Jennifer M. - NESEA

Raising community while raising funds: Emerging professionals show us how it's done

February 8, 2011 By Jennifer M. Leave a Comment

Things have that crazy, breathless feeling as we close in on BuildingEnergy, with only 4 weeks to go until showtime. But I wanted to share with you a spontaneous outpouring of generosity that occurred within the NESEA community within the past week.

A group of NESEA emerging professionals, led by Ryan Lacey, LEED AP, of Petersen Engineering, and Bernice Radle, of Buffalo Energy, were working hard to make the NESEA student design competition, which culminates at BE11, a success. Part of their work entailed securing sponsorships and/or donations for prizes for the winners – something they had hoped to be able to offer, but that wasn’t in the budget. The put out a call for help on Basecamp, NESEA’s project planning forum.

What followed was a stunning online fund drive that would make even National Public Radio affiliates green with envy. During the course of the next 3-4 hours, individual NESEA members pledged anywhere from $50 to $250.01, and in no time, they had raised the $2000 they sought. But more importantly, they established their credibility within the NESEA community such that these donors really felt it a privilege to help them.

Kudos to these young leaders. They’re already doing great things, and with their engagement, our future looks bright indeed!

Filed Under: Emerging Professionals, NESEA Tagged With: community building, Emerging Professionals, fundraising, NESEA, student design competition

More news on the chapter re-design process

December 9, 2010 By Jennifer M. 2 Comments

Last week we announced a new chapter structure for NESEA, and invited current NESEA chapters to work with us to iron out the particulars. This chapter restructuring is truly taking on a life of its own. I can hardly believe how much has happened since then – all good stuff, all worth sharing!

• Yesterday, we received our first, formal written response from a current NESEA chapter. The Board of GreenHome NYC indicated that they are interested in working with us to further design the ideal NESEA chapter. Per Andy Padian, who serves on their board, “Of course, New Yorkers always want to scream out “we’re #1” and this week, we can claim being the first (we think) existing Chapter to stay in the fold. Do we win anything?” We’ll have to see if we can come up with a suitable prize for those Yankees fans, but in the meantime, my undying gratitude to them for stepping up to the plate will have to suffice. We also have inklings from a few other current NESEA chapters that they’d like to work with us to design the ideal chapter and opt into the new structure – although no more formal commitments yet.
• We have received almost universally favorable comments about the proposal – even from those who are not sure they want to opt in. Some chapters have indicated that they are interested in having NESEA provide some sort of chapter programming each year – say a workshop or seminar – and that they would gladly trade some of their chapter dues share for such programming. We have learned that some of our chapters are reinvesting some of the dues share money they receive from NESEA in “the mother ship” – purchasing NESEA memberships in lieu of an honorarium for their guest speakers. And we have learned that we may need to do a better job of articulating the “WIIFM” (“What’s in it for me?”) to the chapters. If we are asking them to make changes that take more time and cost more money, they’ll need to know what these additional costs buy them in return.
• The proposal also has sparked comments from NESEA members who are not currently involved with a chapter have also shared ideas with respect to how to increase the value of NESEA membership, how to more readily connect NESEA members to each other directly – through pot lucks, house parties, and an online, member-to-member directory.
• Late last week, we received an inquiry from a professional in the Poughkeepsie, NY area who is interested in starting a new NESEA chapter. We filled him in on the chapter redesign process, and he’s very excited about participating in this process from the ground floor.
• I have been asked to share We have been asked to share this open and collaborative process, and our results so far, at the annual conference of our parent organization, the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), in May. Evidently, others in sustainable energy are interested in learning about how we are engaging the NESEA community with respect to these issues, and we are delighted to share what we’re learning!

So what’s next? In January and February we plan to start meeting with those chapters who have expressed interest in fleshing out the new chapter structure to get their perspective on exactly what the new structure should look like, and how and when to roll it out to best serve them. We will also likely create some sort of forum at BuildingEnergy11 so that chapters, NESEA members, and the sustainable energy community at large can weigh in with their ideas. Once we’ve gathered feedback from all the stakeholders, we will present a clearer proposal and roadmap to the NESEA Membership and Chapters Advisory Committee, and ultimately to the NESEA Board for their consideration at the May Board meeting.

As excited as I am to move ahead with all this, I recognize these are big changes we’re making, and big changes take time. And, of course, these changes are occurring in the context of a whole system, a system in which we face competing priorities every day. We’ve opened the spigot, and the ideas with respect to chapters and membership are flowing much faster than we can process them all, especially as we are trying to deal with a server that crashed earlier this week, and with making BuildingEnergy11 our best conference ever. Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to sharing our progress, and hearing your thoughts

Filed Under: NESEA Tagged With: board of directors, Building Energy Conference, chapters, collaboration, membership

An invitation to NESEA Chapters and Members

November 30, 2010 By Jennifer M. Leave a Comment

I just finished a call with the NESEA Chapter Caucus to update them on some changes to our chapter structure that the NESEA Board recently approved, unanimously, and inviting them to participate in a collaborative process to build a new chapter structure over the next six months. I was delighted with the level of engagement and cooperation on the call. Those who participated seemed, universally, to understand this new strategic direction and the rationale underlying it.

In the spirit of openness and collaboration, I wanted to share the same information with you, the NESEA membership.

Here’s the text of the letter I circulated for the call:

November 29, 2010

An invitation to NESEA Chapters

We are inviting you to work with us to build a new Chapter structure – a structure that puts NESEA’s mission, to advance the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment – at the very center of our local activities, and that provides Chapters with the resources to help advance that mission.

We have outlined below what we think this new, ideal chapter structure will entail, and the NESEA board has given unanimous approval to move in this direction. We hope you’ll want to be a part of this process. If so, we’ll need to hear from you by no later than February 1, 2011.

After consideration, if, for whatever reason, you decide that you will not be participating in further defining and implementing this new chapter structure, we hope that you will still choose to be an Affiliate of NESEA. We have further defined the affiliate relationship below.

Background

For the past several months, a Chapter Advisory Committee, comprised of NESEA board members, representatives of NESEA’s staff, and Mitch Anthony, an outside strategy consultant, has been reviewing and considering the organization’s membership and Chapter system. This work is being done in the context of a new, integrated strategic plan that is focused on learning how the organization can better fulfill its mission, an how it can better serve its members.

One of our primary findings was that NESEA Chapter and Chapter membership policies are inconsistent. Over time, our Chapters have developed their own policies with respect to their membership, their branding, and their programming. Our Chapters are doing some really great work – but much of it is not done in the name of NESEA, in concert with NESEA, or in concert with other Chapters. We aim to address this inconsistency.

Help us build the ideal chapter

We would like to invite you to collaborate with us to build “the ideal chapter.” The NESEA Board has agreed to what the basics of the ideal chapter might look like, but we need your help fleshing out the details – how will it work in practice, what’s the best way to implement it, etc.

Based on the work we’ve done with the Chapter Advisory Committee so far, here’s what we think that ideal chapter might look like:

Look and Feel
• Consistent Branding – use of logo (NESEA Chapter Graphic) in literature, signage, tabling materials
• Consistent web presence
• Consistent naming protocol (ex. NESEA RI, NESEA Boston, NESEA NJ)
• Clarity that you are a chapter of NESEA (display prominently in literature and on website and/or in tag line)
• NESEA to provide: branding toolkit (including logos, PowerPoint template, suggested color palate); training in how to use it

Minimum Activity Level
• Minimum quarterly opportunity for in-person meeting. Regularly scheduled meetings to advance mission, recruit members. Meetings might include:
o Tours of high performance buildings or manufacturers’ plants
o Meet ups for networking
o Business “How To” (ex. how to green your portfolio, sustainable leadership
o Workshops (professional development, technical issues, “BE on the Road,” financing, incentives, rebates)
o Incentives/rebates/financing
o Info sessions on NESEA events. Ex. ZNEB, GBOH, JSS, BE
• Reciprocal communication: Chapter publicizes NESEA events and vice versa
• Host NESEA Award Night Annually – Celebrate member achievements!
o NESEA Members submit their best projects. One is selected per state or several per category per state – and they are honored at an awards night.
o This will help track our impact throughout the territory and it will provide good PR and networking opportunities.
• Participation in the GBOH tour
• Participation in BE
• Tabling on behalf of NESEA at local/regional conferences, fairs, expos, etc.
• Active in Chapter Caucus (participate in calls or in-person meetings at least 3X per year, share information)
• Mentor/Teach/Coach other chapters
• NESEA to provide: suggested topics and speakers for meetings, information on how chapters can get AIA or other professional development credits for their programming, content for NESEA program info sessions, support for local NESEA night

Reporting
• To help NESEA track our reach geographically (how many people are we reaching each month/year throughout the territory).
o Meeting report – (topic, speaker(s), attendees, attendee info, evals)
o Workshop Report – (topic, speaker(s), attendees, attendee info, evals)
o Annual Report
• NESEA to provide: Simple-to-use online template that chapter can populate to report speaker, topic, number of members attending

Mission and Strategic Focus
• Chapter mission must be the same as NESEA central’s, although there may be room for chapters to use different strategies to achieve that mission, so long as they are also willing to support NESEA’s strategies

Membership
• All chapter members must be NESEA members.

If you are interested in helping us to flesh out this new chapter structure, we invite you to be part of that process.

What’s the alternative?

If, for whatever reason, your Chapter does not notify NESEA by February 1, 2011 that you want to participate in building this new chapter structure, we would still like to maintain an affiliate relationship with your organization, and continue to work with each other to advance our respective missions. An affiliate relationship would entail the following:

• Logo exchange for use on website/social media/PR
• Live link exchange
• Share email lists (when appropriate)
• Help promote each other’s activities
• Calendar exchanges
• Membership in each other’s organizations (your organization would be a Business Level 1 member of NESEA, and NESEA would have an equivalent membership level within your organization.)

There will be no dues sharing with affiliates. Affiliates will maintain their own members, and NESEA will maintain its own members. (We have, however, created a tool kit for affiliate organizations to help them administer their own membership and notify their members of the change.)

Catch-up call

We want to provide more detail and hear your ideas and questions. We’ve scheduled a group conference call on Tuesday, November 30th at noon Eastern. The call-in details are:

Dial in: 866-675-4248
Passcode: 774-6051

Come prepared with your suggestions, questions and ideas.

NESEA is committed to serving its members. We are committed to serving their efforts, and your efforts, to advance the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment. How can we help you to do this on a local level? We hope you’ll accept this invitation to help grow the organization to meet these goals.

Warm Regards,

Jennifer Marrapese
Executive Director

I would love your involvement in the process as well. Please let me know how chapters can best serve you. How do you think NESEA chapters can best advance the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment? What programming should they be offering? What types of networking opportunities? Email or call me with your ideas: jmarrapese@nesea.org or 413.774.6051, ext. 23.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: chapters, collaboration, membership, mission, strategic plan

Who knew NESEA needed an architect?

November 12, 2010 By Jennifer M. 1 Comment

Seth did, that’s who!

When the NESEA board hired me as interim executive director a year ago, I’m not sure that either they or I envisioned that they needed an architect to fill the role. Well, lo and behold, according to Seth Godin (yes, my favorite blogger again), this is exactly what they needed. In one of his recent gems, “Hire an architect,” Seth wrote:

“Architects don’t manufacture nails, assemble windows or chop down trees. Instead, they take existing components and assemble them in interesting and important ways.

It used to be that if you wanted to build an organization, you had to be prepared to do a lot of manufacturing and assembly–of something. My first internet company had 60 or 70 people at its peak… and today, you could run the same organization with six people. The rest? They were busy building an infrastructure that now exists. Restaurants used to be built by chefs. Now, more than ever, they’re built by impresarios who know how to tie together real estate, promotion, service and chefs into a package that consumers want to buy. The difficult part isn’t installing the stove, the difficult (and scarce) part is telling a story.

I’m talking about intentionally building a structure and a strategy and a position, not focusing your energy on the mechanics, because mechanics alone are insufficient. Just as you can’t build a class A office building with nothing but a skilled carpenter, you can’t build a business for the ages that merely puts widgets into boxes.

My friend Jerry calls these people corporate chiropractors. They don’t do surgery, they realign and recognize what’s out of place.

Organizational architects know how to find suppliers, use the cloud (of people, of data, of resources), identify freelancers, tie together disparate resources and weave them into a business that scales. You either need to become one or hire one.

The organizations that matter are busy being run by people who figure out what to do next.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. That’s exactly what my staff and I try to do every day here at NESEA. I think I’ll add Organizational Architect to my resume the next time I need to search for a job . . . which I’m hoping won’t be for a very, very long time.

Have a great weekend all.

Jennifer

Filed Under: Uncategorized

numbingly boring, but ultimately profoundly fascinating and inspiring — NESEA Annual Meeting, 2010

September 27, 2010 By Jennifer M. 1 Comment

Check out this exchange between NESEA diehards Jamie Wolf and Bruce Coldham on the keynote speech at the annual meeting, delivered by Joachim Eble.

JAMIE’s POST
I want to share, briefly, the numbingly boring, but ultimately profoundly fascinating and inspiring presentation by German architect Joachim Eble at last night’s NESEA gathering in Providence. Let me first say that NESEA
continues to show evidence of an inspiring transformation as it actually (and finally) transitions to the twenty first century. Thanks to all who paved the way and even more, to those who are actively engaged NOW in that transition.

Eble led us, at his own pace and with dense graphics (as my new colleague Janet Downey explains: the architect intends a meaning for every line they draw, expecting the viewer to comprehend that intent with or without explanation). Eble’s intent was to lay out for us the grounds for a practice that is prepared to move beyond the narrower frameworks of energy and health (ever valid concerns) that consumed his practice earlier in his career to the layered relationships that demand attention in the practice of sustainable urbanism (city scaled projects that acknowledge a responsibility to consider bioclimatic design imperatives, transportation, regenerative environmental potential within and beyond project boundaries, material and energy flows, and the qualities that support social networks and thrive because of, not in spite of them.

He shared projects and organizing principles (in layered graphics with plenty of fine print) that demonstrated just how he has engaged these challenges in his practice, with success, and as a result for us in the audience, the opportunity to marvel at what is being achieved across Europe in the projects operating under the umbrella of the Eco-City movement and its many dedicated partners in at least six countries.

Of note: There is a potentially promising discovery related to carbon sequestration thru soils described as BioChar or AgriChar. I would love to hear what others know of this and its potential role an integrated sustainable practice across scale (this potential was intimated but not described – initial research via google/youtube expresses the promise but does not make this any clearer for me).

Most interesting: Eble described a growing development trend away from commercial development to cooperative development, with projects driven by the needs of multi-generational constituents rather then profit seeking developers (not unlike co-housing in which the coop is the client). This is exciting to contemplate, and is already being expressed here in the states by boomer retirees seeking to control their living options in the face of established twentieth century alternatives. For instance http://www.beaconhillvillage.org OR http://www.cambridgeathome.org/ (thanks to my wife Barbara for these examples).

I’m thankful to Bruce for bringing Joachim AND for initiating the upcoming journey to Germany and Upper Austria and return to share what is learned at BE11. — Jamie Wolf, Wolfworks

BRUCE’S RESPONSE
Jamie nailed it! – “numbingly boring, but ultimately profoundly fascinating and inspiring”.

I was sitting in the front row, after having introduced him, feeling more and more nervous as the first half of the evening wore on – (his fluency in English seemed to have diminished slightly in six years years I last spent time with him). But at the after-party at John Jacobson’s, people were excited, and I was relieved. I knew this stuff reasonably well, but I just wasn’t sure whether he was getting it across.

I have uploaded a pdf of the talk…… and talk to Jesse about the Terra Preta (bio-char and beyond material). Or read Charles Mann 1491 to begin with.

And something else. Joachim was PROFOUNDLY influenced by the New Alchemists as a young architect. So, on the way down to visit with John (an excursion on the way to Providence that I thought would be nice for him and nice for me, which it was), we visited Earle Barnhart and Hilde Maingay and the old NA site and “Ark” that E&H have made part of their house. For JE it was “a small pilgrimage, Yes?, I can say I was here, even years later”. But then, the Sat. night event of his talk, I introduced him to Kurt Teichert because K. was in at the tail end of NAI. Again JE was riveted. Then at the end of the evening, Kurt noticed that Ron Zweig and his wife Christine were in the audience, (Ron was with the Todds et al in at the very beginning of NAI, so I arranged for them to spend a few minutes together. It was just magic. JE was reverent in his admiration for Ron, and (because he had just sat through the numbingly boring, but ultimately profoundly fascinating and inspiring talk) – Ron had another achievement to add to his life.

For Eble, this will be what was important about this trip to America in 2010. And we made it all happen – by accident.
– Bruce Coldham, FAIA, Coldham & Hartman Architects

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: bio-char, community engagement, eco-city, Joachim Eble, sustainable urbanism

NESEA Retrofit Revisited?

August 23, 2010 By Jennifer M. 1 Comment

We’re having lots of great conversations internally about the strategic role of 50 Miles Street to NESEA.

For the uninitiated, “50 Miles Street” is the address of the NESEA building. Unlike many nonprofit organizations of our size, NESEA actually owns its building. We have owned it since the mid-1990s, as a result of an agreement with the City of Greenfield, MA, which also led to NESEA creating the Greenfield Energy Park.

From what I gather, people have been talking about making the building a showcase for energy efficiency and renewables for as long as we’ve owned it! Several members have initiated studies and made proposals as to what we should do, and in the mid-1990’s, the board even entertained completing a capital campaign to raise funds for a retrofit of the “Northeast Sustainability Center” at NESEA.

Lately, a number of NESEA members have again taken up the torch! Last fall, Nancy Hazard arranged for a comprehensive energy efficiency audit of the building, and since then NESEA board member John (JJ) Jacobson has completed a more comprehensive review, including:
• Reviewing all the previous studies of the building
• Talking with the city planner’s office and local businesses about anticipated economic development in Greenfield
• Reviewing the financials, including our utility and building maintenance expenses, our rental income vs. market rates, and other related information.

JJ is planning to present his findings to the NESEA board later this fall. The next step will likely be to establish a NESEA work group, comprised of board members, NESEA members and staff, to develop (and hopefully ultimately implement!) a strategic plan for the building.

So what’s your feedback. What would a Northeast Sustainability Center mean to you?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: board of directors, NESEA building, retrofit, strategic plan

Quick Update from the Executive Director

July 28, 2010 By Jennifer M. Leave a Comment

This will be my last communication for a week or two, as I’m headed off to vacation in Madison, Wisconsin with my family on Friday. But I wanted to fill you in on what the staff and I have been working on over the past few weeks.

The short story is that we’ve been operating at a fever pitch this summer, and finding opportunities to collaborate, both internally and with external partners, almost everywhere we look.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s underway:
• We have developed a media tool kit so that we can better equip our Green Buildings Open House organizers and hosts to promote the tour, being held on October 2nd;
• Our Education Department is working closely with the BuildingEnergy planning committee on our first Educators’ Summit, to be held at BE11;
• We are partnering with other organizations (Affordable Comfort, Green Roundtable/NEXUS, the BSA, and others) to spread the word about our programs and better serve our members;
• We are more clearly defining NESEA’s brand so you’ll begin to recognize us more readily. We’ve been working with Mitch Anthony and Susan Lapointe on our ads, website, and other promotional materials to create a cleaner, more consistent look and feel for the NESEA tribe.
• We’re looking closely at the relationship of NESEA members and chapters to NESEA central – trying to envision what it might look like if we were building it from scratch, and identifying ways to move toward that ideal state.
• And there’s more . . . much more!

I’m happy to share any of these developments with you if you’d like to contact me directly after August 8th. Until then, I’ll be “off the grid!” — Jennifer

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: branding, chapters, communication, membership, strategic plan

On winning . . . NESEA style

June 30, 2010 By Jennifer M. Leave a Comment

My favorite blogger, Seth Godin, wrote yesterday about winning. He started with the toddler’s approach to winning – getting what you want, now. But he went on to describe more nuanced ways of defining a “win.,” asking instead, “What happens when you define a win as getting closer to someone who wants the same thing? Or when you define it as improvement over time? Or in creating trust?”

These three questions set the framework for what could have been a very difficult meeting yesterday.

NESEA staff had a visit from representatives of our New Hampshire Chapter, NHSEA, yesterday. Madeline McElaney, Program and Outreach Coordinator, and Christa Koehler, Vice President of the Board of Directors met with me and the rest of the NESEA staff for almost two hours. We all knew at the outset that this might be a challenging meeting. The New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association (NHSEA) has for years been doing wonderful, compelling work (both education and advocacy) on behalf of residential consumers and business owners in New Hampshire who wish to learn more about sustainable energy. Their mission and their focus have been different than NESEA’s, as we have devoted most of our energy toward supporting professionals in sustainable energy in their networking and professional development. This difference in mission and in strategic direction has been a source of concern for NHSEA for several years – to the point that they are actively considering whether affiliation with NESEA still makes sense.

Madeline and Christa also shared with us several concerns about the current NESEA membership and chapter structure – some of them relating to the revenue chapters receive from NESEA for each new member, and others relating to the “contract” between NESEA and its chapters, and the lack of clarity about what is expected of the chapters and what they can expect in return.

These are pressing issues to NHSEA, and they want to see progress on them . . . now!

Clearly this wasn’t a meeting where either party could expect a “toddler win.” Everyone around the table understood that. Too many complex issues requiring the consent of too many stakeholders who weren’t even in the room. Yet I would absolutely classify this meeting as a “win” on the basis of the other three, more nuanced questions.

Getting closer to someone who wants the same thing: We shared information and experiences with respect to the Green Buildings Open House program and identified ways we could work together more effectively immediately on that program so that it reaches more consumers in New Hampshire. We also raised the possibility of working together on a pilot for the program to increase its visibility and its financial viability over time – a pilot that might serve as a model for other NESEA chapters.

Improvement over time: We committed to work together to address the concerns they raised with respect to membership, in the context of the NESEA Membership/Chapters Advisory Committee. This committee will be addressing each of the issues raised by NHSEA within the next six months or so – but will do so in the context of the “whole system” that is NESEA. Madeline will serve as a member of that committee, which will make final recommendations to the NESEA board with respect to membership structure and benefits, revenue share with chapters, what will be expected of chapters and what NESEA will provide in return.

Creating trust: This one’s probably pretty obvious. It spoke volumes to us that Madeline and a member of her board cared enough to visit us, to sit with us face-to-face, to tell us the hard truth, and to give us the opportunity to work together to resolve the issues.

So are we all ready to sing Kumbaya? Not quite yet. As I shared with Madeline and Christa, I can’t guarantee the outcome on some of the items most important to them – those relating to membership and revenue. These are decisions that the NESEA board will ultimately make. Nor can I guarantee that our missions will continue to align sufficiently that NHSEA will find value in affiliating with NESEA. What I can guarantee is this:

• NESEA will try to be as transparent as possible throughout this process;
• The door will remain open for better communication between the chapters;
• They will have a seat at the table as we reformulate the membership/chapter structure; and
• We will continue to try to find ways to support them, whether they decide to remain a chapter or not.

I hope it’s enough for now, and I look forward to working together to sort out the rest.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: chapters, membership, Seth Godin, strategic plan, winning

On silo busting, bridge building, and social media . . .

June 25, 2010 By Jennifer M. 2 Comments

Wanted to bring you all up to speed on what’s happening with the NESEA strategic plan, and catch those of you up who might not even be aware that we have a strategic plan!

The board adopted a new strategic plan in May. The plan sets forth a number of priorities for the coming year. But rather than bore you with you a dry list of bullet points relating to communications and branding, strategic partnerships, membership and chapters, metrics, etc., I thought I’d bring you up to speed on a few of the things I’ve been working on in conjunction with the plan that excite me most.

First, we’re breaking down silos and building bridges. Such cliché language, such over-used expressions. What they mean in our case is that we’re looking at NESEA as a solar system, and BuildingEnergy is the sun. For many people, BE is NESEA and vice versa. So part of what we are doing is reevaluating all of our programs with respect to what works well with BE: great opportunities to network with and learn from a multidisciplinary group of professionals, a “whole systems” approach to energy efficiency and renewable energy, the opportunity to share the results of proven case studies . . . the list goes on. We’re trying to add a bit more of the BE vibe to our other programs, and bringing our other programs to BE, both figuratively and literally. For example, this year we’ll hold our first educators summit at BuildingEnergy. For years we’ve been offering excellent teacher training programs on energy efficiency and renewable energy, but we’ve not created opportunities for educators to network and learn from and with other NESEA professionals. This year, we’ll have educators attend sessions geared toward K-12 science curriculum, but will also invite them to take in a few of the traditional BuildingEnergy sessions. We’ve known for years that teachers involved in our K-12 training programs are often the strongest advocates for introducing energy efficiency and renewables into our schools. Let’s equip them with the tools and the passion to be evangelists for a larger audience of students and their families as well.

Second, on the sponsorship front: we looked at NESEA’s sponsorship packages and found ourselves really uninspired. We also did a lot of research into the sponsorship packages that other, like-minded organizations were offering and were similarly unimpressed. Then it struck us that we’d never really gone out asked our sponsors what they wanted from their partnership with NESEA. Duh! So one of the first things we’ve done is to schedule meetings with a few of our key sponsors to hear from them. We held our first meeting this week with BuildingEnergy sponsor Conservation Services Group. They gave us lots of ideas of really do-able things that would add value for them. And more than anything else, I think they were delighted just to be asked. Just this meeting set us apart from the other 100+ organizations and/or trade shows that seek money from them each year! A great opportunity to build the relationship and learn more about the needs of some of our key members in the process. We’ve got a few more of these meetings set with other sponsors over the next few months, which I’m hoping will be equally valuable.

Third, (and last for now), on the communications and branding front: We know we need to be doing a lot more with social media to keep our members in the loop and to attract potential newbies as well. This blog post is one of my first personal efforts in that regard . . . and I have to say it’s a bit terrifying to try to speak in my own voice, and to figure out what’s relevant to share. I’d love for this forum to be a dialogue . . . but then again, I don’t want anyone to disagree with me . . . ever. (Just kidding, of course – working with this highly engaged and opinionated group sometimes requires me to have a thick skin!) I’m going to do my best to keep you all updated, both here and through our enewsletter, but if a few weeks go by without you hearing from me, feel free to jiggle the handle. You can always reach me at jmarrapese@nesea.org. Thanks!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: BE, BuildingEnergy, communication, social media, sponsor, strategic plan

Interview with Young NESEA-ite Caroline Petrovick

March 24, 2010 By Jennifer M. Leave a Comment

In the spring 2010 issue of the Northeast Sun, we published an article/compilation of interviews with 13 young NESEA members, exploring what they find valuable about NESEA, and how we can make the organization relevant to those under 40. Space constraints prevented us from publishing each interview in full, but the content from these interviews was so rich that we wanted you to be able to read them. What follows is the full interview with Caroline Petrovick, 28, a project manager at Coldham and Hartman.

Caroline Petrovick completed her undergraduate degree in film at Yale, and worked on commercials and independent films as a set designer and prop master for a few years in New York, and for an architecture firm in Boston for a year before moving back to Amherst and returning to school for her Masters of Architecture degree at UMass Amherst. This year she is helping to coordinate the Public Forum at BE10. She is also involved with NESEA Night, helping to get the Solar Decathlon teams to the conference. “I’m hoping we can make NESEA Night a more inclusive event this year, and create better opportunities for younger people to meet people who have been involved with NESEA for a long time.”

NESEA: How did you become involved in NESEA and what inspired you to become involved?

Caroline Petrovick: I got involved through our office. Bruce (Coldham) and Tom (Hartman) are very involved with the BE conference. I started by contacting presenters before the conference to help coordinate their presentations for online access. I’ve volunteered at the conference, both as a general volunteer and session chair. I’ve also helped with the Public Forum.

This year I’m involved with NESEA Night, helping to get the Solar Decathlon teams to the conference. I’m hoping we can make NESEA Night a more inclusive event this year, and create better opportunities for younger people to meet people who have been involved with NESEA for a long time.

NESEA: How are you currently involved with NESEA?

Caroline Petrovick: This year, our office is coordinating the Public Forum, which I feel is always one of the most important parts of the conference. The Public Forum is something I really enjoy because it draws in a lot of people who might otherwise be intimidated or be unable to afford the conference and gets them involved. It’s also a really exciting to see who will be speaking at the Public Forum, as it draws some pretty big names.

NESEA: Are you currently active in one of the NESEA chapters? Which one and how?

Caroline Petrovick: No. I live in Worcester and commute out here to Amherst. There’s not really a NESEA chapter in central Massachusetts. I’d be interested in helping to set one up or to be involved in a Central MA chapter.

NESEA: What do you value most about NESEA?

Caroline Petrovick: I really value the opportunity to meet different people in the field that aren’t architects, the BE Conference, and the opportunity to network and meet people. It’s helpful to me to hear the perspective of an engineer or a builder, to broaden my perspective as an architect.

NESEA: What other professional and/or networking organizations do you belong to? Are there things NESEA can learn about the way they operate? Any examples?

Caroline Petrovick: Our office is involved in Deep Energy Tribe, a small network of different professionals who share information and advice about retrofits and building science. One of the things that makes it work so well is that it’s a very small circle of experts. Because of the size, there’s an element of trust in sharing information. We use basecamp to organize our discussion and our work together.

I’m also a member of NEWIEE – New England Women in Energy and the Environment. The first meeting I attended was last year, at BE09. That’s a group of professional women mostly in public relations, government, and nonprofit. I think our firm may be the only member firm actually involved in building. I’ve really enjoyed the networking opportunities that NEWIEE provides.

For both of these organizations, the main means of communication is via social networking sites. More outreach through online social networking would be very valuable to me for NESEA.

NESEA: What things, specifically, should NESEA be doing to cultivate emerging leaders in sustainability and the built environment?

Caroline Petrovick: If I weren’t involved with NESEA through my firm’s office, I don’t know how aware I would be of NESEA. In my grad school program, I think the only people who attended the BE Conference were Jesse and I – both from Coldham & Hartman. I think NESEA could do a better job of marketing to students and faculty of the NE schools.

Social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, present good opportunities for reaching out to younger potential members. I don’t mean to focus only on social media as a way to reach younger members, but I strongly believe it is the best, most efficient way to introduce NESEA to that generation.

NESEA: How can we use mentoring?

Caroline Petrovick: I think there’s an opportunity to get the universities more involved, initially by involving the professors and then engaging the students.

Again, I am not active in a chapter because there isn’t one in central MA, but I imagine that they could be a great opportunity for mentoring. I think smaller groups like the chapters would be a more comfortable setting for young members to get involved with.

NESEA: In person meet ups?

Caroline Petrovick: I’d like to see more opportunities available for smaller group meetings in Central Massachusetts. Social media might be helpful in convening such group meetings.

As I mentioned earlier, I also really like the way the public forums are set up. A series of lectures or forums similar to the Public Forum at the BE conference may attract younger members. These lectures/forums could potentially be set up at Colleges in MA.