Its been a hectic week - hence my absence from these pages. As previously mentioned I chaired the Sentry Conference at Chilford Hall, near Cambridge, on Wednesday. Actually, I arrange it as well so I have quite a lot of effort invested in the event that goes on virtually year round.
All seemed to be going well at the beginning of the week. All bases were covered. No problems.
Then, on Tuesday morning when I fired up my laptop, I found an email from my keynote speaker, Prof Bob Thompson of the University of Illinois, USA. Sorry David, he said, but I'm snowed in. No aircraft are flying and I will not be able to be at your conference.
I was just beginning to think I might have to make a speech myself to fill the gap, when another email from Bob came through. I have attached my powerpoint slides, he said, maybe I could get up at 4.00am (10.00am UK time) and talk about them by a telephone link if your audio visual guys can connect me to the conference loudspeakers.
This level of technology was beyond me so I put Bob in America in direct touch with our AV crew and asked them to see what they could manage and set off for the venue. When I arrived there I discovered that Bob had told our crew that he had his own webcam and they were busy investigating whether it might be possible to arrange one way communication including a picture of Bob in front of his computer.
It would be even better if we could have two way speech, I remarked, then we could have audience questions and a fully interactive presentation - just as if Bob was in the room. The AV boys said I was pushing my luck but said they would try. And next morning at 9.50am they managed to establish the two way link and Bob gave his presentation live and interactive with his picture on one screen and his slides on another.
In some ways it made his contribution even better. It was certainly more exciting for me. And, of course, it saved greenhouse gases in that he did it all from home instead of flying across the Atlantic. I received many congratulations on this achievement but in truth it was all down to Bob Thompson and our AV crew. So, thanks guys. You all did a great job.
Comments (1)
What a "good news" story!
Posted by Steve Gerrish | February 11, 2008 5:35 PM
Posted on February 11, 2008 17:35