Virtual Internet2 Member Meeting Behind-the-Scenes

Virtual Member Meeting In-person meeting planned for September 30-October 4 in Austin, TX. Concerns about travel safety following Sept. 11 tragedies. Decision was made to replace in-person meeting with a Virtual Meeting.

An Opportunity A virtual meeting created an opportunity to: Use and experiment with video technologies. Showcase the capabilities of high- performance networking. Work together with our member community to make it all happen.

Planning Once the decision to go with a Virtual Meeting was made, we had 12 days to make it happen. 12 Days!!!!!

The Format Virtual meeting would occur in same timeframe as the Member Meeting planned for Austin, October 2-5. One day of plenary sessions, Oct. 2. Three days of concurrent track sessions, including Megaconference, Oct. 3-5.

Multiple Viewing Options: Plenaries Real Streams at 128K, 256K, 512K IP/TV H.323 Multipoint Control Units (MCUs) VRVS Access Grid Research Channel (cable, satellite and Windows Media stream) Genesys audio-only conference call

Multiple Viewing Options: Track Sessions H.323 Multipoint Control Units (MCUs) Real streams Genesys audio-only conference call VRVS and Access Grid (for some sessions)

Set-up: Saturday, September 29 A conference room at the Internet2 office in Ann Arbor was transformed into a TV studio.

Set-up: Network An OC-3 network was set-up to allow the plenary sessions to be netcast.

Set-up: Access Grid Internet2’s Portable Access Grid node provided Plenary streams to the Access Grid community.

Set-up: Codecs The Real Streamer, the Stream Genie, and the IP/TV server.

Set-up: Satellite Feed A satellite truck parked outside fed output to the ResearchChannel for their cable and satellite viewers.

Testing and Rehearsal: Monday, October 1 Speakers practiced presenting in the TV studio.

Testing and Rehearsal: Cont. All outgoing streams were tested. VIMM audience members were encouraged to download players in advance.

VIMM Participation—Web page

Plenary Sessions Web page

Track Sessions Web page

VIMM Participation—Remote Sites Participants could view the VIMM from over 40 participation sites: Or from their homes or offices.

VIMM Interactions Participants could send questions to speakers via . Chat rooms and “video lounges” (for H.323 participants) were available for informal interactions. Chat rooms also provided a vehicle for trouble-shooting during the VIMM.

VIMM Statistics Over 90 individuals presented during the VIMM. Out of 36 planned track sessions for Austin, 22 were presented virtually. Some VIMM sessions had higher attendance than similar sessions at our in-person meetings. We received 7,494 Unique Visitors to the VIMM website. 105 respondents to our survey, normally we get around 30.

VIMM Feedback – The Good “Being able to attend without leaving my office.” “People who weren’t planning to travel to Austin were able to participate.” “Being able to hop between sessions or view multiple sessions simultaneously.” “Having archived streams so I can see the sessions I missed.” “The VIMM demonstrated that using video- conferencing technologies to share critical information can be done.”

VIMM Feedback – The Bad “No way to have a virtual glass of scotch with colleagues.” “Interruptions/distractions resulting from normal office demands.” “Please don’t do this again. Anyone who expects that users will sit and watch TV for multiple days as a replacement for a real conference is out of their minds.”

Where do we go from here? Use the VIMM as a model for other events. Monthly virtual meetings will continue on various topics (initially, Middleware). Alternate virtual and in-person meetings. The Commons will offer a suite of services that will allow Internet2 community to host their own virtual meetings. Best practices and VIMM Cookbook will be published.

A LOT of Help from our Friends! Bob Dixon of Ohio State University, Tyler Johnson of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Doug Pearson of Indiana University, for MCU and streaming support. Alan Crosswell of Columbia University for help with testing the IP/TV stream. Greg Goddard of University of Florida for running our Access Grid node. Philippe Galvez of CERN for providing VRVS support. Charlie Marks of University of Michigan for providing Real Stream support. Michael Wellings of University of Washington for being the floor director during the VIMM plenary. Kathleen McMonigal of University of Washington for providing MediaPlayer and Real Streams from the ResearchChannel, and for rebroadcasting the plenary after the live transmission had concluded.

We’d Also Like to Thank… Texas A&M University Ohio State University Indiana University University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill UC San Diego Supercomputer Center University of Kansas Northwestern University Dartmouth College Columbia University University of Washington University of Alaska University of Maryland University of Arkansas, Fayetteville University of Delaware University of Pennsylvania Boston University University of Edinburgh University of Missouri-Columbia Ford Motor Company IBM Corporation Cisco Akamai Amnis Systems Polycom Network Systems Division -- Accord Product Line Radvision SKC Communications, a Polycom/Accord Distributor Livewave OSHEAN National Library of Medicine

More Info Your Name and Internet2 Address Internet Boardwalk Suite 100 Ann Arbor, MI (734)