4.2 - "It was very neat."

Transcript

Clickety click, clackety clack. Welcome.

OK I'm done. Is this a game to you? I'm done. It is a game. I'm done, fine.

Welcome. Coffee Talk. Episode two? Season four with your NPR voice? No no, smooth jazz.

What you got for me today? I got nothing. What are we talking about? What are you talking about? So this season, we are focusing on venues within our community.

Today we're going to venture outside of our community because slim pickin's.

So. Slim pickin's. Slim pickin's. So we wanna cover what's going on with venues. What are venues doing

that they haven't really been doing before or maybe they've just been doing the past couple of years. Things that have been enhanced because of COVID. What you got? Yeah. Who wants to talk about

COVID, but the reality is a lot of people changed stuff because of COVID. And for the better mostly.

What's the non-mostly? Not having in-person events anymore and just doing virtual.

There you go. That's a negative. Way to put a positive spin on it. Everybody pivoted. I hate that word.

You know there's a movie called Pivoting? Is it a dance barre movie? I have no idea I just

Like you know like barre the exercises like barre? No I don't know. Not like Coyote Ugly. Yeah that's

what I was thinking, exactly what my mind went to. I have no idea I just saw on Netflix as one of

the- Oh it's the COVID documentary, Pivoting. Oh sure! Clearly I didn't read the description.

Anyways. Squirrel, okay. We're well researched I swear.

Okay so yes. Venues, what venues are doing, positive trends moving forward. So let's talk cashless real

quick. We're going to talk cashless first and knock it out and then we're going to move on Because it's fresh on my mind. Because then we're going to move on to your exciting one.

Alright so cashless venues is very very popular, I think some even started

pre-COVID if I remember correctly. Well yeah, because there was the cash scare where like,

Oh there's a shortage of coins so either use exact change or use your debit card. There was definitely

a shift pre-COVID. Yeah and that doesn't really fall in line with sustainability if you tell people to use

plastic but it's cool. I mean you could have one of those fancy metal cards. The what? The metal cards.

I have no idea what you're talking about. Clearly we hang out too much we make the same faces. I don't know

anything about metal cards. Okay. I just know that a lot of the sports facilities um not

just professional but collegiate and even some of the community ones are moving to cashless

I don't want to sit up straight, it's Friday, I don't care. When do I ever sit up straight

in these things? In case our listeners- When I tell you to. In case our listeners really want to know she basically hounds me about it all the time or flicks me under the table no one can see.

So here in our community let's see what did they tell us two years ago Kyle Field went to cashless.

Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not doing anything under the table too, my hands are up here.

Wow really? I'm not pinching you. You did flick me before.

Just leave it alone and talk to me. You can't leave it alone can you? Great.

Are we getting the peanut gallery mics on the recording too? Ok, go. Cashless yes. Kyle Field has been doing it for a hot minute. A hot minute. Okay well cashless is

great. A lot of professional venues have moved to cashless with pre-ordering so you

pre-order from your seats and then they'll either bring it to you or you can go to the concession stand. The movie theaters do that too. Yes yes, and of course you're still using a card for

that but at least this way it's all digital so everybody has what, Apple Pay, Google Pay.

Not everybody. Most people. Sure yeah. And there are some other platforms. Okay your Cash App

that's linked to everybody's bank account. Yes and a lot of vendors at like markets and farmers

markets and vendor markets use- Market farmers? Yes use Cash App

because it's easy. Yes and most people nowadays don't carry cash and I'm sure that

yeah I mean you always have cash I never have cash. My husband always has cash I don't even know why

Just in case. I guess but it's- cyber attacks on the bank and then like your fallback is cash so at least you have something. Yeah well you know yesterday I was going through

my wallet and I did find a five dollar bill and I got real excited. See you've gotta have that spare,

it's I don't remember what they call it but you put you know 20 or 50 or 100 in like the little sleeve in your wallet, this is men's wallets women's don't really have them and it's like your

emergency money. I thought that's when you hide it under the mattress that's emergency money or is that just terrifying? No like emergency money like if you're out in public and you get robbed and they

take all your cash. But you hide it in your wallet? You hide it like you know between your cards

or like behind your driver's license in that little clear pouch. But if you're getting robbed wouldn't they take your wallet? Not necessarily. Hmm. They might just take the cash. Well those aren't

some very smart robbers but anyway we're getting sidetracked. They're robbing like can't be smart

anyways yes so Houston Rodeo has started right, and they are most of their stands

are cashless. Most of them. Yeah like the Champion Wine Garden, some of the concession stands

but a majority of them are cashless. I think it's a great idea. I think it's definitely

expediting the waiting in lines, it gives people more of the experience with whatever's happening or they're paying to be there for. I mean as long as even if they're paying with a debit card they're just

running it as credit then yes it's quick because otherwise you got to stand there and you got to put your pin code in and you got to wait for it to be approved like. Sometimes. Sometimes.

The tap thing is fast. Yeah that's what I yeah, what those are on the debit cards? Do you use that?

No but Jeff does. Yeah so does Jamie. She scans it I'm like what are you doing?

Well like we were discussing earlier pre-recording, there are some downfalls to it. Yes, okay so when

she said this I don't know why I didn't think about it before but it does make a lot of sense so like if you send your kids if you have kids old enough to be able to go do

things on their own you know teenagers whatever, 18 but they don't have their own bank account or

debit card or whatever the case may be. Now if they're paying like some of these cashless venues if it is through an app then of course I would assume they would have some sort of

app set up possibly but if they go wait in line, they get to the front of the line not realizing that it's cashless what do those poor kids do? Give the cash to the people behind them

and have them run their card. Yeah that's true too. You could do that, that's smart. Yeah so I could see how that could be a downfall you know because some kids are like my 11 year old

I would trust him to go do that. Now I wouldn't necessarily trust him to stand in line and not be freaked out by other people and like. Wander. Yeah no the other one would wander. Did I say 11?

He's 10 just kidding. Go ahead. Whatever, however old he is. Yeah I don't even know. The older child.

So we solved the problem though. We solved it, it's not patent. We don't have any

model for anybody to purchase or patent or anything but at Grand Station

and most arcades have the little plastic cards you get. You put money in, you get a card out. And you

can also pay in those machines with a debit card or cash. Yes, and you can reload them. So why don't

all of these stadiums that are going cashless have that option. I don't know the only thing I can say,

only thing I can figure is maybe they have some sort of contractual agreement or something with

whoever they're using as far as their like in-app purchasing and maybe they don't have a card thing

or- I'm gonna need them to get on it. And a lot of those like one-off I say one-off but

kiosks that they put in a lot of these venues there's some sort of contract a lot of times it

has to do with that company, how much they're selling, revenue business whatever all that kind of fun stuff. I can't remember who it was wherever I don't even know the name of it but the

Penguins stadium was one of the first ones I ever saw. The Penguins stadium? Yeah the hockey team. Oh

Right? I don't know. Pittsburgh Penguins yeah. That's cute. Yeah um they had they were one

of the first ones i ever saw that had the kiosks like the airports do for chargers, phone chargers

and other things like that um but I know that they were paying a certain percentage to that company

you know kind of like when you bring in the food vendors like chick-fil-a at some of these places, which still is my favorite that that one football I think it was football decided to have

chick-fil-a serve for their food but you know. Sunday football, chick-fil-a's not open on Sundays.

It's still my favorite story. What? You've never heard this? Oh my Lord no we're tree branching. We are tree branching, but it's a funny story. Who was it, the cardinals? I can't remember who it was

but somebody came to this was like right before COVID I feel like, they ended up settling on

having Chick-fil-a come in to do one of those little kiosks as a food vendor inside their

facility. Well most of their football is on Sundays. It's Mercedes Benz, yeah there we go Atlanta.

So now granted Chick-fil-a can serve when they have concerts and other things going on but it really was like you're looking at it going like your biggest

revenue draw is football and you're gonna have Chick-fil-a closed on a Sunday in your building? I'm not sure who the bright person was that came up with that idea but anyway it still cracks me up.

But yes you are correct I'm getting off topic but yes cashless venues I think is a great idea. I

do see some downsides to it but there's more and more venues and facilities that are adopting that

practice I mean it's the digital age not everybody likes technology and doesn't want to move forward

we still see it quite often with stuff we're doing so but it is here to stay and I don't I think it

helps the transaction less touch points all that kind of stuff and it's quicker on service so

any who, any other input? No. Okay. Cool bro, cool story. Alright so moving on to what you found.

Oh Culture City. Culture City. Culture City. So Jamie sent us the IAVM newsletter

and I was like reading it of course I read our stuff first and then I was reading through some of the other things and came across Culture City which is a

sensory inclusion company. Yeah. Which a lot of sporting venues have begun utilizing and they

have a sensory inclusion certification that you can get for your venue where they send somebody

out and they train all your staff on it and they give you these neat little sensory bags to put in

your sensory rooms to help people attending the events that might

get overwhelmed and have sensory processing disorders. So one of the parts of the article

Jesus I can't even talk today words okay so sensory sensitivities or challenges with sensory regulation are often experienced by individuals with autism, dementia, PTSD and other

similar conditions. One of the major barriers for these individuals is sensitivity to over stimulation and noise which is an enormous part of environment in a venue hosting live concerts

sports and other events. So this with Culture City is actually a certification

process. Yes. So they have to train all of their in-house staff at the venue on how to properly

run these areas, be helpful for the guests that come in that have questions and ensuring you

know of course overall safety for everyone and compliance to that extent. So the venue

that we found out a part about so thankful for IAVM. College Park Center at UT Arlington.

And I got real excited because as soon as I saw that of course I actually remembered something

and I can't remember what Jeff Davis's title is for the region, is he the region director?

Something of that nature, so we'll give a shout out to Jeff Davis but he oversees College Park and

it's really really awesome to know that not far down the road they are leading in a very advanced positive direction and we've talked about sensory things before

even when COVID was happy and you took Cameron what was the, yes I know your child's name but I

was also trying to think of the place the same time the what was the place you took him to? I don't know.

What do you mean you don't know? I take him all over the place. I know but it was a sensory

what was that museum you went to because didn't you take your sister and your niece? Wow okay we've

all slept since then, good Lord. Well okay so we did color, the small one, Color Factory. There you go yes.

So it was sensory inclusive and was very neat. So it's nice to know that it's not just you

know an art exhibit or something an interactive thing like that that they're actually pushing the boundaries and doing it in venues so that way everybody feels like they can participate.

Yeah so Culture City actually does, they do the certification, they have mobile sensory stations,

they sell sensory bags, just all kinds of really awesome things to help venues

set up areas that maybe when the facility was built that wasn't a thought. Like ours

no power in the floors. We're getting there, we got lactation rooms, we're getting there. Yeah so to expand

upon that it's sensory bags equipped with noise canceling headphones, fidget tools, verbal cue cards,

and weighted lap pads. All of the things that I have in my office. Yeah and they can

be checked out at the venue for guests who are feeling overwhelmed by the environment. Yeah.

So it's I'm pretty excited about it I hope lots of other venues go through this whole process

because I think it would be fantastic. Yes and like I said lots of sporting venues have

them. Major league baseball, NBA they're on top of it. They've they set up temporary rooms

to give people these areas, lower speaker volumes, quiet rooms things like that.

Movie theaters. I've noticed a lot of them have sensory friendly screening of kid-friendly movies, typically only once a month early in the day but

it is something that like our movie theater here does. Oh okay. I think most of them at this point do

and then obviously in April, lots of venues will do things for Autism Awareness Month but

they're getting more on board to having them more often. Even what did I find? NASA.

Not NASA. Race cars, race cars. Nascar. Holy cow, words. NASA and race car. They're flying cars now? Yes. Dover International

Speedway in May or June they sponsor with Autism Speaks, not giving any

whatever we'll leave that alone. But they set up quiet rooms, muted lightings so

that people with sensory disorders can enjoy a car race. Which we, I don't know if everybody

knows but it's really noisy. I mean I can only imagine I've never been to one I can only imagine

what it's like just from what I'm listening to on TV but at the same time I don't you know that's not an environment I want to spend three hours watching cars go in circles but that's just me.

You don't watch it for the circles, you watch it for the crashes. Yeah. Agreed. And then obviously things like Sesame Street Live, Disney on Ice, they're all very

aware and have been doing lots of things for sensory friendly environments.

That's exciting, it's very exciting, I'm excited. I very much enjoyed I don't know how much I

assume Cameron enjoyed his experience at the Color Factory. Yes, yeah and that was set up

The purpose was not to be sensory friendly, right? Like the fact that it was was great

because it triggered all of the senses, but I could also see how somebody going in that

was, maybe had a more extreme sensory processing disorder might have been overwhelmed going from

lots of different colored lights to different smells I could see how that could be an issue. But yes Cameron very much did enjoy it. Good, yeah it's exciting. So now we

just need the venues here on campus and in our community to start moving forward.

No? Yeah. It's next on your project list. Who are we, who are we calling out on this one? I mean

I literally have everything in my office we could just convert one of the rooms here to it. I do, I

have one of those little pads like the little wiggle pads that you sit on for your chair if you have to move around more I have those little push button pop things. You meant the one you were sitting on?

You wiggle around a lot? I do. I fidget. I have the pop it things too. Yeah the little pop its.

Little spinny things like I got all kinds of stuff. I have boxes of stuff at the house that I had gotten for Cameron because I was trying to figure out

what he liked what he didn't like. I will tell you though it does make me discouraged a little bit because the school districts told the kids, what was it last year,

two years ago when the fidget spinners became very popular for all kids that they were not allowed to have them out in the rooms anymore they weren't even supposed to bring them to school anymore.

Oh I didn't hear about that. You didn't, oh well clearly I read the newsletters once in a blue moon.

But at one point they did, they didn't want them bringing the pop it things or the fidget spinners

they had to leave all toys at home or if they brought them they had to stay in their backpacks.

So I could see how they can be distracting but if the school district's going to do that then they need to provide them in the classrooms. Agreed. You know so like if a kid does need it

you go to the bin, you get it out, you have it in class with you, put it back when you're done. But then it made me wonder is there a solution to it to remove that child from the classroom so they can

you know calm down or have an area that's away from where they were. Quite a few classrooms now have spaces, they have safe spaces, spaces you can go to

if you need a break from whatever it is you're doing. Right. But a lot of children don't know

that they have access to it. Like Cameron will just get up and go to the space if he needs it

but he also gets he has an IEP you know he is afforded those accommodations.

Kids that maybe don't I mean obviously the kids that don't have the accommodations

should be informed like yeah if you need a break and you're getting overwhelmed you can go because even somebody without a sensory processing disorder gets overwhelmed like that's normal.

Adults get overwhelmed. This is a soap box, this is the hill I can die on okay? Like we can talk

about this the entire episode. But I agree with you because even when we've done like meet the parent

or meet the teacher they tell us, the parents and the students when we're in the meet the teacher. For like the five minutes maybe, max that you get to spend with the teacher. But you already know

the kids are not paying attention. No I'm barely paying attention. I mean you're going to read me every line off your PowerPoint? I can't read myself? Yes but they do mention them in that but then

it's never brought to the kids attention ever again. Yeah. So I agree with the fact that they don't know what's available. The fact that there should be stand-up desks. If a kid wants to

stand up while they're doing their work what's it going to hurt? Yeah. Versus them sitting down like

if they get to move around a little bit I mean in Cameron's AB classroom he has a square taped off

around a stand-up desk it's got a high one and a low one so if he needs to sit if he needs to stand

he can, but he has to stay inside the box obviously because there's other kids in there that might

be a little bit more rowdy than him or when he is extra rowdy so why isn't every classroom

like that? Well yeah and it depends on the teacher too because I know that one of Keegan's

I think it was his second grade teacher, no I think it was his third grade teacher, she had different

levels of like seating for the classroom and they rotated every so often like so however

many weeks and so he got to sit on the ball chairs or he stood at the back or he sat at the bar stool at the back um and then they also had the floor table she actually had a

small table in the front where they could work off the floor if that was their desk for the day or week, whatever the case may be. So he definitely enjoyed that classroom a lot

because it gave him a new experience and however his mood was feeling he could actually adapt to that so. Yeah and every classroom should be like that. Obviously it's not feasible and yes teachers

should get a higher pay, this should not be coming out of their pocket, it should be a standard with the school districts. That's the downside is right now it's coming out of the teachers pockets.

Yes but because we all know that schools were only developed. Oh god. In order. Oh gosh

to facilitate, to teach basically factory workers, you know, can you sit down,

be quiet, do your job, and then you leave. Literally that's historically that's where they came from. I

will die on this hill I swear. You're yeah you're going. Schools have not adapted to being a

sensory friendly environment. I mean if you go into a classroom there's so much stuff going on there's so much like you've got piles of crayons and you've got stuff all over the walls and it's like it's

very overwhelming to be in a classroom especially if you've never been in one before, like it's a lot.

Yeah even for me trying to be like whoa what's going on over here you've got lists and names and

like work like what is going on. And it's a mess, it's always a mess because you've got 30 kids

you know 20 to 30 kids that you're looking after and trying to keep up with. Those kids don't clean up after themselves I don't care what any parent says. They do their

best but there's always going to be a time where they're like well I'm just going to put this here

like I have to I have to go I have to get back to my desk, I'm going to put this here. I'm just thinking how that translates into an adult because I definitely see it a lot at home.

Oh I drank this I'm just gonna leave this over here by my socks. What is that? So like I said many times this is the hill I can die on because schools have not adapted.

No they haven't. So the expectation that the rest of society can adapt, if we're not starting from

like the lowest venue lowest like a school all the way up to stadiums and you know concert halls.

You are, you went you went deep on that. Well I'm just this is- I know. And I know this is

an everyday reality for you so yes I totally get it I understand and I do

agree with everything that you're saying. I do feel bad, I mean even Keegan who doesn't have

some of the same levels of frustrations with other children in his classes like Cameron does he gets

defensive for Cameron. Oh yeah and they're not even in the same school, can you imagine next year?

Oh man yeah he's like already Mom is he going? I'm like I don't know dude. But yes he is he

gets very defensive for Cameron, very protective, it's very fun. Well if your child is ever

taking it up for Cameron and gets in trouble I'll go to bat for him. Oh yeah I mean I would too.

Yeah but. Not the parents you want to see at your school. Nope not at all, not when we're

tag teaming it either. Okay so soapbox, we're gonna we're gonna put a pin in that. Alright

I'll get off the soapbox. Yeah okay so let's talk- but if anybody ever needs an advocate for that in town you just let me know. Yes she's very vocal and passionate. I got so many books

on the laws surrounding this I got you. Okay pin. Alright pin. I'm gonna pin it. I'll shut up. Yeah okay

so last but not least, sustainability. Alright so of course everyone when

they think events and sustainability it's virtual, go hybrid, yadda yadda whatever. I think of reduce, reuse, recycle. Yeah some people do. I think of thrift store shopping.

Because what, that's the most sustainability that you do? Yeah I mean when I'm not at work.

Yes yes okay so I found this article on swap card that I thought was really- of course

I'm gonna say interesting because it's like my go-to line so I'm gonna change that to informative it was very informative. Oh look at you. Yeah I know I'm branching out, trying

to expand my vocabulary. That was a Scrabble word. Yeah so of course hybrid and virtual were the first two

that they have listed. One of the other things they talked about was selecting a green venue

which is a great idea but most people don't even know how to go about doing that. So green venues,

it is a certification process just like everything else yes sensory um they listed three major

companies, organizations that you can get certified through. One of them that I think we've looked at it before which was the IACC green star certification.

What does that mean? Yeah so I tried looking up the acronym because my memory is very foggy. I'm pretty sure it's International Assembly for

Conference Centers or Convention Centers. I think it's conference centers. Heck if I know, I tried googling it before we came up here and you go to their website and at no point do they use anything

other than their acronym even when referring to themselves so we'll verify that and you can put

it in the little description of what it actually is. So they have a very in-depth process

I think you had to have if I remember correctly a minimum square footage, you had to be doing

internal practices already as far as like using sustainable vendors, caterers, things

that you're doing on the venue side as far as you know HVAC and stuff like that. We here at the

university have the green, the Aggie Green Fund and thankfully Michael went through the whole

exhausting process of applying for that so we can get the recycling bins in our building. The large ones that we have out in the lobby and also working with our custodial

ladies on helping recycle all that and of course the university has the sustainable pickups that

they do outside of the building so we've been trying especially a lot with the bottled water that comes through our building and all the bottled beverages and now post COVID we're doing

even more of that. Cans and bottles and all that kind of fun stuff so, we do recycle quite a bit.

So we will list you know all these organizations that you can actually go through and get certified. The one thing that I don't know why common sense wouldn't just pop in your head

for myself because it didn't when I read this. One of the things they talked about was

consider transportation for your attendees when they come to an event. Pick a venue that is closely

located where there is public transportation or other means of transportation that's not

far for them to travel like you know the whole carpooling all that kind of fun stuff.

So basically all we need is a hotel inside and we would be like perfect. We would because we're right next to the airport, there are buses that pick up over at the airport,

I think they even have ride share over there and we also have the bus system yes on main campus. So you are correct all we need is a hotel. Well I

mean you know there's kind of a hotel in our building we just need to start renting it out.

So but yes you are correct you know short distance on a plane or a train ride is ideal. You

know anything that's easily accessible to transport people. Yeah I mean I wish we had a train that we could ride not ones that come through town and block traffic. A passenger train? Yeah.

You know incentivize public transportation and carpooling, use surveys to understand how

people travel to your event, choose a venue with LED lighting which we've been working on.

We're almost there. Yes we are almost there it has been a slow and taxing process which is

annoying because I don't know why you wouldn't want to just do that. Because it saves them money in the long run and of course we recycle. Composting, so there were

caterers that we're doing composting. I don't know, I know we've talked about it but I don't know how

much composting- Composting? Yeah composting sorry, that Chartwells is doing anymore. I know they

do it quite a bit in the MSC but I don't know what they're doing off-premise like outside of the MSC.

So you're supposed to, with Chartwell's, take one of their yellow composting bins with you.

However the problem with that is everybody in the MSC uses them. Correct. And sometimes they don't get

enough. Like if you've had a really really large event or a really busy week in the dining

you're not gonna have enough. Yeah. And that's where the issue comes in. Yeah. But they do quite a bit.

Yes they do and I know they do. They started a lot of that when I used to work over there. You started- No I was not part of the starting of that, that was from a facility standpoint before it

became catering. So that's one of the things they're talking about, utilizing vendors that

do that, minimizing single use bottles and getting you know the Ozarka stands where you

do like at the dentist office. Or the refillable water fountains. Yes which

we've talked about, we have a student organization that's trying to do that in our building but I think the cost of it kind of shied them away from. Yeah I mean when you

basically have to redo plumbing in half the building. Yeah it's amazing to me how we don't

kind of I mean I know when you're building something you're not always future forward because people don't really know where we're going to go. Or what the facility will be used for in

the future. I mean not having power on the floor in spaces when it's called a conference center

makes no sense to me but whatever. Sustainable catering, the biggest thing is farm to table

and we use quite a few vendors, caterers in our facility that are farm to table

Ronin is one for sure. Who else? So Chartwells actually does a farm to table menu

that they've used, I don't remember what group it was for but they were doing an event every year and everything was farm to table, sustainably sourced which was really neat.

But I feel like most smaller caterers have the ability to do

farm to table versus the ones that are doing the three or four hundred banquet. Correct yeah,

and we have a lot of restaurants here in town that are very farm to table. That I don't know

how I mean I'm you know sure they would do a small event, you know for dinner and things like that but

it's a good option and one of the other things they mentioned was providing more vegan and vegetarian options to help reduce the carbon footprint which i'm clearly uneducated

on a lot of that stuff because when I started reading I was like "oh this is bad." Maybe I should be a vegetarian, maybe they're on to something and I'm totally missing it.

Well if you ever need any recipes. I know I gotta go call Dubey. You could get them from Cameron.

Get them from Dubey. Cameron doesn't talk to me, all he talks to me is about school. How was school? Good. Did you have a good day? Yeah. And then he walks away. I mean that's just the age. I actually have a lot of great

vegan and vegetarian recipes. I know you do you've sent me some, I've used them. If you need any more.

Yeah. I made Dubey vegan Snickers. I know, I saw the box you sent her, but did she say anything

about it? She liked them. She wasn't excited about it? She was excited, she was like "Are these for me?"

I love our students, our students are awesome. The other thing is donate leftover food. There

is some concern obviously about that when you're doing catering and food service and

liability when donating things like that. Yes. I looked into this I don't remember how long ago

but I was looking for a company that did it because there are ones in Austin and there

are ones in Houston that they'll send you the containers, you package your food, somebody comes and picks it up and then takes it to wherever they're going to use it up. Yeah. We don't have

one in town anymore. Yeah I was gonna say we used to because we used to do it. Yes. We used to make boxed up lunches and send them. Which is really sad because I know when I worked in catering

there is a lot that's going to compost and you're like this is perfectly good food. Like I understand it's been out of temperature for a while but like it's pasta you know like

it's green beans like I think it's gonna be okay. Obviously when you get into pork and chicken,

meats it gets questionable. Yeah. But it's pasta. But I was also raised that if like if it's not molding

like you just throw it in the microwave it's still good. Yep agreed. Thinking of bread, the heel

might be molding a little but you can still pull from the middle. But is the next slice? Yeah pull from the middle. My

poor child, I don't think he realizes how often I do that to him. If you put the bread in the fridge it will stop doing that. I used to do that then it came became difficult to spread the peanut

butter so I quit. Do you keep your peanut butter in the fridge? No. That's weird. That I don't keep

it in the fridge? No that it would be hard to spread on a cold piece of bread. I don't know maybe it's the peanut butter I buy. It's not Jiffy. Yeah so anyway, using sustainable eco-friendly

swag bag options. I love this option for swag bags. Yes. Because then you always get the cutest tote bags

and I love using them, like going to the farmer's market or just the grocery store

Yes. Sorry I was super excited about that one guys. You're good. So one of the other ones I really liked was the

technology part. Using an event app versus printing out agendas, brochures, name badges, registration.

You know any kind of ticketing, there are so many apps out there that will help with a lot of that

and we talked after, we talked about all this of course then I went to Jamie and I was like hey

let's do our brochure digitally. Let's create a QR code. I was like that's a great idea because we were just talking about how many we needed to get printed, how many guests there were, and it's like

well if you don't know RSVP numbers a week before it doesn't help you. And then I was like well this would be a smarter idea because then they can just go scan it. And we've gotten,

in the office we're moving towards that. Yes. You've lessened the amount of things we need to print out.

Eventually we'll go to no printouts. We don't have to keep a record? Well you can keep a record but you just- Digital record? Yes. A zip file? Oh my gosh. Zip everything/

So yes eventually I would like to go to you know fully digital. I mean it was great, during

our walkthrough yesterday Michael pulled out his iPad and he was taking notes while we were talking with him. So I know it's there I know everybody's ready for it. We're gonna do it.

I don't know man, those 25 cent notepads like for back-to-school sales or it's pretty pretty cheap

I mean you can buy them, I'm just not gonna buy them for you.

So anyway so yes I think that using an event app versus printing all your materials is a great idea.

I mean other than that I don't know what else you got. Anything else sustainable related? Yeah

making sure that the sponsors of your event are also in line with your own sustainable,

I don't know what it's called. Goal, vision, mission. Yeah, mission, sustainable mission. God bless are you sure it's not Monday? I'm pretty sure it is because

Tuesday was Friday and Monday was Thursday and yeah Wednesday was just Wednesday.

Yes I think you're right it is. We're all over the place. So just making sure that your event sponsors

are in line with your sustainability mission because you do see a lot of companies

greenwashing saying yeah we do this and do that and then they're like using child labor.

You know like you have to make sure that who you're aligning with, who your ally is,

is actually somebody that shares your same. Absolutely. Your same stuff, your same stuff.

Yeah so words are hard today. But to add on top of that and we can we can cut

us off after this. So they have this thing called the Sustainable Event Alliance and I tried to get information on it but like it's so vague. Yeah. Like what do they do?

So my understanding is you can get a certification and become an accredited professional through

their program on sustainability that allows you to learn skills and validate your competency, competency in your field. From the Institute for Sustainable Events? Yes ISE.

And they also keep a running log or database. Yes those are databases. Database. Database. I've watched

Spies and Disguise too many times it's data. It's like pecan and pecan. Do you spell gray with an e

or a? I think it depends on my mood to be honest. I've never really thought about it. So yes so

they connect people all over the world. They produce events, they help provide a database

database for sustainable venues, sustainable vendors, things of that nature, so you can actually

become an accredited event sustainable specialist. through the ISE. Yes. You could build a solid

foundation with sustainability literacy executive strategy policy and issues identification.

I think it would be a great thing. So I'm going to sign you up for it for next year for your goals. Okay that's fine. We'll add to the running list of all the crap I'm gonna make you do.

Anyway so yes those are the three major things that we have found that are trending forward in the venue side of things. Yes. What do we got coming up next episode?

I think we have an on-site visit the next episode. Is that the one we have with the rec? Yes maybe. Okay head nods from the peanut gallery. I don't know my schedule has changed. I don't

remember what I did yesterday. I don't know but I know you need to get her questions. Yes that is true I do have to do that thank you. I gotta get a script ready.

Yes I appreciate that look I'm gonna write myself a note right now. So we're super excited to see more positive things moving forward with venues I would love if local

venues here would set it as a standard. Yeah versus well if the client wants it then we'll do it but

why not just have it readily available? I mean it's to me it's like the green room. Yeah okay

well we've got a green room for speakers to use, it's there. We have lactation rooms for

people to use, just to have it. It's there. Yeah oh if you need it, cool. All I gotta do is unlock

the door and turn the light on. Well and the university has a sustainability program but I still feel like they could expand on that because it is very

like at least becoming a sustainable office, you have to meet a certain criteria but you're the ones filling out the form telling them what you do. I'm not even 100% sure if they come check.

No. So there's got to be accountability. I'm assuming there is, I didn't dig that deep into

it. I know that they were trying to push a lot of that stuff across campus but what I don't understand is why they wouldn't just enforce it period instead of letting people volunteer for it.

Yeah and then if you're gonna make it mandatory then they gotta pay for the upgrades.

Yeah about that. No we just gotta build new buildings that helps you know trying to make

things sustainable that are old and just you build new and they already have it built that way so whatever. Is it sustainable to build a new building? You have to chop down a lot of trees to

build a building. Well it depends on if they're tearing down something that was already there and just rebuilding versus- We're not saying that you should tear down this building, I'm

gonna need her to clarify that. Please don't. Yeah we just want you to add to the top. Like fix the roof so we can add a second floor. That's not how that works. I know.

Or maybe we could get a portion of fanfield and do like, that's an extension of our venue.

We can actually put like- Then can we get a golf cart? Can we get an electric golf cart so that I can drive across there? We could just use the golf cart that belongs to the Bush School since

it's parked out there with a boot on it every day. I'm not sure. Did they not pay their tickets?

Is that why there's a boot on it? They put it on there so people don't steal it. Oh that's fair. Yeah.

That's fair. Yeah. So anywho. Okay well thanks for joining us. As we tree branched a lot. Yes thank you

for joining me. Thank you for joining me. Wow okay, cool. Alright. It's almost March. Yay why are

we waving? Why is he waving? Is he telling us bye? Yeah I think he's done. I think he's done with us. Okay bye.

4.2 - "It was very neat."

Sarah Chrastecky

Tracy "TJ" Hefti

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