Seminars

Seminar Descriptions

A Systems Approach to Sustainability (required for a certificate)

Awareness of sustainability as a multi dimensional, dynamic interaction between interrelated and interdependent elements in an organization is essential to the development and continuous improvement of successful sustainability initiatives. This seminar is a GBCI approved course.

The Sustainability Coordinator as an Organizational Change Agent

The Sustainability Coordinator is an active leader in introducing, legitimizing and managing the organization’s development towards sustainable practices. Change agents require proficiency in the use of facilitation, persuasive communication and collaboration to guide and motivate an organization to adopt sustainable business processes. This seminar is a GBCI approved course.

Designing Effective Communication Media

Develop an understanding of how to engage an audience and enhance comprehension of your message through engaging graphic design and clear, crisp persuasive writing is an essential skill for the sustainability coordinator.

Establishing Sustainability as an Organizational Purpose

Sustainability branding is the process of positioning your organization’s identity as an enterprise that values and practices sustainability. When practiced with authenticity, the sustainability brand defines the organization’s values and interactions as both a supplier and a consumer of goods and services.

Marketing Metrics that Matter

This seminar provides an orientation to qualitative research methods and their use in designing and implementing tools and methods for identifying high value opportunities.

Marketing Sustainability Initiatives

Marketing sustainability initiatives consists of strategies and tactics for conveying the value of green business practices to customers, clients, partners, employees and the community at large.

Using Evaluation to Craft the Business Case for Sustainability

Establishing the economic and social return on investments in sustainability initiatives can motivate an organization to initiate, maintain and expand its sustainability efforts. Return on Investment and Social Return on Investment are two common methods for establishing the quantitative and qualitative benefits of investing in sustainability initiatives. This seminar is a GBCI approved course.

How Green is Your Organization? Sustainable Infrastructure

Explore and apply rating tools and environmental scans that help the Sustainability Coordinator assess an organization’s level of achievement with industry standards in infrastructure in order to identify high priority opportunities for action. This seminar is a GBCI approved course.

How Green is Your Organization? Sustainable Policy and Practice

Explore and apply rating tools and environmental scans that help the Sustainability Coordinator assess an organization’s level of achievement with industry standards in policy and practice in order to identify high priority opportunities for action. This seminar is a GBCI approved course.

Communicating the Organization's Sustainability Efforts

Whether it is formal – a Sustainability Report Card, or informal – a newsletter article – organizations have to communicate their performance on sustainability goals to employees, clients and other stakeholders. This responsibility requires both technical knowledge and sound judgment to assure that the report highlights the documentable priorities and achievements of the organization. This seminar is a GBCI approved course.

Integrating Sustainability into Training and Curriculum

As sustainability leaders, part of our work is to systematically build the capacity of the people in our spheres of influence--so that they can serve as empowered co-creators of a sustainable future. In this seminar, we will form a "community of practice" to explore how curriculum and training can be effectively used to leverage the sustainability efforts of our organizations. This seminar is a GBCI approved course.

Tools and Techniques for Planning and Managing Sustainability Projects

Project planning and management follows the major phases of an initiative throughout its lifecycle - from initial conception through evaluation. Knowledge of how to use systematic project planning and management tools is critical to advancing sustainability initiatives off the drawing board and into practice. This seminar is a GBCI approved course.