Conference/Event Support

We have seen over the last half dozen years that these technologies can be put to great use to support and improve the productivity and impact of conferences. Below are a few examples of how we have tried to do this in our own work. First though a word about what has been learned through these experiences.

Now that we have the benefit of half a decade of hands-on experience with organizing and supporting international conferences with these technologies, we are in a better position to know what works and what does not. Here are some of the highlights that we have retained from this experience:

1. A Web site and associated tools can be used either to support, or, better, to enhance and extend a physical conference.

2. If you surf the Web you will find that to the extent that this is done (i.e., increasingly) the overwhelming majority of all such conference support systems are for the most part passive "bulletin boards". This is a safe and usually cheap choice, but in some cases at least it can be a considerable lost opportunity.

3. Enough experience has now been accumulated at the leading edge for us to be quite confident about what is needed to make such a venture work.

4. If the process of site design and management is shucked off to some technical unit or external consultant, it is unlikely to give best results. The means and resources need to be found in order to ensure that those responsible for the substantive aspects of the conference and committed to its success are directly involved in all aspects of site design and management.

5. The ideal conference support system will be in place at least two months before the actual corresponding physical conference opens, and then should be kept in place for the better part of a year afterward so that others can access its content.

6. Interactivity is vital.

7. As is depth of content (and ease of use when it comes to accessing it).

8. At the same time that the range of useful supporting technologies is fast expanding (e.g., multimedia, real time voice and videoconferencing, webcasting, and the like), so too is their quality and performance. This means that any judgment reached at one point in time may have to be reviewed and revised even a year or so later.

9. A good site loads quickly, provides a well organized and serene working space (careful on all those fancy little critters that jump around on your page!), gives the user a strong sense of orientation and immediate help when needed, and is perceived as an open window on the issues under consideration (rather than closing the user off in some sort of confined box).

10. It should permit multiple levels of access, bearing in mind that people's time available and interests vary enormously.

11. If good site design is critical, it is only a small part of what is needed to ensure the success of an interactive Web site and conference. And while good site design and choice of supporting tools can go a long way to help, meticulous day to day management is essential. It is our estimate that the resources needed to manage a conference support system over the period of the several months that are needed as an absolute minimum for its to do its full job, will probably exceed the entire initial investment in site design, debugging and deployment.

12. As to the prospect of a purely virtual conference, our experience shows that this is likely to succeed only where there is some sort of strong incentive structure, which is needed to compensate the loss of focus which a specific event and/or set of dates provides. It can be made to work, but it requires real thought and commitment to succeed.

• OECD -- Towards Sustainable Transportation Conference (March 1996)

  Our first attempt at a full-function "electronic environment" site in support of an international conference, sponsored by the OECD in Vancouver Canada in early 1996. Today, three full Web technology generations later, it can still serve as a comprehensive checklist and model for those ready to build on the lessons of the past to construct their own sites for these purposes. Also useful as a repository of information and views on the meeting and its important topic.

• Zero Emissions Strategies Virtual Conference I (Summer 1997)

  A collaborative international undertaking in the form of an open, global 'virtual conference' organized over the months of August and September 1997 under the leadership of Eric Britton (EcoPlan) and Robert Ayres (INSEAD). The conference was co-sponsored and funded in part by the United Nations University (UNU) and its Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS), the Programme, Preparation and Monitoring Unit (Directorate XIII/B/1) of the European Commission , the European Telework Development Initiative, the OECD Environment Directorate, and the Ministère de l'Environnement (France). The Conference was also supported by the Teles Group (Germany), and The Center@Hamline (USA). (The main source of financial backing for the conference was EcoPlan International.)

  The first half of the conference's agenda in the pilot stage over the month of August aimed to use these new means to try to provide expert counsel to the UNU and the IAS concerning their eventual future activities in this important science policy area over the next several years. The second part attempted to use this experience as a trial to probe the potential for making innovative use of the "new media" (i.e., computer-mediated communications) to create an expanded shared knowledge base and a yet stronger community of interest on this and similar important technology and society policy issues. The objective was to see if we could make use of these technologies to group forces, in order to guide government and the other major actors concerned toward more informed, more broadly supported, and more effective policies and actions. As is appropriate given its concerns, the conference was organized as a travel-free, no-fee, resource-sparing, low-emissions, and, we certainly hoped, convivial, undertaking. [For access to the 1997 conference's Web site click here.]

• Zero Emissions II (Fall/Winter 1997)

  This virtual conference -- the second in the Zero Emissions series -- represented a modest attempt to see what might be done to make use of the World Wide Web and some associated tools and technologies as a test platform to set off an international dialogue and exchange of ideas on the subject of technological change and the concept of "zero emissions". It was, above all, an experiment, and if it was in many ways conducted in an open-ended, learn-as-you-go-along manner, it was nonetheless one with very serious intentions. A first general introduction to the conference and its overall organization will be found here, while a very useful definition of the zero emissions focus is avilable here. You also may find it useful by way of general background to consult the section entitled How This Site Came About, This Way.

  The project was organized and managed by EcoPlan, in cooperation and with the sponsorship of the INSEAD Center for the Management of the Environment and Resources, Fontainebleau France, and within the framework of The Commons. It was in fact a typical collaborative exercise of the sort that The Commons was created to encourage and support. The project was also generously supported with technical help from Crawford Systems, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and CyberLynx and the Virtual Learning Network in Coos Bay, Oregon. [A final summary and critical evaluation of the confrence will be found at Summary of Final Evaluation and Report"]

• Telework (details to follow.)

• Teleconferencing 98 (details to follow.)

• Sept. 1999 OECD Berlin Conference on Innovations for Sustainable Transportation (details to follow.)