As community manager for happyfrog.ca, i often rally up a crews of   bloggers, photographers and podcasters to create social media of green minded businesses, sustainability focused organizations and other stories which the mainstream media don't pick up.

Recently at the EPIC Sustainable Living Expo in Vancouver, we pulled off the biggest social media bonanza i know of with over 50 posts including audio, video, and narrative, plus a Flickr pool of hundreds of candid shots from the trade show floor.

Vancouver's next mayor?
Vancouver Mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson speaks at EPIC

This campaign provides a great model of how conscious consumers and citizens can spread the word of their favorite companies and have some fun doing it. The interviewees receive some great exposure and a chance to express themselves while the bloggers get massive good karma, link love, free coffee and organic t-shirts. Sounds like a good arrangement for all eh.

Here's some more of the story for both your ecological entrepreneurial interest and your activist campaign notebook:

Green Bloggers Spread Sustainability Message from Vancouver's EPIC Expo

Kicking off Earth Day 2008, a group of eco-minded social media makers produced over 50 pieces of social media at the EPIC Sustainable Living Expo in Vancouver, BC April 18-20. The multi-media coverage including audio podcasts, video clips, blog articles, and a vast collection of photos. In all, the crowd-sourced campaign featured over 70 eco-conscious businesses and sustainability-minded organizations, plus numerous noteworthy presenters and even a "green" episode of CBC's the Dragon's Den.

The media dispatches were published using many "web 2.0" technologies including posting on the happyfrog.ca "Frog blog" and at the new EPIC Expo blog, as well as the writer's personal blogs and various eco-community sites. The rich-media content was distributed via multiple channels including photos at the happyfrog Flickr pool, "Pondcasts" in iTunes, Frogwalking videos on Blip.tv, and even micro-blogging on Twitter.

A comprehensive guide to the happyfrog.ca coverage of EPIC is included in "Get Social with EPIC 08 Coverage" or subscribe to the EPIC Expo 2008 RSS Feed.

Frog Squadders at EPIC - Photo by Miss604

Brought together by BC green web community site, happyfrog.ca, the social media makers comprised a diverse assortment of personalities, interests, and demographics which resulted in a varietyof topics and points of view.

Rewarded with a bamboo/organic cotton t-shirt and an "honorarium", the "Frog Squad" showed their commitment to spreading practical ecological information to effectuate positive change with this multi-day blog marathon. The citizen journalists explored every facet of the show from sampling organic beer, vodka and coffee, to checking out presenters like Mike Holmes, Adria Vasil and Simon Jackson.

Frog bloggers Miss604 and hummingbird post with Adria Vasil at EPIC

Working from a "blogger's lounge" (a coffee table, a few chairs, and a borrowed Salt Spring coffee airpot) next to the happyfrog booth in the concourse, the volunteer team of experts provided almost real-time coverage by publishing continually throughout the day. The stream of content allowed interested people from out of town to experience the expo - as well as building excitement during the run of the 3-day event.

Mike Holmes tells his story at EPIC - photo by John Bollwitt

The resultant grassroots footage is dubbed "social media" since it is meant to be shared. Site visitors are encouraged to add favorite posts to their social networks and shared bookmark services, send to a friend or post a comment on the blog. Further, with Creative Commons licensing, the interviewees may re-use the content on their blogs to help magnify their message.

Highlights:

• Simon Jackson, fervent protector of the Spirit Bear, garnered a report from the floor by Raul (AKA hummingbird 604), background info by Jonathon Narvey (jnarvey), plus a podcast of his stirring presentation.
• Super-contractor Mike Holmes' candid presentation was live blogged by Rebecca Bollwitt (AKA Miss 604) and Raul interviewed Adira Vasil, author of Ecoholic.
• More audio "Pondcasts" (produced by johnbollwitt of Radio Zoom) included happyfrog Community Manager Dave O's (daveo) conversations with the Reddot Campaign against junk mail, local news source The Tyee, a tech-activist offering solar power web hosting, Simple hemp shoes, and stylish and efficient Vespas.
• Videos interviews with LevelGround Trading, Industrial Artifacts, Hank&Cheef, and many more vignettes from the floor with hosts Christy and Cliff.
• Reports from the journey by two Salt Spring coffee roasters who biked their way to EPIC to tell about the company's carbon cool initiatives and green tax on disposable cups.
• Handmade body care crafter Naked was featured in a podcast interview and a post by eco-enthusiast Alexa Booth (xabooth).
• Vancouver fashion designer coverage with a Devil May Wear podcast, blog post about Dahlia Drive, and an eco t-shirt comparison including RioRain, HTNaturals and Me to We.
• Sustainable travel tips with a podcast and blog post about Parks Canada and a post on Adventure Travel by Colleen Coplick (colleenc) who also points about the problem with plastics and the benefits of the EPIC Sigg bottles.
• Greg Andrews (GregEh) also noticed the Sigg bottles along with Frogfile sustainable office products - ditto by Karen Fung (countablyinfinite) who also reported on the fancy solar lounge table and the design panel hosted by Shared Vision.

See all EPIC coverage at: happyfrog.ca EPIC Expo 2008 coverage.

More:

If you are interested to learn more about this campaign, please contact Dave Olson, Community Manager, dave (at) happyfrog (dot) ca

Tags: EPIC08, EPIC08, epicexpo, epic 08, epic 08, sustainable living expo, vancouver, canada place, sustainability, happyfrog.ca, happyfrog, citizen journalism