[Web4lib] Attending/Presenting at conferences in difficult times

[Brian Gray]

I doubt many people got to conferences with the goal of shaking hands with
the keynote. It is the  interactions,discussion, brainstorming, and sharing
with other participants is the benefit. A one-to-one with the speaker is
bonus.

Brian Gray
mindspiral at gmail.com
bcg8 at case.edu


On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 9:45 AM, Robert Balliot <rballiot at gmail.com> wrote:

> I started working on state-wide Polycom video conferences with libraries
> and
> schools about eight years ago for events such as:
> Jason's<http://www.jason.org/public/whatis/start.aspx>Louisiana
> Wetlands Project, the Titanic Project with Robert Ballard, and a
> conversation with Ray Bradbury on the 50th anniversary of Fahrenheit
> 451<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451>.
> That was before really fast broadband was available at so many locations,
> so
> there was a bit of video and audio degradation.
>
> The quality was acceptable though and the process itself was efficient.  I
> don't think everyone who participated would have been able to 'shake the
> hand' of the featured guests.  The events would have simply been hand
> shaking.  But, whiteboards and vetted questions allowed for some pretty
> significant and fruitful interaction.  Locally, Raytheon set up the first
> video conferencing capabilities that I am aware of in Rhode Island.  Their
> process reduced cost and created effective, efficient interactive
> meetings. It is very expensive and can be extremely dangerous to move
> people
> back and forth to have face to face meetings.
>
> For event organizers, there is certainly great value in selling the idea
> that you need to be in a room and maybe smell and touch the participants.
> You can fill meeting rooms, hotel rooms, rental cars, restaurants, sell
> gas,
> sell novelties, sell print brochures and signs, collect taxes, create
> insurance risks, create health risks, and expend personnel hours on travel
> time. In the end you may achieve the actual intent of a couple hours of
> meaningful dialog.
>
> When I look at what CISCO now offers for businesses and
> education<http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/video/ps1870/index.html>
> in terms of efficient telepresence, it is clear that you can achieve
> meaningful dialog without the added expense. If you really feel the need to
> shake hands, perhaps scratch and sniff, animatronics and some 3D glasses
> can
> achieve the same effect.
>
> R. Balliot
> http://oceanstatelibrarian.com
>