Arthur’s strategy was to attract new in- person and virtual attendees by repo- sitioning PHI as a resource for a larger audience. The PHI conference team ultimately renamed the conference — formerly known as the Public Health Information Network — to signal that it was open to everyone who was inter- ested in public-health informatics.
‘A HUGE WIN’ The CDC’s ultimate goal for its hybrid meeting was to save on travel costs for some constituents, Arthur said, while keeping in-person attendance at a mini- mum of 500. It succeeded. PHI’s atten- dance was split equally, with 911 people on site at the Atlanta conference and 917 in the virtual audience. Arthur also succeeded in bringing in new attend- ees, in part by offering pre-conference content online, including interviews with high-ranking CDC officials. He estimates that about 200 new attendees registered for the in-person event as a result of being able to preview it. As for the goal of reducing travel
costs, Arthur’s “conservative” estimate of savings is $780,000, including gas and airfare, lodging, and meals for
attendees who participated online instead of traveling to Atlanta. A major portion of those savings, he added, ulti- mately stay with taxpayers. Another important measure of suc-
cess was user satisfaction. In a survey conducted after PHI, attendees were asked if they thought the CDC should continue putting resources behind virtual-meeting technology. A full 100 percent of them answered yes. “That,” Arthur said, “was a huge win.” The agency already has given Arthur
the green light to produce a virtual component for PHI through 2014. And the CDC is considering how it can replicate the hybrid-meeting model throughout the agency. As successful as PHI was, Arthur
doesn’t think virtual programs can replace face-to-face events — although, he said, that has been suggested. “Shak- ing someone’s hand and looking in their eye and having collaboration on that level — there are many studies that show face-to-face contact is essential,” he said. “If you go virtual-only, you are going to lose some of that collaborative juice.”
. Barbara Palmer is senior editor of Convene. MAY 2012 PCMA CONVENE 33
Skyping Uncle Sam President Obama signed Executive Order 13589 last November to promote eficient spending in federal agencies by means including “devis[ing] strategic alternatives to Government travel, including local or technological alternatives, such as teleconferencing and video conferencing. Agencies should make all appropriate efforts to conduct business and host or sponsor conferences in space controlled by the Federal Government, wherever practicable and cost effective.”