Sustainable Events Planner to Moderate Panel at National Conference

Merryl Brown of Merryl Brown Events, LLC will moderate a panel on sustainable event planning at a New Orleans conference

Santa Barbara, California - December 21, 2009 – Merryl Brown, President of Merryl Brown Events, LLC, is pleased to have been chosen as the moderator for a panel on green events at The Special Event, a national conference of event planners that will take place January 12 - 15, 2010, in New Orleans, LA. Brown will moderate the panel with four industry experts, discussing how to achieve a sustainable event without excessive costs.

“We are so honored to have this opportunity to be a part of The Special Event with so many of the top event professionals in the country. We are glad that they are not only offering sessions on green event planning, but they are also finding ways to green their annual conference by reducing the size and quantity of their collateral materials and by switching to online registration in order to reduce paper waste.”

The meeting and event industry is second only to construction as the most wasteful industry in the country, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. By promoting and facilitating a discussion on sustainability at such a high visibility event planning conference, Brown’s panel will encourage event professionals to plan their events in the most environmentally responsible manner that they can. Brown’s panel will cover such topics as waste management, sustainable food, and emerging trends such as carbon offsets in the context of the event planning industry.

Merryl Brown brings almost twenty years of experience creating unique corporate, non-profit and private events, including: parties, galas, grand openings, fashion shows, meetings and lectures, and intimate dinners in the Santa Barbara area. Brown formerly held the position of Director of Public Relations and Events at Saks Fifth Avenue, Santa Barbara, and has served as trustee of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and is a Lifetime Honorary Trustee of Ganna Walska Lotusland. Merryl is a certified Master Gardener. She has a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University and was formerly an International Banker with American Express Bank and Bankers Trust Company in New York. She is fluent in both Portuguese and Spanish. For more information visit: merrylbrownevents.com.