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"He who has the gold makes the rules" Webcasting conferences is a good but expensive idea if participants are not subsidized. If the sponsoring organization does not have to pay transportation and expenses in order to gather a crowd, webcasting is an excellent way to gather support. PAN and the contributions of the Charles and Vivian Sukenik Foundation enabled the forum to be webcasted. We are grateful that the world was able to observe political action. Many of you found at the last minute that you had to download and install additional software to participate. I'm sorry but we weren't prepared. Java and the Windows Media Player were required. Sunday's session went off smoothly except for the last session which was not even shown. Monday's session was problematic because of technical difficulties at the provider which were never resolved. There was an issue where presenters were commenting on slides that were never shown on the webcast. Organizations who gather a crowd so that drug companies can come and hype their latest pill should never let presenters prevent the webcast audience from seeing the slides. The excuse that the slides are proprietary should not be allowed but just deny your audience to full access to the information. But......the sponsors of the dog and pony show are the same ones who denied us to see the slides. How does an organization who relies on Pharma sponsorships to finance the forum remain firm and resolute? It is a fact that it takes money to put on something like this even though we would like to see what the presenters are talking about. PAN, congratulations for an excellent forum and being our advocates. John Cottingham ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn