KnowPoint

Fenceline, from Flickr.com © 2006 Christopher F. McNulty

I'm fortunate to able to attend a number of SharePoint conferences and events around the world. These events, whether run by companies or volunteers, are professional, high quality events. They're a huge part of the reason why the fanatical SharePoint community is like no other in technology. (Would you line up at 8am on a cold rainy day for Excel Saturday?) Learning from other attendees is one of my favorite things.

But as my tally of speaking events has grown, my "gift" collection of polo shirts, messenger bags, backpacks and similar swag has mushroomed. It's a gateway drug. A few spare shirts for painting or kids projects, now leads to quarterly goodwill donation trips. My kids can't use anymore blinking tchotchkes or animated robots. And hundreds of other people are in the same spot. What should we really be doing with all this stuff, I've wondered.

And then I was talking to a good friend who helped cleanup after a recent event. Attendees received a tote bag with a tshirt, bag inserts, white papers, product info sheets, pad and paper. Nothing new here - except that the organizers were diligent, and prepared for large crowds. Hundreds of folks came, but there were still probably a hundred unclaimed tote bags at the end of the day, and another hundred or so left behind or discarded.

That's a lot of stuff! And it got me to thinking – what are we doing making all this "cargo"? So much stuff – wasted.

Wastage, from Flickr.com © 2012 Christopher F. McNulty

I pride myself on working in an industry – technology – that can be a tremendous force for good, and for change. The information we share enables change. More directly, electronic media reduce the reliance on paper for printing and fuel for shipping things. But what are we doing?

Personally, I greatly enjoy mountain hiking away from cities. I believe in both the Native American concept to "walk lightly on the land", and my old Boy Scout troop rule to leave campsites better than we found them. Are we in the SharePoint world walking lightly? Are we leaving things better than we found them?

I recently encountered a new word – biodynamic -- which describes practices that are not just organic but sustainable. So how do we make SharePoint more sustainable?

This year, organizers of SharePoint Saturday Johannesburg launched the first ever "green" SharePoint Saturday. They've committed to recycled paper, eco-sustainable sourcing, and a carbon neutral event. Huge congratulations to Veronique Palmer and the rest of the event team for this.

As a leader of a consultancy and a software maker, I appreciate the value of marketing. It's good to have a canvas for our logos, and a means to distribute our content. And sponsorship dollars are essential to keeping the cycle of community events running. I don't want to "bite the hand the feeds". But there has to be a better way. Here are a few ideas:

• Less is more. Do we REALLY need so many hats, tshirts and polo shirts? It's helpful to be able to visually identify speakers and volunteers at events. Sometimes, stickers, buttons, badge colors or pins might be a better option. Or at least find a "green" source for the shirts.
• Electronic distribution of vendor and session handouts. Most events already have a website for vendor logos – expand on that! They don't get lost afterwards. People also like thumb drives, and you can fit a lot more content on a thumb drive than in a bag.
• High quality WiFi. If you can get to the materials live during the event or during a session, you don't need to print them in advance.
• Water. If you can, try to get a sponsor to cover water coolers and paper cups, instead of water bottles. There was an event last year that had to ship water in from Amazon.com. I hope we can do better.
• Opt-out. If you can opt out of receiving email during event registration, you should be able to opt out of paper. Offer an option of donating the cost, possibly with a sponsor match, to an appropriate charity. Tree-planting for carbon offsets, or local homeless services seem like good candidates, and there are many, many more.
• Just say no. As an attendee, ask for electronic versions of material. You don't actually need to take every event bag, hat, or paper that's thrust on you. If people stop taking so much stuff, maybe we'll stop making so much.

It's not much, really, and it may not make a huge dent in the growing trash dumps of the world. But we have to start somewhere. Please help.

Big Sky, from Flickr.com © 2006 Christopher F. McNulty