Conference by satellite

Attending a conference often involves travel, airfare, hotel and other expenses. But what if you could go to a satellite location in a nearby city and see and participate in a conference as though you were present at the main location?

The CMMA (Communications Media Managers Association) did just that this year for its spring Professional Development Conference. To save costs for participants, the CMMA coordinated with the Mayo Clinic, with whom it's had a longstanding relationship, to use the clinic's Rochester TV studio and broadcast master control to coordinate the conference. Speakers delivered their presentations from the Mayo Clinic's TV studio to remote locations around the country, and then answered questions as they came in, using WebEx's Internet conferencing service. The event had 147 attendees from 22 locations (see Podium, July 2004).
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