The Greenbuild expo winded down on Thursday evening, but I’ve just barely caught my breath (and my feet haven’t quite recovered yet). I didn’t have a chance to see everyone or every thing, but I did see quite a bit.

My week started out at the Sheraton for an event dedicated to AEC students and up-and-coming professionals. I have to extend a big thank you to Helen Kessler for sharing her story and inspiring a roomful of students, myself included. Carlisle SynTec Inc. and Antron carpet fiber, our sponsors, followed up with presentations on energy efficient roofing and carpet life cycle, respectively. We gave away an iPad, two full Greenbuild conference registrations (and an expo hall pass to everyone that attended). It was great to see such fresh faces ready to jump into the sustainable building industry – a perfect way to kick off the week.

The rest of the week flew by, with a trip to the planetarium for Johnson Controls’ Green Tie party on Monday night, and other dinners and/or drinks on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with many of my friends, including: the whole ED+C/SF team, Jack Armstrong from BASF, the Motum b2b team, the ladies from Vantage Communications (who did a great job hosting a “Sweet Spot” at our booth on Wednesday), contributor Jamie Qualk from SSRCx (just wait until you see the video Rob Puleo shot at the show), Bill Gagnon from Excel Dryer, Jason Watts from Sheffield Metals, and many, many more.

On the show floor, we had plenty of opportunities to meet and greet architects, designers, facility managers and product manufacturers. I had a chance to participate in BASF’s Building Science Trivia as a host (very fun) and as a contestant (I was a big loser). I also watched Caroma flush lemons and limes down the toilet. I saw a huge replica of the Empire State Building constructed in Serious Materials’ booth. (If you’re looking for more unusual stuff, check out Rita Revis’ “sitting” series, including some hilarious twitpics of her testing out products on the show floor – see twitter.com/revarevispr). In the coming days, you’ll see the www.EDCmag.com/usgbc web site fill up with more and more products and news from Greenbuild. And Derrick will continue to share some of his favorites. It’s not too late to send him yours (teald@bnpmedia.com).

And now, after all the Greenbuild fun has officially come to a close, some of the real work begins. Derrick and I (and the sales team of course) are following up on the stacks of business cards, CDs, flash drives and e-mails we acquired during the show (proudly, we didn’t bring home a single piece of paper this year, so thanks to all of the PR reps that understand electronic media is the way to go).  

I should be recovered and ready by next October to head to my 10th Greenbuild (in Toronto in 2011). In the meantime, tell me what you thought of Greenbuild by sharing your comments below. If you snapped any pictures on the floor, at parties, or just of yourself, you can share them via flickr.com (and they’ll appear on this site). Just use our login EDCMag@yahoo.com and password GreenBuildPhotos.  

Michelle Hucal