The Northern California Chapter of the Geen Meeting Industry Council held an incredible back of the house event today thanks to Oracle. Chapter members were invited to Oracle OpenWorld (currently hosting over 35,000 participants at Moscone Center in San Francisco). Paul Salinger of Oracle led the tour and made it possible for over 20 interested professionals to see the back of house.

  • Chef Jeff talked about the compostable box lunches and working with local food suppliers while we watched some of the 5,000 box lunches being made.
  • The Oracle Communications team shared new signage on recycled material that will be reused and then recycled. It is also considerably less expensive than foam core. They expect nearly 90% of the signage to be reused at upcoming Oracle events.
  • The Moscone Center let us venture deep into the building to see how recycling and composting efforts happen behind the scenes.
  • The keynote hall and backstage set showed us sustainable practices such as LED lighting and cotton muslin screens.

Oracle has huge buying power and can influence positive change–and they do. They want to make it easier for planners who follow them (with less buying power) to implement green meeting practices. They are also open and transparent about the process. Here is Paul in a video about the sustainable practices http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTK9l0deyy0