Megaconference

The Megaconference are special non-profit world-wide events which use the H.323 protocol to create a virtual conference involving hundreds of locations and thousands of people. Everyone in the world with H.323 equipment is invited to participate. They are the world’s largest video conferences. The first Megaconference was held in 1999, and it has been held annually ever since. The Megaconferences are run as professional conferences, with no central location. There are presentations (called Interactions) by users of H.323 technology, vendor presentations, roll calls, musical events and open periods called megaconference Cafes where anyone can talk to anyone. A particularly popular portion is the Roll Calls, where all registrants are given a moment to say hello to the world; they can say whetever they wish, sing a song, play a video or whatever. A network of 30 or so MCUs is created for the event, all cascaded together. Background chats are run for the presenters, the MCU managers and the audience, to coordinate the event in real-time. The event is also streamed^[1] out to the world, and is recorded for later distribution on DVDs.^[2] There have been a number of spinoffs of the Megaconference, beginning with Megaconference Jr^[3] , "An Event For and By Students of the World" which started in 2002. That event is intended for students of all ages, and students make all the presentations.

References

1. ^ http://sg60.oar.net/Internet2/ Megaconference Archived Video retrieved May 2006
2. ^ http://www.megaconference.org (Retrieved on 2008-01-16)
3. ^ http://www.megaconferencejr.org (Retrieved on 2008-01-16)

External links

• Megaconference Archived Video retrieved May 2006