ICT solutions provider, Gearhouse ICS, came up with the goods yet again at a high profile congress in Cape Town last month. Their touch-screen “posters’ took the event to a new level in interactive conference tools.

Touch-screen posters boost idea sharing

Because there are hundreds of applicants competing to speak at high-profile events, not everyone gets their five minutes in the spotlight. The “poster sessions’ are designed as a platform for unsuccessful applicants, where the researcher traditionally prepares a paper poster, illustrating their research methods and outcomes for discussion with colleagues. ICS have taken this process digital making it very much easier for participants to share their concepts and invite delegates to respond, allowing the exchange of many more ideas.

At the recent event, touch-screen posters were displayed throughout the venue so that visitors to the congress could interact with them at any time. “With our system, we can scatter touch-screens around the venue in strategic places, or create a “poster cafe’ where delegates can gather around screens in groups to discuss the posters,’ explains Brenda Caplen, one of the Directors of Gearhouse ICS. According to Caplen, the poster cafe was “a huge hit’ and has already led to enquiries from the industry.

Lightening the online submission load

And it doesn’t end there. Another brilliant facet of this operation is its online abstract submission system. Gearhouse ICS’ novel application, AbstractVue, manages the submission and allocation of papers by all prospective speakers, making the chairperson’s job of selecting presenters a whole lot easier.

“These are prestigious meetings where people vie for the opportunity to present their work. Therefore, they have to be carefully managed,’ says Caplen. “In the past, it was a clumsy process where the chairperson would have to sift through emails to find updated papers. With our system, they receive a message whenever there has been a change. They can then log into their forum, see what is happening and access a speaker’s information and material straight away.’

Proof that South Africa has world-class technology

ICS was also the primary service provider in showcasing the first live streaming of doctors implanting an artificial valve in the heart of a 14-year-old Namibian boy without opening his chest. About 400 heart specialists attending the 6th annual World Congress of Paediatrics witnessed the operation via ICS technology.

Gearhouse ICS’ touch-screen and live streaming technology go a long way to showing the rest of the world that South Africa knows how to rise to the challenge of putting on a successful international event.

Gearhouse takes the stress out of conferencing

Top technical expertise, state-of-the-art equipment, and going the extra mile for the client are what Gearhouse ICS is all about. Caplen relates one instance where she and her colleagues went as far as creating a PowerPoint presentation from scratch for a speake who had painstakingly prepared his presentation on overhead transparencies for a high-tech conference. “It was a time consuming exercise…but there was just no way that we could say no.’

With 20 years’ experience in providing technical support for live events, Gearhouse has refined the process and zoomed in on what really matters: giving the client peace of mind that the technical side of things is taken care of, so that the only anxiety they are left with is stage fright.

For more information visit www.gearhouse-ics.co.za