OVERVIEW MULTI-VENUE HYBRID CONFERENCE

The Multi-venue Hybrid Conference organized by AIA Technology in Architectural Practice KC in

collaboration with AIA Center for Integrated Practice, AIA Project Delivery KC and IFMA, will be a one-
day event taking place November 12, 2010, focused on the use of technology in the design, delivery
and management of architectural projects.

Much of content will be provided in plenary sessions transmitted live via internet from the conference
hub at AIA National in D.C. to regional venues across the country, and to individual webcast viewers.
The schedule includes time blocks for locally produced material and pre-recorded segments. (See
SCHEDULE section below.

Volunteers at each regional venue will facilitate local discussion following each presentation session.
Selected questions will be given to the presenter for real-time answers, enhancing a sense of both local
and national participation. Volunteers will also moderate local presentations.

BACKGROUND

In-person conferences have been a historically important offering to Technology in Architectural

Practice Knowledge Community members, providing opportunities for information sharing and
networking among colleagues. In 2007, in an effort to open national events to a greater number of
participants while reducing carbon footprint and cost, TAP Advisory Group proposed to hold "travel
optional" conferences by 2011. Through experimentation since that time, we evolved a unique concept
for hybrid conferences tailored to needs of our community.

In addition to elements typically provided for hybrid conferences: presentations hosted from a hub
location, webcast to online viewers, and archive of presentations for later viewing, our concept
introduces regional venues for participation. These local venues will be housed at AIA chapter offices
and large firms around the country. Hosts at each local venue will facilitate conversation, and
moderate locally produced material. This added feature will increase opportunities for professional
networking for hundreds of AIA members nationwide, as well as members of allied organizations, and
national recognition for all participants, all without requiring out-of-town travel. As this concept gains
popularity and enrollment, we will move from the "hub and spokes" organization of 2010 conference
toward a true mesh, making locally produced material available to the national audience.
PARTICIPATION VENUES | CONTENT DELIVERY | COMMUNICATION

Hub Venue :: We anticipate up to 150 conference attendees will be present at AIA National
Headquarters in D.C. Plenary presentations will originate there.

Regional Venues :: Groups will attend via audio/visual web connections at several venues (AIA offices,
firm offices, educational facilities). Primary communication requirement for regional venues will be
reception of presentations from the Hub. Each venue must have an internet connection, PC, sound
system, and projector or projectors sufficient to provide viewing for the assembled audience. Every
location will need two-way connectivity (microphone/webcam or chat) for question/answer sessions.

We may also want to originate some presentations from selected local venues if high quality content,
connectivity and equipment are available there. (See CONTENT below)

Individual Online Participants :: Individuals will attend via audio/visual web connections in their own
locations. Primary purpose of communication connections to individuals will be reception of
presentations. It is not clear at this time if their viewing will be limited to plenary sessions only, or if
they will also have the option to view regional content. Presentations will not originate from individual
connections.

Presentation sessions :: Material will be delivered in two forms: plenary sessions provided to all
participants simultaneously, and regional sessions available to participants in regional venues. This
provides an opportunity to deal with issues at a variety of scales (e.g. national IPD activities, state and
regional project delivery requirements, presentations developed by local groups and workshops). See
CONTENT section below for details regarding topic range, generation and selection of material.

Plenary Sessions will be webcast from hub location to all regional venues and individual online
participants at once, and recorded for later on-demand distribution.

Regional Programs may be interactive workshops or live presentations at each regional venue,
presentations shared between venues in grouped time zones (Eastern + Central / Mountain +
Pacific), or in some cases pre-recorded. Regional champions and their teams will determine
content and facilitate development of the best program for their venue.

Discussion sessions :: Participants will have slightly different discussion session experiences for
plenary sessions based on their location and mode of participation.

Hub location participants co-located with presenters will have face-to-face interaction with
presenters, and will hear question / answer dialogue between presenter and all participants.

Regional Venue participants will have face-to-face discussion between themselves, facilitated
by a local leader. They will be able to send one or two questions to presenters, and will hear
question / answer dialogue between presenter and all participants.

Individual Online participants will receive audio/video feed from hub location including
question / answer dialogue between presenter and all participants. They may be able to submit
questions via chat.

Discussion sessions for regional presentations will be local to the regional venue.

Continuing Education :: Presentations will be recorded and available on-demand via AIA website. We
also envision continuing education events for which re-transmissions of the recorded material will be
supplemented by real-time q/a sessions with original presenter or another domain expert. In this way,
event organizers can create topical mash-ups of material for special audiences at convenient times. It
is possible to offer these a premium version of these services to organizations outside the AIA.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Owing to logistics, this will be a single-track conference, organized and managed differently than
previous conferences offering multiple tracks covering wide-ranging themes.

To maximize efficiency and benefit of plenary sessions, we will focus on prepared panel discussions and
Pecha Kucha 20x20-style presentations which have been very successful in recent TAP and SFDD
conferences. This system provides opportunity for many topics, voices and perspectives; we can
provide drill-down opportunity based on popularity with constituency.

The schedule provides 4 hours of plenary content and 2.5 hours of regional content; this includes
discussion and q/a sessions.

The conference will run from 8am to 6pm in each time zone, with regional venues joining about an
hour and a quarter after sunrise in their part of the country. Participants in Eastern and Central time
zones will begin with opening sessions and regional programs. By 11:30am Eastern time, participants in
all venues will be ready for the first nationally-synchronized plenary session. Plenary sessions will
alternate with breaks and regional programs until 5:30pm Eastern, at which time participants in
Eastern and Central time zones will break off for their closing sessions while participants in Mountain
and Central time zones engage in their regional programs.

Time zones are grouped in pairs for program content by alternating morning and evening receptions for
adjacent time zones. Receptions are an opportunity for vendors to supply refreshments and provide
locally specialized content. These will be coordinated by volunteers at each regional venue.
CONTENT

Valuable, timely content is the most important aspect of this conference.

Given the single-track nature of this conference, content will be tightly focused on use of technology in
design, project delivery and management of architectural projects.

The conference organizing committee will determine themes, manage content generation and selection
processes, and coordinate the event.

Material for plenary sessions will be gathered though a national call for presentations and perhaps
special invitation, and selected by a jury. Representatives from each collaborating KC, CIP, and
regional venue champion team, will be invited to participate in the jury process.

Several options have been suggested for creation of regional programs:

developed locally in each venue

developed jointly by venues in paired time zones

developed nationally and pre-recorded for viewing during designated time blocks. Some venues
have already expressed an interest in providing content generated locally.

ADDITIONAL LOGISTICAL NOTES

Fees :: There will be an admission charge. On advice from experienced regional contacts, we are
working to keep this down below $100, payable during online registration.

Costs :: Staffing, equipment, internet connectivity and possibly room rental will contribute to
conference costs. Cost estimates were detailed in an AIA Enterprise Fund application submitted in
January 2010, which please review. In April 2010, AIA pledged $17,000 to this project.

Receptions :: Sponsored lunches, pre-conference and post-conference receptions are suggested as

ways to increase local participation, raise additional funding, and increase the amenity for participants
without raising admission fee to cover the high cost of on-site catering.

Coaching for Presenters :: Web presentations rely on different approaches and skill sets than
traditional live presentations. Pecha Kucha format can also be challenging for first time presenters. To
support success, we will need to provide instruction, coaching, and rehearsals for presenters.

Technological Preparation :: Much will depend on flawless deployment of communication techologies.

We will want to run a few tests in the weeks prior to the conference. WebEx or other light-weight
software, cameras, microphones, projectors, and sound systems will need to be installed and verified.