The University of Washington is hosting the 2019 Pac-12 Sustainability Conference, the first collegiate sustainabilty conference focused on integrating sustainability into college athletics and across college campuses. The Pac-12 is committed to using the power of sport to promote healthy, sustainable practices to its campus communities and among Pac-12 fans.
The conference will be held June 25-26, 2019, and proposals for case studies, speakers and conference sessions are due Nov. 30, 2018.
See the proposal details below, or download the PDF.
Proposal details:
2019 Conference Themes:
Integrating with campus sustainability: how to use the platform of athletics to broaden and deepen campus engagement, fan experience, and community partnerships
Expanding collegiate athletics departments’ spheres of influence: how to incentivize and coordinate critical staff members in dining, custodial, venue operations, and sustainability
Harnessing the power of student pride: emerging values and interest to increase influence of green game impact
Understanding the commercial potential of sustainability: how to use the platform of sustainability to gain positive exposure and increase your bottom line Impact and social outreach: using the power of sport to promote a culture of diversity and inclusion.
Pac-12 Sustainability Conference is seeking submissions on the following topics:
Examples only, creative ideas welcome – submissions are not limited to the list outlined below.
- Changing market around waste
- College football playoffs - green initiatives
- Controls integrations
- Creating lasting programs for sustainable success
- Cross departmental partnerships
- Demand control kitchen ventilation projects
- Energy
- Equity and social justice
- Facilities, energy, operations
- Fan culture
- Focus on REDUCE & REUSE rather than just recycling
- Green games
- Green tailgating
- How sports sustainability can include under-privileged groups
- How universities can enhance sustainability message to fans
- How to incorporate sustainability while keeping it cost effective
- How to include more athletes in the sports sustainability movement
- LEEDs buildings on campuses
- Moving past waste -- think bigger
- Pac-12 impact/ social justice
- Social equity side of sustainability
- Solar initiatives
- Student athlete involvement in sustainability initiatives
- Student athletes driving sustainable leadership
- Sustainable culture as a whole
- Technologies that reduce kWh consumption
- The business case - rights holders showcase economic benefits/driver of sustainability
- Water
- Zero waste
Pac-12 Sustainability Conference is seeking the following SESSION TYPES:
Please note that this is an outline of successful past session types – creative ideas and thinking out of the box is welcome. Submissions are not limited to the session types outlined below.
Solutions-Driven Workshop Style Sessions - Built to explore issues in greater depth, workshop attendees will experiment with new modes of thinking and formulate the application of presented strategies to address relevant and persistent issues. These workshops are highly interactive and aimed to provide actionable next steps.
Best Practice Presentations - Featuring emerging best sports sustainability practices in operations, marketing and sponsorships, campus wide impact and student engagement.
Group Facilitated Discussions - Moderators will introduce the theme and set up problem statements for discussion. Each roundtable will be assigned one problem statement with group-led conversations and thought provoking discussions to drive solutions for the problem statements. To summarize, participants will come together and share their solutions to the problems and moderators will recap discussions. A Report will be distributed to recap actionable steps for post-event implementation.
Workshops - information-intensive session aimed to provide tactical knowledge of how-tos and actionable next steps. Attendees should leave with a list of tools and resources and action plans in hand that include in depth learning and dialogue.
Poster Session - showcase a range of ongoing sustainability projects and research throughout the Pac-12 via visual presentation allowing viewers to learn on their own while the presenter discusses particular points in one-on-one or small group conversations.
Case Study/Speakers (for inclusion as a part of a session or panel) - Pac-12 seeks new and original case studies to share leadership stories relevant to our themes, including athletics sustainability operations, leveraging sports to increase campus sustainability impacts, and engaging students in sports sustainability.
Panel Sessions – Oprah-style sessions featuring a Moderator (also a speaker/case study, leads the discussion) and 3-4 case studies/speakers to share/demonstrate best practices with the audience. Opening remarks/presentation (optional) followed by moderator-driver question and answers (determined in advance) with 10-15 minutes audience question and answer session to conclude the session.
Storytelling – Impromptu style storytelling formation that is entertaining and engaging. Each storyteller will have 10 minutes on stage to "narrate" his/her story of breaking the rules to make sustainability a key part of their business as usual plus all the bumps and bruises along the way to success.
Submission Requirements:
For all of the above proposals, please submit the following in our online submission form.
- Title
- 20 words maximum
- Session Type
- Abstract
- 500 words maximum
- Session Outline
- 200 words maximum. Please include description of content, proposed timing breakdown and interactive learning examples. Preference will be given to session formats that emphasize creativity and adult learning principles.
- Submitter’s Contact Information
- The "submitter" is the individual completing the online form, and who will be available to answer any logistical questions about the submission, regardless of whether they are the proposed speaker/presenter.
- Relevant Audience(s)
- Content should be targeted to Pac-12 Sustainability Conference sustainability/athletics department decision-maker audience
- Learning Objectives
- Please list 3‐4 lessons/insights the audience will take away from your presentation and be able to use in their work
- Speaker Details
- Including name, affiliation, professional title, email address & phone number, bio (100‐250 words), and 1-3 examples of speaking experience (event, presentation title, length, date, and audience size)
Submissions may not be accepted “as is”. Pac-12 Sustainability Conference reserves the right to suggest alternative combinations of speakers and case studies to most effectively shape each session’s content and the event’s sustainable learning experience as a whole.
Review Criteria:
Pac-12 Sustainability Conference will use these criteria as a means for evaluating proposals:
- Represents an innovative contribution to a timely and important topic of interest (sample topics noted above)
- Expertise and experience of presenters, as demonstrated by presenter bios, speaking experience and case study acclaim
- Originality and demonstrated commitment to enhancing sustainability learning of leaders in the Pac-12 regional community
- Priority given to new case studies - speakers and/or organizations not featured in previous Pac-12 Sustainability Conference programs
Program Policies, Guidelines and Expectations:
Diversity of gender, race and discipline is a priority for Pac-12 Sustainability Conference in developing the conference program, and will be given considerable weight when evaluating proposals.
Presentations are not meant to be a platform for business promotion. The Pac-12 Sustainability Conference requests that all proposals are centered on educational outcomes, including practice sharing, idea exploration and dissemination of tools, resources and actionable steps. If a presentation relates to a specific business, product, technology, or project, the emphasis must be on the underlying research or innovation process with the objective to provide insight for attendees to apply in their own work.
Selected session presenters are invited to attend the full conference and will receive complimentary full conference registration to participate in the full conference.
How to Submit:
Please submit all proposals in our online submission form.
Review and Selection Process Timeline:
- September 25, 2018 – Call for proposals issued
- November 30, 2018 – Deadline for proposal submissions (extend if necessary)
- January 25, 2019 – Selection decisions announced
- March 25, 2019 – Program announced
- June 25-26, 2019 – Pac-12 Sustainability Conference Date
Additional information: Please email sierra@pac-12sustainabilityconference.com.