Gerry Gannon Introduces CASOC

CASOC 2000 Conference:

Transcript of Gerry Gannon's Introduction as Master of Ceremonies.

Welcome to the CASOC 2000 Conference. My name is Gerry Gannon. I'll be your Master of Ceremonies over the next couple of days. You're going to be absolutely sick and fed up of seeing me and hearing me by Friday evening. This conference is called: "Creating and Sustaining On-line Communities" and is the culmination of many months of hard work, and it began life as a concept to explore the impact of on-line technologies on existing communities, and the relatively new phenomenon called 'communities of interest.' And the two people who have done the most work, and taken it from a concept to the reality of a conference of significance, are Jackie Gill, from the Office of Information and Communication within the Department of Commerce and Trade here in Western Australia, and Greg Williams, from the Peel Development Commission. Both of those are at the front door actually waiting for the Premier to arrive. And with the considerable help of Good Connections and Meeting Masters
they've prepared a very exciting conference featuring international, interstate and local speakers, and I know that you will leave here invigorated by what you will hear over the next three days.

But first, just let's find out where everybody is from. First of all, all the locals. By "locals" I mean Perth, Mandurah. Put your hands up please, so I can see you. Ah that's good, good. And now all the people who have come from other parts of Western Australia...That's very good. And now people who have come from interstate, from the less fortunate parts of Australia. Good. Nice to have you with us here in Western Australia in this beautiful setting, here in Mandurah. And it's an absolutely gorgeous day, and I know that it's very difficult to drag yourself away from the front of the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, because that is just idyllic. You could write poetry out there... this morning...it's absolutely beautiful.

Now just some details of housekeeping before the Premier arrives. I'm told he's not too far away. You've got your showbag which is your folder including a conference program, and this conference is probably no different to every other conference, which means you've probably not opened it yet. That embarrassed little giggle tells me I'm absolutely correct. But don't worry, because I'll keep you abreast of what's coming up as we progress through the day.

And the only thing that you should've done by now, is to decide which of the workshops you're going to go to after morning tea. And I suggest that in the couple of minutes we have before we begin that you give that some serious consideration. Now we didn't have a system of registering for these workshops, so you can decide which one you want to go to. If it's full, then make your way to another one. Okay?

Now, let me just tell you about some of the more exciting aspects of this conference. As you'll see we've got two screens up here. The big one is for PowerPoint presentations and what have you, and tomorrow morning that will be put to a very exciting use, but I'll tell you about that tomorrow morning. And the little screen to the left of it, is where our virtual delegates join us. And through a software program called I-Chat, we've got a moderator over the side of the stage, delegates from wherever in the world can actually join the conference, and can voice opinions and ask questions and what have you, and see proceedings and basically just take part in what's going on. And also of course, Mark over here on the camera is recording the keynote addresses, and they will be put up on the website so people can actually see them. They can see the keynote addresses. So that's very exciting. So we've got every bit of technology, because if we're going to 'talk the talk', we have to 'walk the walk' and so this conference. And by the end of today I'll be able to let you know how many delegates, virtual delegates as we're calling them, have joined us from around the world to take part in this. I know I did a broadcast to Hong Kong last night, and they were very interested to know what was happening, and so we're expecting many people from Hong Kong to join us as well.

So that's good. So this is truly an international conference, going out via the Internet and of course, via your good selves here. Anybody come here from overseas just as a delegate? No? Okay. Next year perhaps.

All right. Let's get this show on the road, and who better to do this than the Premier of Western Australia. Now if you're from interstate, let me tell you that our Premier is a strong supporter of on-line technologies and its capacity to enhance the lives of all Western Australia. And we're delighted that he has taken time from his very busy schedule, because Parliament is on today, and Her Majesty also arrives in town, so he's got to ....I'm not sure if it's morning tea he's having with her, but he's got to meet her at some stage anyway today, so we're absolutely delighted that he could take time out from his busy schedule to open this conference.

So please put your hands together and welcome the Premier of Western Australia, the Hon. Richard Court.