Green Audio Visual tips and tricks- meetdifferent

Extra! Midori Connolly Founder Of Pulse Staging And Events Talks About Green AV!

The Meeting Planners podcast source for what’s new and exciting in meetings and events industry!

Mike McAllen from Grass Shack Events & Media interviews Midori Connolly from Pulse Staging and Events talks about her session at Meetdifferent in Atlanta next week on Tuesday. “Green A/V – Finally!” Midori gives some tips and tricks for greening up your AudioVisual team!
www.SustainableAV.com

For more information contact Midori at Pulse Staging and Events
Download “Best Practices for Sustainability in the Audio Visual Industry.”
Pulses “Green Story”

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Transcripts:
Female: You are listening to the Meetings Podcast with Mike McAllen, Jon Trask and Tom Hillmer. The Meeting Planner podcast source for what’s new and exciting in the meetings and events industry. The information and opinions expressed in this podcast are of Mr. McAllen, Mr. Trask and Mr. Hillmer and are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of their past, present or future employers.

Please send in your question and comments to MeetingsPodcast@gmail.com and make sure to visit our website for pictures, video and show notes at www.MeetingsPodcast.com

Mike McAllen: Thank you for tuning in to Meetings Podcast. This is Mike McAllen with Grass Shack Events and Media and on today’s show, we have Midori Connolly from Pulse Staging and Events. Hi, Midori.

Midori Connolly: Hi, Mike.

Mike McAllen: How are you doing today?

Midori Connolly: I’m doing great. Thank you.

Mike McAllen: That’s great. So why don’t we start off and you can maybe tell us a little bit about yourself and your background, how you can get into this business.

Midori Connolly: Sure. I’m actually somewhat of a newbie relatively new. I started this company three and a half years ago with a partner who had been in the business about 18 years and I – it was just one of those happen [00:01:21] kind of thing that come along into your life and as soon as it happens, the little bell kind of rings and you realize that it’s – I guess by coming home, you realize that this is where you were meant to be. The technology was fascinating for me. The pace and the thrill of an event was – it just suited me to a T so we came together and created this entity that we call Pulse Staging and Events and we’ve been serving primarily corporate events for the last three years. We are still somewhat of a small business and we really like to keep it that way. We have a great culture and just a real great wonderful team right now and everything seems to be working out for us so …

Mike McAllen: That’s great.

Midori Connolly: … somehow it came about.

Mike McAllen: So how – what were you doing before this? Do you mind if I ask you that or …

Midori Connolly: Sure. I actually – it’s kind of crazy. I owned a mortgage and real estate company with my father. We started it after I graduated from college and he was a 30-year industry veteran and I knew I didn’t want to work for anyone else. I’ve always been an entrepreneur training horses and what not through college and so – I decided to start this venture with my dad and I did that for about seven years. We were obviously riding the wave. Of course when we started it, it was a little bit tougher but it was a wonderful time. I learned how to grow a business, how to …

Mike McAllen: Yes, that’s great.

Midori Connolly: Yes, so – but then, we ended up selling that and with good timing [00:03:10]

Mike McAllen: Yes, it’s always interesting to hear how people get in to this whole meetings and events world. You know, I was a fireman before and I got injured on a fire and I was helping a friend. I learned to do glass blowing because I was – I had to fix my knee and my room mate at the time in the city was working on a show for Oracle and it was in Korea. They needed a PA to go on the trip so I just went and then, that was – ever since then, I’ve been working in a – in the events field.

Midori Connolly: Wow, cool.

Mike McAllen: It’s funny how people fall into it.

Midori Connolly: Exactly and again, you – you know, I took that, the elevated levels of stress that you have to deal with in that industry and sort of the transactional management. It’s like a project management position and you learn to balance emotion and business and really make something happen and so I found that those skills carried over really well to an event management …

Mike McAllen: Oh, yes. That’s great. So, how did Pulse get interested in green events? I know it’s the big buzz word these days, green events. But when I saw your – actually your – because we are going to go out to the MPI MeetDifferent show and you’re going to be doing the session there and I saw that session and I thought, “Wow, that’s you know, that ‘s really interesting.” That was the first one that I kind of [00:04:39] which was interesting then it was great that we got to – I got to talk to you before the event. But how did you get interested in – well, tell me a little bit more about the green, the Green A/V Finally session you’re going to do.

Midori Connolly: Yes. I’m – it’s kind of funny. It always gets everyone’s attention because it sounds like an oxymoron, right? I mean, the Green A/V.

Mike McAllen: Well, I first thought you painted it all green. I thought, “Okay, all their gears all painted green.”

Midori Connolly: [00:05:08] that’s great. No, when we first started the company, I had obviously – I’ve always lived – you know, tried to maintain sort of a sustainable life and even before it was a buzz word or anything out there was just certain practices that I always did, you know. And so, when we started the company, I was starting to hear about green events and green meetings and I decided, “Well, that’s where I want to be.” That’s they type of event I want to do because it’s my personal passion and so I gathered like every checklist that there was because you know, from the EPA, the National Recycling Coalition, there were – I probably gathered about half a dozen of these checklist or events and not a single one of them mentioned audio visual. Nothing, no word about projectors, not a word about your lighting, nothing and I was shocked like, well, how – I don’t know what to do to be green and no one’s going to tell me so I went on this crazy, wild (tandem 00:06:21) and I just started interviewing people from outside of the industry and gathering as much information as I could from manufacturers and – but – I mean most of my information came from outside of the industry because they’re obviously was nothing within.

Mike McAllen: Right.

Midori Connolly: And I ended up writing a set of best practices. Initially, it was just for us. Here’s what we can do on an event to make a difference, to make things better, to lessen our impact and it ended up being a set of best practices for the industry. I mean, who knew. You know?

Mike McAllen: That’s fantastic.

Midori Connolly: Yes, so it was a very organic type of document. It just kind of developed itself as time went by and it’s …

Mike McAllen: That’s very cool because it’s like, you know, most of the people in this business have been in it for forever and then you’re coming in kind of at a different angle on it …

Midori Connolly: Yes.

Mike McAllen: … and looked at it a different way which is a great. You know, a lot of people probably just never thought, “Oh A/V can be anything but you know.” You’re plugging in and going. That’s, you know …

Midori Connolly: Right, right. Well – and you know, and I definitely understand that. I mean, it’s like, you know, I felt like a lot of times when I – I would get the tenth answer like, “Okay, let’s not open the can of worms. We have so much to do already.” You know?

Mike McAllen: Right.

Midori Connolly: To make our events better and so, you know, that’s why I started with very, very, very simple steps and there are things that anybody can do which would be like collecting battery [00:08:00] an event. You know, making sure your crew has reusable water bottles. I mean, you can keep it really simple. Obviously, it can get more complex when we look at manufacturing processes and –you know, are these projectors or are we just compliant? Are we compliant? Are we using equipment that has been manufactured in a plant that is in – has an EMS, Environmental Management System. So, obviously it can get very, very complex but my goal has always been to keep it simple. The document is actually posted on our website and I have kept it open and free for anyone to use and review and comment and criticize however they wanted because I always felt that that’s what sparked innovation and improvement and I’ve written it in a very, very plain language. It’s not – which is exactly how I intend to present my session which just can make it applicable to the person who is not working in the A/V world everyday. You know, as we all know that’s when we tend to kind of [00:09:20] when it gets a little complicated so …

Mike McAllen: Right, right. No, that’s fantastic. I think that’s what the whole industry needs is those sort of things that make it simple and just a couple of things that you just said are huge things that will really cut down the whole footprint.

Midori Connolly: Hopefully.

Mike McAllen: Yes. No, it’s great.

Midori Connolly: Yes, we have an event coming up where I think we’re calculating something like, you know, 300 batteries we’re going to collect, you know and I mean that’s a big deal and we usually reuse them. The crew will take them home and reuse them and then if they want, they can bring them back to us and I’ll just – I take them to the battery recycling. The city has a program here and so, you know, we try to make it very easy and simple and it actually is really cool. I mean, like I said, people appreciate getting to reuse double A batteries. I mean, everyone needs double A batteries.

Mike McAllen: Right. Right, right, right.

Midori Connolly: Your – everything uses a double A so it’s not like some weird, obscure technology. It’s practical and useful and we even hand them back to clients sometimes and they’re very grateful to be able to …

Mike McAllen: I don’t know if people understand that. Those who that always are putting fresh batteries into things so they don’t go down.

Midori Connolly: Yes, you’re right. I mean that’s …

Mike McAllen: Because people don’t even know that, that that happens. They just like, “Oh there’s batteries in them.” But you – whenever, you’re always putting fresh batteries in things when you’re …

Midori Connolly: Everyday.

Mike McAllen: You know, microphones everything. They’re fresh batteries always because you don’t want to have a battery die on you when something is standing on stage or something so …

Midori Connolly: Well, and see here’s the thing like that’s kind of where – you know sometimes, I myself get a little intimidated obviously I’m not the 20-year veteran but here I am. This is – I was going to say I’m a green horn, ha-ha. But here’ s the green horn who comes in and I – you know, I’m on the show site like we switch the batteries everyday, you know. Well, how come? You know, why – but that’s so wasteful and of course, hello. I mean, it’s not, you know, like they always say, “What’s a $2 battery versus a $2000 a day.” You know, I mean it’s like …

Mike McAllen: Right.

Midori Connolly: … are you really going to let a microphone die because you didn’t change the battery that morning and jeopardize the whole entire event …

Mike McAllen: Right.

Midori Connolly: … or the presentation and so, you know, it – but – and for so many who has been doing these 20 years or 10 or five years, it’s like, “But that’s just what we do.” You know? So …

Mike McAllen: Yes, yes, yes.

Midori Connolly: Sometimes, it does take somebody looking at it from a different angle and saying, “Well, how could we change that?” or “Is there anything we can do about it?” So, yes, the green horn.

Mike McAllen: That’s great, that’s great. So, I’m looking at your Green A/V Finally little synopsis. Is that what you call it? For what you have there? A synopsis?

Midori Connolly: Yes, yes.

Mike McAllen: I mean, it talks about the right questions to ask for green washing. Do you want to share a couple of those or …

Midori Connolly: Yes. I mean, I’ll get into it a little more in the session.

Mike McAllen: Sure.

Midori Connolly: Not give away. Just kidding. Oh, no but …

Mike McAllen: Give a little tease, give a little tease.

Midori Connolly: But I have – I’m going to show a few things that I have seen that just were so shocking to me and my partner who is co-presenting with me, Lia Lucero owns – she does a lot of exhibits and built environments and so, she’s kind of coming from the A/V from a material stand point.

Mike McAllen: Oh, yes.

Midori Connolly: And she has seen some crazy stuff too as far as claims around LEED, you know, the US Green Building Council, LEED certification. So , we’re going to share just a few things that we’ve seen and gosh, you know, the green washing thing is kind of scary and you know, I don’t know necessarily that there is a way to prevent it but it just hopefully if we can help educate and inform …

Mike McAllen: Right.

Midori Connolly: … you know, we can kind of circumnavigate that situation.

Mike McAllen: Right, right. Well, you know, with like your checklist that you made.

Midori Connolly: Yes, yes.

Mike McAllen: That kind of thing will – you know, people can actually have something to point to.

Midori Connolly: Right.

Mike McAllen: To say, “Hey, that’s wrong.” You know, where nowadays they don’t really have anything like that. It’s just that like the batteries, that’s just the way we do it. You know and …

Midori Connolly: Yes, yes, exactly.

Mike McAllen: So how did you hook up with Lia? Are the – do you work with her a lot or this business …

Midori Connolly: Well, actually, it’s funny. You know, we’re two women floating around in the A/V industry and there’s not a lot of us so I think we tend to kind of gravitate together but she and I actually met at a women’s networking conference, a national conference and we just really hit it off and we’re both fascinated with the same technology and the progress of sustainability and that’s actually another passion of mine is supporting women in business. I know it’s not pertaining to green but I always have to mention it because …

Mike McAllen: No, it’s great.

Midori Connolly: … I believe in putting, you know, people back into the equation of the green movement which – and so for me, I try to support women in business and women and especially in our industry because I’ve seen – I’ve seen their treatment sometimes has been pretty poor of women and it’s – you know, it disturbs me. I’m a woman business owner so of course, that kind of bothers me and so I’m trying to work with (Infocom 00:14:47) who is our industry’s primary trade association. They already have a scholarship program set up but what I’m working on is helping them to develop something where they will set aside money and scholarships for young women who are interested in A/V and maybe broaden the scope of talent that’s out there and just like what they’ve tried to do with math programs and science programs.

Mike McAllen: Right.

Midori Connolly: And so I just would like to kind of help the audio-visual industry go that way too.

Mike McAllen: That’s great. That’s a good idea.

Midori Connolly: It’s great.

Mike McAllen: It’s a good idea. Actually, our company that we started, my wife actually started our company at Grass Shack Events Media and it was woman on business for a couple of years but then she went back to work in for Hilton so I …

Midori Connolly: Right.

Mike McAllen: … took the reins. We didn’t think that was fair so we’ve kind of put that [00:15:35] now.

Midori Connolly: Well, good for …

Mike McAllen: Though she does – she is basically the owner. I mean, she’s still the boss, right?

Midori Connolly: Yes. It just happened that way.

Mike McAllen: So, yes, so – but that’s great. That’s really great. So I won’t take up any more of your time. Why don’t you – because people can go when they get to the MeetDifferent Conference, they can check out your Green A/V/ Finally and it’s on Tuesday the 10th from 1:45 to 2:45. Are you giving it again or is this the one time?

Midori Connolly: It’s one time here. I’m also doing an educational session for (Infocom 00:16:12) this summer. It’s primarily …

Mike McAllen: Great.

Midori Connolly: That one will be a little more technical. It’s for rental and staging companies specifically.

Mike McAllen: Great.

Midori Connolly: Training them, but so far, now – you know, I’m also speaking on corporate social responsibility on behalf of MPI. So, kind of moving into that realm a little bit more of beyond just being green and what like I said, I see this need to put people and build a business case for sustainability, putting that back into the equation. So, I’ll be speaking but not necessarily just on Green A/V.

Mike McAllen: Right, right.

Midori Connolly: Yes.

Mike McAllen: That’s great and so how can people get a hold of you and do you want to give some information on how to get a hold of you and also maybe where they can find your schedules speaking or are you putting that up anywhere or is that just …

Midori Connolly: Well, thanks for pointing out my [00:17:07] no, I really [00:17:09] a little bit more. Of course, I’m always tweeting about, you know, sitting on my – on Twitter. I’m always giving information about speaking engagements and …

Mike McAllen: Great.

Midori Connolly: … my ID there is just greena_v and of course, there’s lots of information on our website. My document is there for everyone to use as they need and that is – the easy way to get there is just SustainableAV.com and we just created that [00:17:46] so it’s easy to remember so SustainableAV.com and of course, all the contact information is on there and …

Mike McAllen: I’ll put links to all these in our site.

Midori Connolly: Okay.

Mike McAllen: So if they want to go get it, they can always – I mean, you know, some people just download this up with iTunes so they – to give them a place to go but then, if they come to the site, they can link – I’ll link up to all these things for …

Midori Connolly: Yes and if – I mean and again, you know, I’m open to speaking to some small women’s organizations here on just how to try to create a green business plan. You know, I just try to keep it as simple as possible because there are a lot of people out there who are scientists, who are making it very complicated and hard to understand. So, my focus is – you know, and that’s kind of funny on my presentation in Atlanta. You know, we’re going to just – like I mentioned, keep it very simple. We even have kind of changed the presentation because I thought this was going to get boring. So …

Mike McAllen: Yes.

Midori Connolly: … and you know, I’m always available …

Mike McAllen: That’s great.

Midori Connolly: … and hopefully, keep it entertaining and informational at the same time.

Mike McAllen: That’s great and I look forward to seeing it.

Midori Connolly: Oh, great, great, yes. I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

Mike McAllen: Okay. Thank you so much, Midori and maybe when we can talk again in a couple of months and see where you’re at and maybe there’s some new green stuff you want to share.

Midori Connolly: I would love that. There’s always new green stuff.

Mike McAllen: All right. I’ll talk to you later.

Midori Connolly: All right. Take care.

Mike McAllen: Thank you.

Midori Connolly: Bye.

Female: We appreciate and thank you for listening to the Meetings podcast. You can find Mike McAllen at GrassShackRoad.com, Jon Trask at AlliantEvents.com and Tom Hillmer at CreativeGroupInc.com. The Meetings Podcast theme music comes from the Delgado Brothers which can be found at DelgadoBrothers.com, a special thanks to RipTideGraphics.com for the audio editing of this podcast.