SF Green Drinks’ monthly sip-and-schmooze is prompting eco-minded professionals to step away from their keyboards, ignore their smartphones and give their fingers a rest for an evening of cocktails and good ole-fashioned, hands-free, face-to-face networking and socializing.
By Bill Picture
Published: October, 2012
SF Green Drinks’ monthly sip-and-schmooze is prompting eco-minded professionals to step away from their keyboards, ignore their smartphones and give their fingers a rest for an evening of cocktails and good ole-fashioned, hands-free, face-to-face networking and socializing.
While emailing, messaging and texting may be the preferred means of communication these days, SF Green Drinks’ (SFGD) organizers believe these methods afford a limited platform for the exchange of information and ideas, compared to talking. And it’s the information that doesn’t arrive in our inbox or appear on our Facebook page that they say is often most important.
"I try to talk to every guest, and find out a little about them," said SFGD Communications Manager Kailani Joy. "I’ll be talking to a person on one side of the room who’s really interested in renewable energy and wants to find a job in that industry. Later in the night, I’ll talk to someone on the opposite side of the room who’s hiring for a solar company, and I try to match them up. What’s that game we used to play when we were kids, Concentration? It’s kind of like that."
Further, said Joy, the sheer vastness of the e-universe makes it impossible to capture every bit of information that’s relevant to us. Despite our efforts to cast as wide a net as possible with e-newsletter and blog subscriptions, and browser toolbars cluttered with more bookmarked websites than we have time to check each day, something important, perhaps even crucial, is bound to slip through.
Without an established hub to share this information easily—be it news of a potential investor’s search for the next great green idea or the announcing of an available green job in our area—persons in need of that information must settle for what they can find (and have the time to look for) when they log on each day. You might call it 21st century hunting and gathering.
The time it would take to gather every bit of information about green goings-on in the world makes the chances of there ever being a single go-to place, online or off, very slim. Rather, SFGD’s organizers believe their efforts, and the efforts of every green-minded person out there, are best focused locally, where the potential for impact is greater.
The bigger, more comprehensive net, it seems, is made up of the very loosely affiliated Green Drinks chapters scattered all over the world, the very first founded in north London in 1989, years before the green movement had gathered steam.
While big-picture thinking is strongly encouraged at SFGD events (and on its website), guests and web visitors are informed of opportunities to make a difference in their own back yards. In addition to a monthly newsletter, SFGD also provides a listing of local green happenings on its website. An online template allows other organizations to submit information about their events, for inclusion in the SFGD "Bay Area Green Calendar."
Also to that locally minded end, SFGD invites green entities in the Bay Area—non-profit and for-profit alike—to participate as sponsors or partners of SFGD event(s).
"It’s a great way for an organization to share its message and talk about what it’s doing, and to hopefully inspire others," Joy said.
Still, guests aren’t forced to endure lengthy presentations. SFGD’s organizers work hard to ensure that the vibe at their events is a casual one, with the focus being on making new contacts, both personal and professional. Thus, tabling is the preferred way for a sponsor to promote its brand because, like the event itself, it affords an opportunity for a one-on-one exchange.
Cocktails help guests break the social ice, as does the bar setting. The events are held at South of Market bars, clubs and lounges. SF Green Drinks also doesn’t charge guests to attend. Other Green Drinks chapters charge a small cover for events.
"That’s really important to us," Joy said. "We want everyone with a real passion for the environment to feel welcome at our events."
Since the first SF Green Drinks event in 2003, the crowd has grown from a smattering of green professionals to a 300-plus-strong cross-section of the green intelligentsia.
"And 50 percent of our attendees every month are new, which is really cool," said Joy. "A lot of them are new in town. They just moved here, and they come to get familiar with companies in the area that share their interest in the environment, and to make friends."
When asked what percentage of guests is coming for the cocktails and what percentage is coming to bounce ideas off each other, Joy said that based on the conversations she overhears, the latter make up the majority.
"Everyone comes to have a good time, don’t get me wrong. But I overhear some pretty incredible conversations taking place," she added. "Our guests really do want to communicate and talk about issues."
The one conversation she avoids striking up with guests (and encourages others to avoid) is politics, even though she’s confident that the SF Green Drinks crowd skews heavily blue. "Those conversations can get heated," she laughed. "SF Green Drinks is non-partisan. But I’m pretty sure I know who most of our guests are voting for in November."
For more information about SF Green Drinks, visit www.sfgreendrinks.org
To see a list of Green Drinks chapters worldwide, visit www.greendrinks.org
