"Linking online systems with 'live' events will change the way we do conferencing in the future, and has already impacted some events. It has great potential in the rural context, don't you think."

Absolutely. Its certainly much easier than scanning an A4 sheet of names and job titles and then trying to work out who you want to speak to and then who they are.

Yorkshire Forward have run conferences in the past where we give participants pagers so they can identify who people are and contact them for discussions, but this opens up an avenue for discussion prior to the conference, which can only be a good thing, proviing it's well used of course.

looking forward to being back in Yorkshire in late September if not before ... this is a great idea - the 'through the line' approach that is being taken is the best way to build relationships prior to the conference to ensure maximum benefit from the event for everyone