Cisco TelePresence Discussion on Climate Change

Sue Bostrom: So today, we are going to be connecting all of us here at VoiceCon in Orlando with Vice President Al Gore at Nashville; John Chambers, Cisco's Chairman and CEO; and also Lawrence McGinty, who is with ITN. He is their award winning science editor for that publication in London.

In addition, we are going to have more audiences observing this session via TelePresence. They will be located in London City, in Dubai, Warsaw, and in Paris. And because TelePresence is based on this underpinning of the network is a platform and unified communication with the touch of one button, we will be able to bring all of these people from around the world together to engage in a discussion on a topic that's one of our most important, climate change.

So let's get the discussion started.

So what I am going to be doing now is touching the phone where it actually has our meeting scheduled and we will bring in the other participants.

Lawrence McGinty: Hey, there we go.

Sue Bostrom: Hello, welcome. Hi, this is Sue Bostrom. I am in VoiceCon here with all of our participants in Orlando. Welcome Vice President Gore. Hey, John, how are you doing?

Al Gore: Hi, Sue.

John Chambers: Hello, Sue, thank you. Hello, Lawrence. Hi.

Sue Bostrom: And Lawrence, of course, we don't want to forget you and all of your friends out there in Bedfont Lakes, the UK. I just want to draw your attention before we get started as all of you can see on you TelePresence rooms, they are around the world, I have just been showing the audience here in Orlando on the slide, on the presentation that we can actually share together via TelePresence exactly how we are all making this work with the network is a platform.

So with that, I think we are ready to get the discussion started. I know folks here in Orlando have been looking forward to it and I will turn it over to you, Lawrence.

Lawrence McGinty: Thanks, Sue and welcome all (inaudible) to this unique event. Welcome also to those people who are watching on the Web and watching in via TelePresence. Here in London, we are hosting a live debate, using Cisco's TelePresence technology to connect some of the leading commentators on climate change in four locations on two continents and we have two live audiences as well. We are also simulcasting globally to thousands of people on the Web and to TelePresence rooms in three continents.

So let's get down to business and I will start by introducing our panelists. First of all, someone who as I say, show business hardly needs any introduction, Mr. Al Gore. Former Vice President Al Gore, nowadays you are Chairman of Current TV, which has a television journalist, I am really interested in, a station for young people based on citizen journalism, citizen reporting. You are also Chairman of Generation Investment Management, firm that invests in sustainable projects and you are Chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection, a non-profit organization struggling to get to grips with this thorny issue.

In business terms, and I didn't know this, it kind of surprises me, you are a member of the Board of Directors of Apple, a Senior Advisor to Google and a partner with a venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. But of course, what people know you for is your two bestselling books, Earth in the Balance and An Inconvenient Truth, which creates I think a unique double because I can think of no other person in any other field of endeavor who has starred in an Oscar winning movie and won a Nobel Peace Prize but you did in 2007 with the IPCC.

To be continued...

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Video Conferencing and Telepresence at MyLot

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Just posted a new article about Teleworking over at Zimbio:
Benefits of Teleworking

Check it out and be sure to leave a comment. Thanks!