Several nights ago I dropped in on Portland [Maine] Green Drinks. The event, familiar to many environmentally interested/friendly folks in several US major cities, is a fascinating networking phenomenon that brings together great elements of the old and the new school of organization. It is organized by a dude named Elliot who reported having recently moved to Portland from the West Coast. While the gathering has been happening under the official banner of “Green Drinks” for several months now, it has until recently been going on locally under the watch of a Maine-based sustainable building company for a few nears. Elliot’s emergence, however, has been responsible for growing the gathering to above 100 folks (up from 20) per meeting.

The reason Elliot has found so much success, it seems, is due both to his tenacity and his making available free beer (provided by Peak Organic - the former collective meeting met at bars where beers cost some cash). Every month the event is cosponsored by a local business that helps to provide space and food and in exchange gets noticed by a slew of sustainability-interested folks. Information about Green Drinks is spread through word of mouth, locally designed posters and various forms of internet outreach. People are brought together to drink beers, network, and discuss their interest, passion for and career in sustainable living.

The meeting was exciting in its positive melding of online communication technologies with the “old school” face-to-face networking (that some of the organizers we’ve talked to have claimed is the only way to go). The yoga studio (and creative tech company) that sponsored last week’s happening was full of people exchanging. While it may been largely organized online,the sharing that occurred in a person-to-person way was refreshing to experience after having based so many organizational efforts solely online. I am excited to bring and present a campaign to talk about with each person I meet the next time that I attend.

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