State of European Union conference goes

pan-European with Microsoft Lync Online

Country: Belgium

Sector: Conferencing

Profile

The State of the European Union annual conference brings together Fortune 2000 business leaders and top politicians to analyze the economic climate and discuss the future for businesses in

Europe.

Challenge

Integreon, the organizer of the annual State of the European Union conference, wanted to host a so-called Virtual Town Hall that gave participants the opportunity to call in from six European cities and join a conference that was physically taking place in Brussels.

Solution

Microsoft Lync Online 2013 provided the video streaming to and from all six cities, using public networks. Integreon just needed to activate the Lync Room System, which consisted of a preconfigured PC with all the necessary software, a console with touch control, an HD camera, specially engineered microphones and speakers, plus a couple of large displays. Users switched on their PCs with HD cameras and joined an audience of over 400, in Brussels.

Benefits

  • HD conferencing over public networks, at lowcost
  • Plug-and-play for both moderator and attendees
  • Easy access thanks to cloud model
  • Attendees from six cities
  • No travel costs, loss of time or climate impact
  • Participants interact across Europe

Software & Services

  • Servers
  • Developer Tools
  • Windows
  • Desktop Applications
  • Business Solutions
  • Online Services
  • Lync Online
  • Microsoft Services
  • Microsoft Technologies
  • Microsoft Security

The annual State of the European Union conference brings together business leaders and top politicians to analyze the economic climate and discuss the future for businesses in Europe. For its third conference in June 2013, the organization hosted a so-called Virtual Town Hall that gave participants the opportunity to call in from six European cities: they were able to join a conference that was physically taking place in Brussels, but without travel costs, loss of time or climate impact.

Microsoft Lync Online 2013 provided the video streaming for the conference to and from all six cities, using the standard public Internet. To enable the participants to interact, the conference organizer in Brussels used for the first time ever a Lync Room System, which consists of a pre-configured PC with all the necessary software, a console with touch control, an HD camera, specially engineered microphones and speakers, plus a couple of large displays.

All the other users could switch on their PCs to join an audience of over 400, follow the conference on big displays and interact through HD real-time videoconferencing. Microsoft Lync Online showed how technology can encourage open and frank discussion across borders. The annual conference of the State of the European Union brings together Fortune 2000 business leaders and top politicians to analyze the economic climate and discuss the future for businesses in Europe. For its third conference in early June 2013, the organization hosted a so-called Virtual Town Hall. This gave dozens of extra participants the opportunity to call in from their corporate offices in London, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Paris and Milan and join the 400 participants present at a top conference physically taking place in Brussels.

Virtual Town Hall discussion

Microsoft Lync 2013 played a key role in expanding the corporate representation at the conference by connecting presentations and discussions between major European cities. Participants were able to interact with each other through live high-definition video that successfully transmitted voice and images simultaneously, and more importantly, see the subtle gestures and body language that made it seem like a real meeting. Around 50 invitees called in from Paris alone, increasing the conference’s impact.

“The two previous conferences were also organized in Brussels and if you wanted to join in, you had no option but to travel in,” says Robert Gogel, the conference’s editor- in-chief and Integreon’s CEO. “With the Internet changing the business processes of all participants, we were looking at the possibilities of doing something similar with our conference. We believe the corporate voice needs to be heard across Europe, but obviously not everyone can be in Brussels on the same day. If people could join in online and we gave them a fantastic interactive experience, they would be able to attend without travel costs, loss of time or climate impact. We were able to gather input from all these locations abroad, and they were able to discuss live with speakers and guests in Brussels.”

Live video streaming

Robert Gogel first talked to Microsoft’s Ludo De Bock, after which it was decided to run a pilot with Microsoft Lync 2013, cloud software for live meetings and part of the Office 365 suite. Ludo De Bock, Senior Director at Microsoft: “Lync Online is one of my favorite Microsoft services because of its features, including the ability to create, moderate and join web meetings with people inside and outside organizations. It’s more than just facilitating online meetings, it’s about helping provide a flexible way of working, enabling global collaboration and workforce mobility, as well as helping save money.”

Microsoft Lync Online provided the video streaming for the The State of the European Union conference to and from all six cities. It facilitated the discussions complementing the debate in Brussels. During the conference, Lync also proved its potential to contributeto real-time political discussions and decision- making.

Robert Gogel: “The use of the Lync cloud technology at this six-city conference was a great example of democracy in action. A discussion and debate amongst various stakeholders across Europe, using public networks and readily available PCs with HD cameras, showed the audience of over 400 how this new technology can encourage open and frank discussion across borders.”

International, real-time political debating

“The cloud service is not entirely new to enabling the political scene. US presidential campaign

Obama for America chose Microsoft Lync to keep staff and volunteers connected to supporters and each other in 2012,” adds Ludo De Bock. “But this is the first time that Lync Online was showcased at a conference of this dimension. Being a partner of TheState of the European Union, we were really honored to provide the technology that shaped part of the conference.”

In the conferencing set-up, people at the different locations were able to look at two big screens with live HD video. On one screen they could see the presentation from Brussels. On the other they could see the conference’s participants in multi-party mode, meaning that everyone could see everyone else.

Conference room preparation

“The person normally taking care of the AV equipment in conference centers, company meeting rooms and other venues is the person who can easily handle this equipment too,” says Ludo De Bock. “Running a test upfront is essential to check lighting, echo cancelation and available bandwidth. As far as hardware is concerned, an up-to-date standard PC with an HD webcam and a special echo canceling USB microphone should be sufficient.”

For conference organizers and frequently used company meeting rooms, the Lync Room System is available from different hardware vendors such as Crestron, Polycom and SMART Technologies. The system consists of a preconfigured PC with all the necessary software, a console with touch control, an HD camera, specially engineered microphones and speakers, plus a couple of large displays. It all fits on a handcart, so you can tow the kit around a building and install it anywhere that has electricity and an

Internet connection.

Low-cost standard equipment

For the State of the European Union conference, the central meeting was organized at the Brussels Egmont Palace, a popular conference location that was already fully AV equipped with traditional sound and video systems. LudoDe Bock: “With the use of a so-called AV bridge, we could transmit the signal from the existing AV equipment to our PC via a USB cable. Together with an HD webcam with motorized panning and zooming, plus a quality sound system, this brought us a one-time extra cost of about

3,000 euros. That’s all you need for live, full HD videoconferencing over a standard Internet connection. It’s only a fraction of the price for fixed systems. What’s more, conference organizers can continue to use their existing equipment.”

As with any physical conference, virtual conferences over the Internet also need people to orchestrate all the interactions. That moderator could operate the camera, switch the sound on and off, decide what appears on the screens, add people to the conference on the fly by sending them an email with a link to click and join, chat with moderators at other locations, broadcast the whole conference through an external streaming service provider and if necessary edit the documents being discussed in real-time.

Robert Gogel: “The use of the Lync cloud technology at this six-city conference was a great example of

democracy in action.”

“A discussion and debate amongst various stakeholders across Europe, using public networks and readily available PCs with HD cameras, showed the audience of over 400 how this new technology can encourage open and frank discussion across borders.”

For more information

For more information about the Microsoft products and services described, call +32 (0)2 503 31 13 or visit There you will find other companies that use similar applications.

For more information about the Lync Room System, call +32 2 503 31 13 or visit

or

For more information about the State of the EU conference, visit