Conference update

So, remember, two posts ago, when I mentioned that I was forcing my eco-freak on the hapless conference goers? Well, everyone had a terrific time!

When they first heard they were taking the bus from the hotel, pretty much all of them had a look on their faces. You know the one, the ‘Ohboy, what have I gotten myself into?’ look. The one that says, ‘I wonder if I can get out of this.

But then they got on our beautiful buses. And they were impressed. And then I took them to Salt Lake on the Front Runner, and they were amazed. And all of them said in their evaluations that it was a good idea to do public transit, and several of them said they wished they had something half as good!

All were happy with their WSU water bottles, and the delivered water. I got to send a whole lot of bottled water and soda back to catering.

One problem was that catering did not pick up their china and silverware right away. The Friday delivery was still sitting there on TUESDAY of the following week. Ew. But that would have happened anyway, with the bowls and serving utensils, so I don’t count it as a mark against ‘green’, but rather a mark against catering...

As for the event on Antelope Island, in the end, most everyone was too tired to go! I had to go, because I was the speaker, but only one other person wanted to come with me, so I cancelled the bus, and took my Prius.

End result: Success! Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves, and while initial reactions were a little mixed, after a day or two, everyone was pretty excited about the experiment. The public transit in particular saved big money, and made everyone jealous of my town. Way to go, UTA!