Imagine you are going to a conference in a place where you have never been there. You only know a few people out here. You enter the hotel and big signs greet you, even by your name. But where are the registration people, with big smiles, greeting you? Do you feel welcome? Is this the future of the conferences?

It is always tempting to think in business that when the future comes, technology will replace all the normal processes involved in information technology, there still remains a place for good, old-fashioned human contact and building relationships. The sparkle in the eye, the laughter of the audience and the feeling of belonging are difficult to replicate, whatever technology you choose to use. For the foreseeable future, there will still be benefits to meeting together as human beings to create better ways and improved processes.

Deciding what form conferences should take in the future is one of those issues that will not be resolved by the Internet alone. It will require the human touch to make it work effectively. That will be the challenge for conference organizers of the future.