Promoting Green Campus and Making Connections

Allie Bussjaeger

Cal State Long Beachabussjaeger@gmail.com

CSULB in the media

• The Green Campus Program started at CSULB in March 2010

• Media exposure• Grunion Gazette newspaper for the city of Long Beach

• Downey Patriot newspaper for the city of Downey

• Numerous 49er news articles and Kbeach radio shows

• CNN local news edition interview

• Onset article about the HOBO meter project

Finding Connections on Campus• Identify potential stakeholders from a variety

of locations on campus

– Professors, staff, student govt, campus bookstore

• Identify the most popular media sources

– Newspaper? Radio?

Television commercials?

• Find other groups with similar goals

– Shows interest in what is happening on campus, other groups will respect/want to work with you

Making Your Program Stand Out

• Make an effort to spread the word!

– Talk to staff about GCP

• Table at events

– You never know who

you will meet!

• Have facts readily available

– This gives you credibility

Interviewing• Campus newspapers and radio shows are a great way

to inform people about GCP

• Have a loose script ready, but don’t memorize everything you want to say word for word

• Relate to the average person who may not know a lot about energy efficiency

• Mention our funders!!!

Interviewing

• Have a GCP “pitch” ready at all times!

– Know about our funders, our goals, our history

– Wen sent a great elevator pitch as a guide

(Ellie will cover this more!)

*always have business cards with you*

• Make your campus memorable

– Know specific goals/projects that are unique to your campus

– Memorize some facts about past/current projects, such as energy savings and $$ savings.

CNN Local News Edition: Green Campus Program

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16hkERyYQoY

Special thanks to:

• My fellow CSULB interns: Felix Navarrete, Jennifer Mendoza, and Amy Smith

• Our campus lead, Jeff Steuben

• Paul Wingco, CSULB Energy and Sustainability Manager

• The Alliance to Save Energy staff

• The Daily 49er, 49er Shops, and Kbeach Radio

Thank You! Questions?

Allie Bussjaeger

Cal State Long Beach

abussjaeger@gmail.com

Representing the Green Campus Program: Newsletters and Public

Relations

Ellie KimAlliance to Save Energy

ekim@ase.org

Nuts and Bolts of Green Campus Program PR

• Graphics/Presentation -> Content

– Writing tips

• Hooks/Active vs. Passive voice

– Elevator Speech

• Funders

• Abbreviations, Who We Are

• Program Pillars

• Additional Tips

Writing Tips

• Article Hooks

– Why they’re important

• Audience

• Tone/Content

• Purpose: Get people to read your article!

– Active vs. Passive Voice

• This was done by us (passive)

• We did this (active)

Writing Tips (cont.)

• Example Story:

– Audience: Facilities staff

– Project: Lighting audit that saved 1,000 kWh per year

• Example of a lame hook:

There was an audit done by us interns and it was fun.

Writing Tips (cont.)

• There was an audit done by us interns and it was fun.

– Passive voice

– No mention of topic of interest (i.e. energy savings!) or why this is valuable.

– What should be interesting about this?

– Delivery method (try questions, facts, quotes, anecdotes)

• Better hook?:

Lame Hook

• There was an audit done by us interns and it was fun.

Good Hook

Elevator Speeches

• FUNDERS!!!

– Why?

– Logos (Alliance, Green Campus Program, Funders)

– Came you name all 4 IOU’s?

– (SCE, PG&E, Socal Gas, SDG&E)

• The program is funded and jointly implemented by Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas & Electric under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission

Elevator Speeches

• Abbreviations:

– The Alliance to Save Energy’s Green Campus Program

– Green Campus Program

• Green Campus

• GCP

– Investor owned utilities:

• Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Gas, San Diego Gas & Electric

Elevator Speeches

• Who are we?

• The Alliance to Save Energy is a non-profit coalition of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders, and promotes energy efficiency worldwide to achieve a healthier economy, a cleaner environment and greater energy security.

• NOTE: Please visit the following link to brush up on the organization for which you work: http://ase.org/section/aboutus/

Elevator Speeches

• Who are we? (cont.)• The Green Campus Program is a student-driven energy

efficiency education program that promotes careers in the field, generates actual energy savings, increases awareness of the importance of energy efficiency, and encourages academic infusion of sustainability concepts. (Program pillars)

• Currently on 16 universities and employing over 75 interns each year, the Green Campus Program empowers college students to be tomorrow's energy efficiency leaders.

Elevator Speeches

• Additional notes:

– Audience (what do they care about?)

– Campus specific achievements

• Energy Savings

• Project information

• Major accomplishments

– Resources

• Campus lead, team

• ASE/GCP Websites, marketing materials

Elevator Speeches

• To summarize…

– Funders

– Alliance to Save Energy/Green Campus Program

– Program Pillars

– Campus-specific achievements (optional)

• Your turn!

Thank You! Questions?

Ellie Kim

Alliance to Save Energy

ekim@ase.org