In early November the City of Phoenix was fortunate to host Greenbuild, the international conference and expo focused on LEED, green building and sustainability. For those who have never attended a Greenbuild conference, it is not typical so I thought I would provide my perspective on the event.

I attended Greenbuild last year in Boston and after seeing its size wondered whether Phoenix could accommodate it adequately. Phoenix’s new convention center turned out to be a great venue. The event was extremely well organized and I’m sure had a nice economic impact for downtown. Kudos to the City of Phoenix!

The magnitude of this event is astounding; this year over 27,000 people attended and 1,700 companies exhibited their wares. The plenary session held at Chase Field featured presentations by Rick Fedrizzi, CEO of the US Green Building Council, and former Vice President Al Gore and a concert by Sheryl Crow. There were more technical sessions than could possibly be attended and plenty of hospitality parties. The exhibit halls were nothing short of overwhelming. An entire day (or more) could be spent learning about the thousands of products and services associated with green building and sustainability. For those I was able to get to, the time was well spent and informative but there was simply too many.

But what about the fundamental reason for the event (for me anyway), generating new business? It is easy to let the spectacle overshadow what we were there to do, and in this case it did. Did I take away any new business? No. I did, however, succeed in marketing our company to help further our presence in the sustainability market place, forged some new relationships, maintained a few others and attended technical sessions that were helpful. But it is difficult to identify any measurable business from it. I dare say, there is a lot of "fluff" associated with the event, but also a great deal of substance. As I dive deeper into the business of sustainability it’s getting easier to recognize the difference and I’m impressed by the number of emerging companies driven less by saving the planet and more by efficiency and saving their clients money. I think the bigger impact of the event is on a macro scale and what it means to the overall health of our industry.

The magnitude of Greenbuild alone, especially in this economy, makes a significant statement about the strength and position of the green building movement and sustainability in the evolution of our industry. I’m a believer in the movement outside of Greenbuild, but to see the money companies spent marketing their products and services, the level of effort spent on hundreds of technical presentations and the commitment by corporations large and small during the worst economic times in our lifetime tells me not just that the sustainability marketplace is here to stay, but that it is alive and well.