TenStep Conference

Today, I made a presentation about my project at a conference on Project Management organized by Tenstep in Capetown, South Africa. My Project Manager had invited me to share a project update with this group of twenty five Project Managers. I joined the seminar through Skype earlier this morning.

My Project Manager first introduced iLive2Lead and my project to the audience. She then gave them an insight to the months of planning and preparation that went into this project. I had sent her my complete workbook prior to the session. Then it was my turn to make my presentation. It was a new experience for me, and I was extremely happy that my project was well-received.

I thank my PM for giving me this wonderful opportunity. It was a great learning experience and a method of sharing my project with people from around the world!

Go green!

Green Newsletter!

The newsletter is on the school website at last!
Here is the link:

http://www.psbbschools.ac.in/images/eco-awareness.pdf

I'm very happy that it was put up before the month-end! :)

Go green!

Succession Planning

I've been wondering for a long time as to how I'm going to keep this project alive once I graduate from school. I realized a while ago that I'm not going to be there in school anymore to keep it going- so i have to put some system in place to ensure that my efforts are not short lived. My Project Manager termed this as 'Succession Planning' (doesn't that sound so fancy?) Here's what I intend to do:

1. Draft out a list of responsibilities for the Environment Monitor: During the course of this project, I was chosen to be the Environment Monitor of the school. I was surprised to find that there were no specific environment-related duties assigned to me. So I've decided that I'll put pen to paper and write down what I feel should be done by the person who holds this post in the future, and hand it over to the teacher-in-charge. It will be a good way to sustain many of my green initiatives!

2. Popularize the Green Award: True, this is one of the activities in my Grand Plan, but it also falls under succession planning. That's because the Green Award is a big motivator for students to participate in eco-friendly initiatives. Since it's an annual award that's been instituted in the school, it will be given every year without exception. If students are aware of its existence, it will be more sought-after. That's exactly what I want, because then students will have to compete to win it, and the competitive spirit will encourage them to participate in more and more environment-related activities!

Go green!

Newsletter completed!

I'm all done working on my Green Newsletter. It's an eco-awareness initiative also named Environ (as I mentioned in an earlier post). It will take a few days to get uploaded on the school website- following which I will post the link in my blog! Unfortunately, it's not possible to directly upload the newsletter on the blog- only a link can be pasted here. But I'm very excited about it!

Go green!

What's in a name?

A friend asked me last week why I named my project Environ. It was only then that I got thinking about it. The actual reason I named it Environ was because it was a part of the word 'Environment'. Besides that, when I set up this blog, one of the few available URLs that I liked was www.environconsciousness.blogspot.com, so I thought it would make a good name. And finally, it sounds very classy! I just Googled the word, and I was surprised to find that there are several global and Indian environmental companies named Environ! Maybe someday my project might just get a website of its own  :)

Go green!

Green Award

I planned to get a 'Green Award' instituted in my school to encourage students to participate in eco-friendly initiatives. Unexpectedly, I found that such an award was already in place in my school! After a little investigation, however, I realized that not too many students were aware that such an award existed (I wasn't either, till a few days ago!).

I spoke to my teacher and gleaned more details about the prize. Instituted by the Bala Bhavan Educational Trust, this rolling shield is given every year to a student who has shown keen interest in environmental activities both within and outside school. This matched what I had in mind when I initially made out my plan.

So I modified my Grand Plan a bit- instead of getting a new award in place, I have decided to popularize the existing one through my green newsletter, by making announcements about it in my school assembly and by putting up notices about it on the school notice boards.

I was extremely surprised to learn about the award (and a bit sad also, because I was quite excited about getting a new one instituted!), but I think it would work out well for the school as well as my project if I spread awareness about the existing prize.

Go green!