Golfing for a Green cause [photo gallery - new photos]

The Ryde-Parramatta Golf Club set the scene for a day dedicated to being Green. Hosted by CRN, vendors and resellers gathered to discuss environmental issues affecting the channel, followed by an entertaining nine holes of golf. Some faired better than others, check out the photo gallery for highlights of the day.

Attendees descended on the course clubhouse in the wee hours of Thursday morning to register for the CRN Green Golf Day event. Kevin McIsaac kicked the off the formal part of the day with a presentation focusing on how to sell Green technology. He advised resellers to treat the concept of Green IT like any other abstract idea, as well as focus on organisations with an existing environmental mandate.

“Green is just another benefit! If you don’t know how to sell an abstract product, forget Green IT,” he stated. “Green IT seems to have a lot of mind space. Use it to get attention and open doors.”

Marna Bullard, vice president of worldwide marketing at Linksys explained what the Platinum Sponsor is doing in this arena – from changes to packaging to the reduction of energy consumption in their data centres. She also noted that Australia was the specifically chosen to launch the vendor’s Green initiative.

“Australia is the first country in the world to receive the greener packaging,” she commented.

The golfers also heard from Tom Lewis, marketing manager A/NZ at Fuji Xerox and Amber Auld, distribution manager at IBM who not only commented on the role the respective vendors were playing in this space, but also the greater social climate that is shaping individual attitudes toward the environment.

Following a brief question and answer session, the teams made their way to the course for the shotgun start. Extremely competent golfers teamed up with a number of beginners willing to have a go. Despite a few scattered showers, all the players completed the nine holes and returned to the clubhouse for lunch.

To cap off the day, golfers with the best score were rewarded with a bottle of champagne and CRN’s own Mitch Smith received a prize for his skill in trivia - which had little to do with his performance on the course.

A detailed story on the CRN Green Golf Day event will be featured in CRN issue 244.