On December 12, 2008, more than 700 Massachusetts advocates, local officials and policy makers attended the 2008 Massachusetts Smart Growth/Smart Energy Conference at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. This year's theme, Think Green: Educate and Engage, focused on the latest housing, transportation, economic development, energy, public health, and environmental challenges, solutions and innovations. 

For the past six years, five state agencies have worked together on behalf of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts to coordinate and produce this important conference. This year, the lead agency was The Department of Housing and Community Development. The other agencies on the committee included The Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, The Executive Office of Health and Human Services and The Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works.

The Rendon Group worked with the Conference Planning Committee with event logistics, participation outreach, the development and fulfillment of online registration, and event management. TRG also helped to promote, recruit, register and manage the exhibitors during the conference.

The 2008 conference featured workshops and roundtable discussions, which focused on policy and regulatory updates, best practices, and skill development on a variety of topics, including: The Green Communities Act, Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy, Strategies for Municipalities, Transit Oriented Development, Green and Healthy Affordable Housing, Climate Change Adaptation, Foreclosed Property Reuse and Regionalism.