The 2013 RetailGreen conference will be held again in conjunction with the ICSC CenterBuild conference in Scottsdale, AZ. Both conferences are sponsored by ICSC, the global trade association of the shopping center industry.

These annual conferences draw together diverse groups of owners, tenants, designers, green building consultants and manufacturers to share best practices and learn about the latest trends and products in retail.

I was fortunate to be invited to join the 2013 RetailGreen program planning committee, which met recently to scope out topics and speakers for the conference to be held December 3-4.

I can personally attest to the value of RetailGreen. At last year’s conference, for me the most valuable sessions were the roundtables that brought together practitioners from a range of sectors to share best practices on a wide variety of topics relating to retail sustainability. Stakeholders who typically compete for business freely shared project examples and ideas.

For example, I left more knowledgeable about LED lighting solutions for my retail and office landlord clients. In addition to ICSC members, other participating retail industry organizations included RILA and PRSM. Will Teichman, Director of Sustainability at Kimco Realty, also summarized his reasons for attending RetailGreen 2012 in a blog post.

Become Involved in Planning

We welcome your participation in helping to shape this year’s program content so that it meets the needs of attendees.

The committee is planning to make RetailGreen one of the most valuable events you attend in 2013 by delivering content and facilitating interactions that help you meet your sustainability goals while networking with industry leaders. We have several awesome events already planned for the 2013 conference.

To share a few highlights of what the planning committee is working on:

  • Inspiring keynote speakers. If you’ve been on YouTube lately you’ve probably laughed, cried or scratched your head at one or more of the industry experts we are trying to recruit. Stay tuned for a list of confirmed speakers when we start promoting the conference.
  • High quality panels and presentations that focus on the most important sustainability challenges in the industry. These include benchmarking energy, water and recycling, building the business case for sustainability initiatives, engaging stakeholders across your organization and more.
  • Roundtables hosted by subject matter experts including retail landlords, tenants, designers and product manufacturers.
  • Programs that earn continuing education units (CEUs) towards accreditation from industry bodies such as USGBC and AIA.
  • Exhibitor hall with manufacturers displaying the innovative products that will improve retail operations and reduce costs.

We’re reaching out to industry leaders for their input on the content and speakers. Please add your voice to the planning process by posting a comment below.

  • What would make this a must-attend event for you?
  • What issues do you struggle with that the conference could help to solve?
  • What have you enjoyed about the conference in past years that we should do more of?

If you want to learn more, attend, become a speaker, sponsor or exhibitor please feel free to contact us.

Again, please use the comment box below to let us know what events, topics and speakers you would like to recommend that we consider for the conference. Thank you.

 

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