If there is a subtitle for last week's "Where Content Meets Technology" at the IBM Forum, Brussels, it could be "Where Audience and Presenters Interact."

The conference opened Thursday, June 15 with two sessions of roundtable presentations. The roundtable format was a new experience for most, and many--both those listening and those presenting--reported a high level of satisfaction. The two things people said they like most is the informality and how easy it is to interact. And the interaction isn't simply two-way between the presenter and a questioners. It often becomes a conversation that involves everyone around the table.

"It's hard not to be engaged when you're part of a small group where everyone is part of the discussion," Suzanne FitzGerald observed in reviewing the first day's events at a post-seminar reception hosted by IBM.

"I really liked that it's not just the presenter who has an opportunity to talk," an educator from Belgium agreed.

We certainly gave the roundtable's ability to engage a real test in starting the first session on the heals of a generous luncheon at the IBM Forum. I didn't see any lunch-laden yawns in my groups, and the sessions went long, with group discussions spilling beyond the time allotted. When time for the reception arrived, with food and drink awaiting just outside the conference room, many stayed with their groups to continue there discussions.

Dr. FitzGerald, who is chair of the PR department at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, was the architect of the roundtables at the IAOC seminars in Valley Forge, PA, and Brussels. In explaining the process to our group, Suzanne freely admitted that she stole the concept from the IPR conference in Miami, where she has presented papers herself.

The meeting's dedication to discussion and conversation flowed into the next morning, with another round of roundtable discussions, followed by a "New Media" panel with Guillaume Du Gardier, Director Online Communications Europe from Edelman PR and Nico Verplancke, Program Manager at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Broad-Band Technology in Belgium. The panel was moderated by IBM PR manager and IAOC founding member Philippe Borremans.

Philippe announced to the group that he was so taken with the success of the roundtable format (his first experience with it) that he moved his panel from the formal classroom setup in the conference room next door, back into the room where our roundtables had been. He removed the tables, put chairs in a semi-circle around the room, and placed his panel inside the circle. The result was a panel fully engaged with the audience, with questions, ideas and comments flying around the room.

I can't possibly do justice in this post to all that was discussed in the panel or the keynote presentation that followed with Neville Hobson (and Shel Holtz joining in from California via Skype). The beauty of this being an online organization is that I don't have to try summarize for you, and this discussion isn't limited to those lucky enough to have attended.

Philippe has committed to bring his panel online for a Blog Week discussion of new media. And all of the paper presenters have been invited to host a blog week here on the IAOC blog. The papers also will be posted on the IAOC website. Neville and Shel have posted their presentation on their Podcast, "For Immediate Release." Download the podcast here or sign up for this and future RSS feeds here. Download the PowerPoint that accompanied their presentation here.

One last piece of good news from the conference: Guillaume has agreed to roundup the same group of European bloggers who gave us a lively week of discussion on the IAOC blog exactly one year ago. So watch for "Blogging Europe – Round 2" coming soon to the IAOC blog. You can find all the posts from last year's discussion in our Europe archive folder.

Don Dunnington