join the conversation about what to discuss at the Austin Unconference!