They Came, They Saw ... They Have Mixed Reviews
World Congress: Va. Takes Center Stage By Bob Starzynski Staff Writer After two years of planning, fund raising and recruiting, the highly heralded World Congress on Information Technology came and went without a hitch. Billed by Washington-area organizers as Northern Virginia's biggest technology show yet, the June 21-24 event took over much of the George Mason University campus in Fairfax.
World Congress: Va. Takes Center Stage By Bob Starzynski
After two years of planning, fund raising and recruiting, the highly heralded World Congress on Information Technology came and went without a hitch. Billed by Washington-area organizers as Northern Virginia's biggest technology show yet, the June 21-24 event took over much of the George Mason University campus in Fairfax.
The World Congress, a biennial event started 20 years ago, joins business executives from around the world to discuss industry issues. Organized by information technology associations in many countries, its last incarnation was in Bilbao, Spain, in 1996. The event was held with less fanfare in Washington eight years ago. In 2000, Taipei, Taiwan, will play host. More than 100 conference sponsors (including Washington Technology and its parent company, The Washington Post Co.) anteed $10,000 to $100,000 to attach their names to the event and, in many cases, to set up exhibit booths. Sponsorship, contributions and participant fees ($1,250 per person) gave the World Congress a budget of $5.8 million. While most attendees came to network for new business and gain better insight of information technology issues as the world approaches the next millennium, local officials had a different agenda: to market the Washington region as one of the world's premier technology centers and recruit new businesses to the area. On stage, the World Congress appeared flawless - all 60 speakers pulled through, and there were few technical glitches. However, several event staffers talked quietly about confusion and chaos behind the scenes. "Two days before the [event] started, we were scratching our heads, wondering how we could possibly get everything together in time," said one staffer. "Considering how long this thing has been planned, it was really disorganized at the end." Another staffer said: "I'm supposed to be directing people around, but I don't even know where I'm going." One downside was the attendance. Organizers were shooting for 1,800 participants but only 1,600 signed up, underselling capacity by 12 percent. Most speech sessions were nearly full, although the auditorium where the speeches were held always had empty seats. "No, we didn't hit full capacity, because there are always crises that keep people away," said George Newstrom, the event's chairman and corporate vice president for Electronic Data Systems Corp. in Herndon, Va. "But I think it was still the best technology event we've had in this region." A common thread in every speech was the convergence of information technology and consumer demand. "We may expect enormous advances in science in the next century," said Thatcher, former prime minister of Great Britain, noting space and communications as two top fields in coming years. "It will be more and more difficult to keep the truth out in the future," she said, voicing her dislike for dictatorships and tyranny. "Information technology protects freedom through the free flow of information. People don't have to [rely] on propaganda [for their news]," she said.
"The [Internet] and the printed page are different," he said, drawing a comparison between the new and old ways of providing information to readers. "They should be treated differently. [After all,] films are not just a filmed version of stage plays." Speaking in his native Russian tongue, former Soviet president Gorbachev told the crowd that development of telecommunications and the Internet is doubling every year in Russia. But, he added, dissemination of information there is still a problem. "The question is: Are we moving fast enough? Frankly, I cannot answer 'yes,'" he said.
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