Confernces

I am organising a short conference on climate change and energy at work. How best do I ignite people’s interest? Can you think of any interactive elements that I can use? Any ideas (however wild) are welcome.

I also want to minimise the carbon footprint of the event. Can you recommend any caterers that offset their energy expenditure?
Reply to D S – Yes I am a cult leader, but only in my spare time. This conference is being organised in my other capacity as a bureaucrat.

Ideas required – 10 points guaranteed

So you are a cult leader then?
What do you have to do to join? Or is this apart of your initiation?

im trying to do a SOSE assignment on what would have happened if the Yalta conference did not take place.
i need to know a chain of events or specific details to put into the assignment.

The quick answer would have to be that there could have well be an ensuing conflict between the British/Americans on one side and Stalin’s USSR on the other. The Red Army was only 65 kms from Berlin at the time of the conference and Stalin might very well have tried to push for Soviet control of all of Germany. Churchill in particular was worried about the threat of Stalin and went so far as to draw up proposals for fighting the Soviets by re-arming surrendered German troops.

Hispanic teen marketing would be ideal but the general hispanic population is ok too.

Excellent conference by the IQPC (International Quality & Productivity Center)
10th US Hispanic Marketing
Employing Actionable Strategies To Capitalize On The $700 Billion U.S. Hispanic Market
September 20 – 21, 2005 ·
Hotel Intercontinental Miami, Miami, FL

I’m attempting to start some user interviews for work by web video conference, and it would be really helpful to be able to record the interviews for future reference. I’m expecting people to answer questions that haven’t been asked yet and I’m not convinced that all the important parts will be obvious first time around.

If you want to record the audio, there’s many options on this.
I use DART CD-Recorder. It will record audio directly off your sound card or "what you hear".

If you want to record or capture the video (with or without audio), there are a couple of programs out there that I know of. I use Camtasia which is awesome.

If you need any help on this, let me know.

When should we begin accepting deposits towards the Conference?
The Conference will be a Empowerment Conference for women. I do expect people to travel from afar… I also expect speakers to attend. We want to make reservations for a nice hotel, and tour whichever city we end up having the event in.

It does depend on the type of conference. If there are going to be meals/banquet/coffee service, you’ll need to know to arrange things with the hotel or food service organization. That’s one time limit. Are you going to be providing any materials? You or your presenters will need to know how many attendees to provide materials for. There’s another factor. You need to make estimates of the number of attendees so you know the size of rooms to reserve, etc. For the type of conferences I organized (educational for professional continuing ed), the sooner I knew how many people were coming, the better. Organization started sometimes 2 or more years in advance. Speakers were booked that far out & facilities arrangement were as well. Depending upon what type of conferences your target audience is used to attending, your reservation form with payment in full (& a discount for early reservations) can go out 6- 12 months in advance with payment due 2-3 months before the event. The later the reservation, the smaller the discounted price. I didn’t like at-the-door attendees as when the number was real high, it could really throw things off. So, it always cost more to register at the door. If the conference is for the general public, its a much shorter time line. Good luck!

I’m a temporary resident of Australia and Malaysian citizen. Going to apply U.S. visa if my paper is accepted in the Winter Vision Meeting conference in Colorado. I’ll only have less than 2 months to before the conference by the time the accepted papers are announced. Can I know is it difficult to obtain the visa in such short time? Thanks!

I would recommend that you make the appointment in advance, and buy a refundable air ticket (so you may cancel it if you don’t get your paper accepted). The processing time will be very short for this type of visa – probably it will be done either on the spot or overnight – but the waiting list for an appointment could be longer than 2 months. You could check the waiting list by trying to make an appointment now, and seeing what the current waiting time is.

2 doctors have recommended I have a medical procedure, and after and exhaustive amount of faxing and conferences, the insurance company rejected it again. I was told I have to go through the normal appeal procedure, but no one can tell me what that is. Can anyone help?

Depends on why they’re denying it…. Is your insurance company stating the procedure isn’t medically necessary? Or not covered? Experimental? I processed appeals @ an insurance company, and the amount of control your employer usually has is surprising.

If its not a covered benefit, and your insurance is funded by your employer, its probably not going to be approved the first time. The 2nd or 3rd level are usually more carefully reviewed. If your employer benefit plan doesn’t cover something, its not covered… They usually don’t overturn it, unless they have a REALLY good reason to…. i.e., life or death.

If they’re stating its not medically necessary, you need to find out what criteria you are lacking, and get it done.

P.S. if its bariatric surgery, and you don’t already meet all criteria listed on your plan, its pretty worthless to appeal before you do whatever you need to do to qualify.

Your letter should be short & sweet; the entire appeal should include ALL documentation you have including medical records, and dates of phone calls made, etc… Your letter should simply state you wish to appeal the decision to deny "whatever the procedure is" . Then list the reasons you feel a reconsideration is warranted. Address all issues/reasons you feel the decision should be over-turned. Try to address the rationale they used in their denial to you. Provide your insurance ID #, and contact info, via phone & mail. good luck.

is there a special phone service or something? this is just for a regular telephone conference call for about 5 people– no computer presentation is required.

If your company doesn’t already have a conferencing service set up (usually handled by the telecom or IT departments), then you can use an external service. I know at my company we use ACT Conferencing (http://www.actconferencing.com/). Sorry, I don’t know how much it costs as the company I’m at pays them directly.

ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE to be held in USA and ITALY.I come from Kenya,a country in East Africa.We have managed to submit our names to the conference organisers.We cant raise that amount,300euros,our families earn less than one dollar per day.We have five days from know to submit our registration fees.The deadline is 10th may 2007.Though we come from a poor background,we wanted to give our views about the drug issue because it is an issue that affect our youth very much.Infact we have been victim of this circumstances.
Anyone who has information on who we can turn to for help to contact me.I am the group leader of a delegate of six from kenya
I will gladly appreciate anyones help
thanks so much,may God Bless you.

Try to find any American companies in Kenya and contact them. Tell then what you are seeking and ask them to provide you with the corporate contact to see if they will sponsor your trip.

Are there and Hilton Hotels? McDonald’s Restaurants?

For the company (or companies) who sponsor you, it might be good publicity and it might actually be a tax write-off for them as well.

Good luck!

Seems like the SEC’s recruiting thugs from the penal system is starting to wear on them. Seems like half the players have been arrested this off-season. Do you think they will have enough players to start the season, or will they have to borrow from conferences that actually have standards?

That’s why they invented parole and work release.