http://www.telepresenceoptions.com/2010/03/telepresence_virtual_conferenc/

The Starting Point for the Sustainability Virtual Summit, the first "Telepresence-Enabled" Virtual Event where speakers from around the world will participate via both publicly available and enterprise Cisco TelePresence Systems.

Next week on March 30th, 31st, and April 1st the Human Productivity Lab and Telepresence Options will be participating in a next generation virtual conference: The Sustainability Virtual Summit. The conference is an on-line event showcasing Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) that contribute to a more sustainable world. While this isn't the first on-line virtual event on a next-generation platform it is the first virtual event that will be "telepresence-enabled" by virtual event pioneer: G2 events. Speakers and presenters from around the world will be participating in roundtable discussions from a variety of enterprise and publicly available Cisco TelePresence Systems. I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the cutting edge platforms that are replicating in-person tradeshows, conferences, and seminars and how Cisco TelePresence is being incorporated into virtual events.  What's in it for the attendees, what is in it for the exhibitors, and give folks a taste of what they can expect at next week's Sustainability Virtual Summit including a sneak peek at the Human Productivity Lab's Virtual Booth.

In addition to virtual events which pull together real people in an on-line virtual environment I will also discuss how telepresence is enabling organizations to bring together speakers and participants from around the world to address both participants in virtual environments AND real-life attendees at traditional in-person events including conferences, summits, and trade shows leveraging the publicly available telepresence capabilities going into hotels around the world.
 

A round-table discussion on telepresence-enabled virtual events and publicly available telepresence-enabled live events with G2 events, Cisco, and Tata Communications

What Are Virtual Events?

Virtual Events in an on-line gathering of real people in a virtual environment who have come together for a common purpose with the ability to interact with other participants in real-time as well as view/read/download content relative to the event including:

• Attend virtual keynote speeches, panel discussions, and roundtables

• Visit virtual trade show booths to learn about the latest information on product and services

• Participate in virtual chat sessions with company representatives and/or

For this overview I am also using the term "Virtual Event" to describe events where telepresence can be used to bring together speakers and groups to address and educate attendees in live settings such as in-person conferences, training sessions, and summits.


What is in it for Attendees?

On-line virtual events have many of the benefits of live events without the cost and expense of travel.  A virtual trade show or conference attendee can visit with many different companies and organizations that have come together around their particular interest.  They can browse through other attendees and communicate via chat and ultimately video and telepresence.  They can discover companies, products, and services that may solve their problems that they would not have known about if not for this format. They can focus their efforts on a particular topic (I.E. Sustainability) and get a thorough immersion in a relatively short amount of time.

Getting around the Sustainability Summit will be quite natural for anyone who has ever been to an in-person trade show.  The Exhibit Hall, The Booth, and the Booth's Front Desk are all represented virtually (Click to Expand)

What is in it for Organizers and Exhibitors?

For Academia and Non-Profits the ability to bring together scholars and academics globally around a particular topic.  For corporate marketers the virtual trade show offers that same benefit with the ability to glean massive amounts of data on the individual interests of participants.  What virtual booths they visited, what topics were of interest, and what offers / campaigns were successful with the ability to test multiple variables in real-time and adjust based on success or lack there-of.
 
Also, as G2 Event's co-founder Bruno Castejon points out in the accompanying video, it might be easier to draw a crowd of thousands from every corner of the world over the web than get a couple of hundred to a particular booth in Orlando in the middle of August.

Virtual Events are a Marketer's Dream with Detailed Demographics on each Registered User's Every Interest and Mouse-click (Click to Expand)

How is Telepresence and Videoconferencing Being Used Today?

Both telepresence and videoconferencing are being used to create ad hoc video content where presenters and subject matter experts are being brought into events. In the past year I have used telepresence and videoconferencing to speak in real-time to a group of CTOs and CIOs from an international telecommunications buying consortium, I have recorded an overview on telepresence market for a customer event for a systems integrator/ VAR, and I have participated in the roundtable discussion on virtual events with participants from around the world which you will find embedded in this article.  In each case I was able to connect with participants from around the world without having to board an airplane and in the case of the presentations I was able to charge a fraction of my speaking fee for a speech requiring physical travel. 

In the example of the virtual roundtable we put together for this article, we were able to put together a panel of some of the leading experts from companies that are pioneering telepresence-enabled virtual events and making telepresence publicly available.  Using a combination of publicly available and enterprise Cisco TelePresence System we were able to cost-effectively connect this group from San Jose, CA, Herndon, VA, and Singapore in real-time.

Using the production capabilities of Cisco Studios and G2 Events we were able to record the discussion in high-definition, add illustrative graphics, and produce a recorded version ready for international distribution over the internet, also cost-effectively in less than a week. 

Future implementations of this capability will be able to bring participants together from private and/or publicly available telepresence platforms in real-time for instantaneous high-definition streaming delivery in over the internet globally. 
 

What is the Future of Telepresence in Virtual Events?

The key dynamics that are driving telepresence as a communications medium for both virtual events and virtual participation in live meetings are:

• The growing availability of publicly available telepresence systems in hotels and hotel conference centers and the accompanying network / camera /codec/display capability that can be extended to the hotel's traditional conference spaces. You can rent a Polycom RPX telepresence capability at The Waldorf=Astoria in New York City, and Cisco TelePresence at Starwood, Marriott, and Tata Taj properties around the world.

• Large capacity dedicated telepresence conferencing facilities connected with inter-organizational communications capabilities.  Some examples of these facilities include the recently announced telepresence-enabled lecture hall at Duke University and the large capacity training facility that IVCi recently built for GE. 

Large capacity "telepresence-enabled" conferencing facilities connected to persistent inter-organization telepresence networks provide anchor venues where speakers and subject matter experts can be brought in from around the world

There are a couple of different ways that believe telepresence will play a part in the future of virtual events:

1.  Global Goes Regional - Many different types of events have traditionally brought together participants from around the world to one location for presentations, working groups, and gatherings.  Examples include: yearly sales conferences, academic conferences, vendor training sessions, and summits. Expect a portion of these events to go regional as the telepresence capability in hotels and conferencing facilities connects regional venues together to enable speakers and subject matter experts to address a variety of satellite locations where participants will still gather in hotels for camaraderie, training, and socializing over a nice meal and a glass of wine. 

In the case of corporate training events the company is still on the hook for the same number of hotel rooms and additional telepresence conferencing charges but isn't paying for international airline tickets and the productivity hit of taking employees out of their regions and subjecting a significant number to jet lag. Telepresence-enabled conferencing provider G2 Events and telepresence integrator IVCi are developing a capability to extend the telepresence capture & display from the publicly available telepresence systems being deployed in Starwood, Marriott, and Tata Taj properties to deliver it to larger conference venues within those hotels.  Speakers from around the world can address large events by being projected onto a large format screen in the hotel's ballroom. 

The same network and codec technology that distributes visual collaboration capabilities into these hotels for the traditional Anglo-American / Western European across-the-table business meeting format traditionally associated with Cisco TelePresence can just as easily transport the video necessary for on-stage telepresence experiences using display technologies from Musion / Digital Illusions or Digital Video Enterprises (although with a much higher cost to set up the effect... ).

The same network and codec technology that delivers publicly available across-the-table sit-down meeting  capabilities to Starwood, Marriott, and Tata Taj Hotels can be extended to the hotel's ballroom to provide on-stage telepresence experiences  (albeit at a much higher cost to set up the display technology for the effect)

2.  Academia Goes Global - Along the same lines on the academic front, conferences can be anchored at a location with a high-capacity telepresence capability connected to an inter-organizational network.  The International Society for Presence Research which holds the prestigious PRESENCE conference each year in support of research into tele(presence) is exploring holding its 13th annual conference by anchoring the main plenary at a facility like Duke's University's TelePresence lecture hall.  The conference which draws participants from dozens of universities around the world would ideally set up regional satellite facilities at other universities connected over NLR/Internet2 high performance research network.  The effort which is currently in the exploratory phase is illustrative of the kind of thinking that forward-looking organization are doing as ubiquitous and cost-effective telepresence capabilities allow them to rethink the way they have traditionally done business... and scholarship.

 About the Author

Howard Lichtman is the Publisher of Telepresence Options and the President of the Human Productivity Lab, an independent consultancy that helps organizations develop telepresence and effective visual collaboration strategies. Mr. Lichtman is the author of The Inter-Company Telepresence and Videoconferencing Handbook.  The Lab provides corporate clients with acquisition consulting, RFI/RFP creation, and ROI/TCO financial modeling on telepresence systems, telepresence managed services, and inter-networking telepresence. The Lab also provides investors with prescient insight into the rapidly growing telepresence industry.  Mr. Lichtman is also the Editor of the monthly newsletter Telepresence Options Telegraph


The Sustainability Virtual Summit will be live on-line @ http://www.sustainabilityvirtualsummits.com

Mar 30, 2010 USA Timezones
Mar 31, 2010 Europe Timezones
Apr 1, 2010 Asia Timezones

The content will be available on-demand April-June 2010.


Telepresence "Best Bets" at the Sustainability Summit:
These links will take you directly to the booth when the event goes live on March 30th:

Human Productivity Lab's booth: http://smartict.veplatform.com/vep.php#/?sae_b=58
Cisco's booth: http://smartict.veplatform.com/vep.php#/?sae_b=118
Tata's booth: http://smartict.veplatform.com/vep.php#/?sae_b=226
MASERGY's Booth: http://smartict.veplatform.com/vep.php#/?sae_b=236

Another Important Telepresence Event:

The Human Productivity Lab will be hosting The Developing an Intercompany Telepresence & Visual Collaboration Program Conference and Working Group on April 22nd, 2010 in Reston, Virginia.  The event is for organizations looking to improve their ability to collaborate with their vendors, partners, and customers using telepresence and video conferencing and a working group where partners can get together to work out details of a joint program in a highly focused, productive environment.  Details are available at http://www.TelepresenceOptions.com/conference

Sustainability Virtual Summits: Smart ICT to showcase ICT solutions for business sustainability. Event to feature first-ever Telepresence integration into a virtual event. Live March 30th-April 1st 2010. http://www.sustainabilityvirtualsummits.com

"The Sustainability Virtual Summit (is) the first meeting of its kind, ever." Georg Kell Executive Director UN Global Compact

Steamboat Springs, CO (PRWEB) March 17, 2010 -- Presented by a prestigious list of ICT leaders, and supported by the United Nations, BSR and Forrester Research, Sustainability Virtual Summits: Smart ICT is the first virtual conference and tradeshow to present the case for a future-oriented ICT industry, to respond quickly to the challenge of sustainability. The event kicks off on March 30th, 2010, and is available globally through April 1st with live broadcasts timed for US, European and Asian timezones, and then for a further 90 days on-demand.

Telepresence-enabled panel session in a virtual event

Sustainability Virtual Summits: Smart ICT will summarize the cutting-edge information and best practices that corporations of all sizes need to support themselves through their journey toward building a more sustainable and more efficient enterprise. Attendees to the free-of-charge virtual event will learn about dematerialization - the substitution of high carbon products and activities with low carbon alternative, Collaboration and unified communication (with an emphasis on telepresence), next generation data centers and communication, Smart Grid and the business impact of sustainability on commercial brands.

Notes Georg Kell, Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact, "The Sustainability Virtual Summit (is) the first meeting of its kind, ever." Rather than just talking about ICT solutions that businesses can employ to reach their sustainability goals, the event employs those technologies itself, from a state-of-the art virtual event software platform, to a unique integration of telepresence technology as a roundtable panel discussion delivery vehicle. ICT Global Leader sponsors Orange Business Services, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Panduit and the Telecommunications Industry Association, along with a host of ICT Smart Leaders, industry and analyst speakers, will address ICT and sustainability in 36 keynote, track and panel sessions throughout the 3 live and 90 on-demand days of the event. In a first for a virtual event, the telepresence enablement of the Sustainability Virtual Summits: Smart ICT event allows roundtable and panel discussions to be broadcast between panelists in remote locations. 35% of the event content has been enabled by telepresence.

To register to attend the Sustainability Virtual Summits: Smart ICT event free-of-charge, www.SustainabilityVirtualSummits.com.

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The Stranova Blog - Strategic Innovation

Posted on Tuesday 9 March 2010

CSRwire, the world's number one resource for corporate social responsibility news as well as the hub for an influential community that has realized the value and necessity of Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainability, today named the "Sustainability Virtual Summits: Smart ICT" event as their Pick of the Day (www.csrwire.com).  The event has a CSRwire entry at http://www.csrwire.com/archive/our_pick/261.

CSR's 'Our Picks' Archive makes it easy for you to access the results of CSRwire's selection of the most pertinent and revealing CSR-related developments from our ongoing survey of a wide range of global media outlets. Each item in the 'Our Picks' Archive has appeared on the CSRwire.com Home Page after being hand-selected by members of the CSRwire staff.

INTERNATIONAL SPONSOR COUNCIL TO SHOWCASE AT SUSTAINABILITY VIRTUAL SUMMITS: SMART ICT                  SUPPORTED BY UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL COMPACT

As part of virtual conference series, ISC, world trade organization for  corporate sponsors provides leadership platform on how the sustainability initiatives of corporations can impact the world through their sponsorship of sports, music, the arts and other lifestyle passions

Denver, Colorado: January 4, 2010 -  

The International Sponsor Council, the world trade association for corporate sponsors, will join Cisco, Orange, Alcatel-Lucent, the United Nations Global Compact and BSR in delivering Sustainability Virtual Summits: Smart ICT virtual conference and exhibition, which will launch online on March 23, 2010, is the first in a series of virtual events focusing on technologies that will impact sustainability programs. 

The conference will harness a powerful collaboration of enterprise, government, NGOs and influencer groups.  The virtual exhibition will give participating companies the opportunity to showcase Green ICT solutions, in themed halls and ICT Pavilions including the ISC Impact Pavilion which will provide insight into sustainability programs of sponsors within their respective sports, music, arts and other lifestyle sponsorships and endorsements. The ISC Impact Pavilion will also provide an opportunity for sponsors and industry leaders to share product and service information via exhibits.

 "The concept of sustainability is perhaps the most critical initiative facing the world," said Terry Cecil, ISC President and CEO. "Many of the world's leading corporations are taking a leading role in sustainability due to the critical and inherent importance to any corporation's success and value. The ISC is supporting the Sustainability Virtual Summit: Smart ICT because of its potential in creating an invaluable event that will deliver an unprecedented impact through global collaboration. Sponsors and the respective industries they support will have an opportunity to share their strategies and tactics for sustainability as well as insight on how to partner with fans around the world towards responsible existence.

Mark Barounos, President of conference organizer G2Events, said, "We are very excited to welcome the ISC as a major event supporter. The influence and reach of sponsors can have a considerable impact on the actions and mindset of fans in regard to sustainability. The ISC workshop and exhibits will provide a unique and valuable education for anyone interested in or involved in sustainability." 

The ISC and G2Events will also be launching a global virtual summit on sponsorship in the Fall of 2010. "In addition to the Sustainability Virtual Summits, The ISC is excited to be partnering with industry leader, G2Events, the ISC Sponsorship Virtual Summit to be held in the Fall of 2010," added Cecil. "The ISC is taking a leadership role by delivering the industry an innovative platform that will provide global collaboration without taxing travel budgets time constraints and speaking conflicts."

 Sustainability Virtual Summits: Smart ICT will be a telepresence and collaborative conferencing-enabled event.  ICT Pavilion Sponsors Connection Research and the Telecommunications Industry Association will host specialty virtual exhibit halls, and will moderate track and panel discussions focusing on carbon efficient management software and sustainable information and communications technologies.  ICT Smart Leader sponsors Domani, NineSigma and the Human Productivity Lab will bring their consulting expertise to the event.  Network sponsor Masergy, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), CSRwire, the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GESI), the Interactive Multimedia Collaborative Communications Alliance (IMCCA), the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG), the Carbon Free Meeting Coalition, the Green Computing Impact Organization (GCIO), the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability, the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, TelepresenceWorld.net, and Terrapass are among the initial supporting organizations of the conference.  For more details on how you can get involved, please contact the organizers at info@g2events.com.   

Visit www.SustainabilityVirtualSummits.com to learn more about the events, or to take a demo tour of the virtual event environment.  Speaking, sponsoring and exhibiting opportunities at the Sustainability Virtual Summits: Smart ICT event will be similar to those at a physical event, but without the cost and trouble of travel, or the associated greenhouse gas emissions.  Registration as an Attendee to the Sustainability Virtual Summits is free of charge.

About the International Sponsor Council

The International Sponsor Council (ISC) is the world trade association for corporate sponsors. ISC core members are corporations that sponsor programs including sports, music, the arts, entertainment, education and other mediums of consumer engagement.  Our mission is to promote sponsor value and protect the collective interests of sponsors.  Through the efforts of the organization and its members the effectiveness of sponsorship is improved. The ISC provides knowledge sharing, advocacy and networking for executives involved in sponsorship. The organization is currently focusing on the development of a professional certification program, ROI measurement standard and sponsor sustainability/CSR initiative programs for the industry. Founding Members include AT&T, Bank of America, Bridgestone Firestone, The Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Enterprises, FirstRand Group (South Africa), Honda Motor Co., MasterCard, Panasonic and Visa.  For  more information on the ISC, please contact Terry Cecil by phone 678-240-9494 or by email tcecil@sponsorcouncil.com, or visit www.sponsorcouncil.org.

About G2Events Inc.

G2Events is a professional organizer of virtual events.  Advances in virtual event platform technologies, coupled with a shift in personal attitudes towards, and corporate embracing of, virtual world interactions, are changing the rules of business, culture and society.  G2Events, building on the long-standing experience of its team members in the physical conference and exhibition arena, is taking a lead in the professional organization of virtual conferences and tradeshows.  The company stages its own virtual events, and also produces virtual events for enterprises and partner organizations.  In addition to having a thorough familiarity with virtual event platforms, the G2Events team includes experts in content management, speaker coordination, virtual booth design and content management, and event marketing, with a specific focus on digital marketing via new media and social networks.  For more information, or to plan a virtual event for your organization or business, please contact Mark Barounos, CEO (mbarounos@g2events.com) or visit www.G2Events.com.

By Nicola Leske and Tarmo Virki

GENEVA (Reuters) - Two months ahead of the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, the world body's telecoms arm urged governments and companies to use information technology to fight global warming.

"Information technologies contribute 2 to 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But they can also reduce emissions in other sectors by at least 15 percent," said Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary-General, at a telecoms industry event in Geneva.

"This means they can be significant ... in our fight against climate change," he added.

One of the most obvious uses for information technology is video conferencing, which allows people to attend meetings without traveling, thus reducing their carbon footprint.

"When we consider that every week there are international conferences involving thousands of participants, virtual events ... would have a huge impact on emissions," Malcolm Johnson, Director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau said.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations and is lobbying Copenhagen negotiators to get more mention of ICT in the texts being prepared.

"It's a struggle just to get ICT mentioned," Johnson said.

But there's more to what is dubbed green ICT than virtual meetings.

Indian network technology firm VNL for example focuses on building cheap solar-powered GSM base stations in rural areas in emerging markets like India.

So far, they have delivered the first of 100 base stations but VNL sees major growth ahead.

"By the end of this year we will be on three continents," VNL chairman Rajiv Mehrotra told Reuters in an interview.

TEXTING TO REACH FARMERS

Ban called on chief executives to ensure government officials understood how ICT could address the climate threat and "usher in a new green economy."

He said text messages are being used as new tool to help farmers in Africa. Mobile phone companies and other partners had installed 5,000 new weather stations across Africa.

"The weather stations will monitor the impact of climate change. When there is news, we will be able to transmit it immediately to farmers' mobile phones. We hope to reach as many African farmers as possible -- because seven out of ten Africans rely on farming to survive," Ban said.

Laina Raveendran Greene, CEO of environmental tech consultancy GetIt said: "going green is about getting rid of inefficiencies and that makes business sense."

Mike Lazaridis, CEO of BlackBerry, agreed: "Green is all about efficiency ... and Blackberry has always been focused on conserving spectrum.

"Because when you conserve spectrum you conserve power, your battery lasts longer, you conserve costs and capex," he added.

The ICT sector needs to look at its own carbon issues too. A datacentre for a search engine company can consume as much energy as a city the size of Geneva, the ITU has said.

"First we need to start with ourselves," said Jianzhou Wang, Chairman and Chief Executive of China Mobile.

"We used to believe that the telecom industry has low energy consumption, however, following the construction of numerous base stations and abundant utilization of servers, power consumption has become one of the major operating costs and need to be lowered," he said.

(Additional reporting by Georgina Prodhan in London)

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5974A120091008?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=10522&sp=true

TIA is the respected trade association for the ICT industry, and has developed more than 3,000 ANSI-accredited standards including Ethernet, CDMA technology, cell towers, public safety radios, healthcare ICT, vehicular telematics, intelligent transport systems and more. TIA is a prominent advocate on behalf of its members for universal broadband connectivity, innovation, accessibility and free trade. TIA's five strategic pillars include Government Affairs, Standards, Environment, Networking and Intelligence. Find out more about TIA membership by contacting lmagruder@tiaonline.org.