On-Line Social Marketing Conference
March 10-17, 2008

Social Marketing for Health in the Developing World:
What Have We Accomplished and What Does the Future Hold?

  What is an Online Conference?

Online conferences are conducted entirely over the Internet. Presenters and attendees participate directly from their computers through a secure website that includes a variety of collaboration, communication and learning tools. Like traditional face-to-face events, online conferences provide access to presentations by leading experts, networking opportunities, and a variety of resources including white papers, articles, tools and templates. The entire event is accessible using a standard web browser and attendees can login and participate at any time that fits their schedule, day or night.

  How does an Online Conference work?

This online conference is like a traditional conference but attendees don’t need to travel, incur travel expenses, or spend time going to and from the event – the entire conference is held online over a specific period of time. Through real-time and asynchronous (occurring over time) interactions, attendees participate in introductions, presentations, Q&A sessions and informal networking. The presentations are delivered either in video format, as flash presentations or through mp3 audio files. These can be accessed and viewed at any time during the conference. Attendees may then post questions and interact with the presenter and each other inside each presenter’s virtual conference room.

A Collaboration Café provides a forum for structured networking and participation in attendee-defined topics. A directory of participant profiles, instant messaging and virtual meeting rooms encourage additional networking and knowledge sharing. In addition, a variety of resources including speakers’ presentations, white papers, articles, and website links are available to all participants through a searchable knowledgebase

  What are the technical requirements to participate?

To participate, all you need is an Internet connection, web browser, and Macromedia's free Flash plug-in that is built into almost all current web-browsers. If you're using Windows you'll need either Internet Explorer version 5 or later. Netscape Navigator version 6.2 or later, or Mozilla Firefox. If you're using a Mac, you'll need Safari, Netscape Navigator 6.2 or later, or Mozilla Firefox. To hear the audio, you will either need speakers attached to your computer or else headphones you can plug into your computer’s sound card.