Long Distance Meetings

Sounds of men talking and doing equipment checks on picture quality and sound.

That’s Chris Collman.

He’s a program coordinator at the Gregg Public Safety Academy in Littleton.

On a Friday morning he’s making the final arrangements for a video conference at his facility.

The Council on Fundraising, often called Confr (con-fur) organized the conference.

Most of the participants will be in Bedford.

But for the first time North Country residents will be able to participate from Littleton.

Mary Lou Krambeer says the reason for the video conference is the economy.

She’s on the education committee of the Council on Fundraising.

“If we look at the economy, folks in small and mid-size organizations don’t have enough people or the money to spend a lot of time traveling to central and southern New Hampshire for training and conferences and meetings.”

She feels many groups have not taken full advantage of video conferencing and hopes that will change.

“There is a huge opportunity, great potential for bringing more information and more interactive training to the North Country.”

About a dozen participate in the conference.

They’ve come from groups throughout the North Country.

Donna Gallagher works for Copper Cannon, a children’s camp in Franconia for low-income children.

She says the conference looked promising, but there was no way her camp could afford to send her to a meeting below the notches.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t a video conference 10 minutes from where we are located.”

George Fryburg is an official with the Granite State Distance Learning Network.

That is a consortium with video conference sites throughout the state.

Fryburg says saving money is one factor driving groups to video conferencing.

But there’s another reason.

“A lot more people are looking at this from the environmental standpoint.”

Right around 8:30 the conference gets underway.

“We are very excited today to be launching Confr’s first ever simulcast to our remote location up in Littleton. Hello, Littleton.”

Attending a video conference is different.

a camera and sound operator in the room controls everything seen and heard.

Bedford and Littleton take turns asking questions and listening.

When the folks in Bedford are talking the microphones in Littleton are muted.

Littleton can hear but they can’t be heard.

But some polite habits are hard to break.

When the speaker in Bedford is introduced the audience in Littleton feels compelled to join in the applause – even though they can’t be heard.

Susan Amburg is on the board of the Council on Fundraising.

She hopes video conferencing will continue to increase, expanding the number of groups that can be helped.

The idea is that helping people work together, knitting the state’s rural and urban areas together, is crucial in hard economic times.

“There is always the hearty few who can make the trip, but as a statewide organization catering to the hearty few is not good enough. We would like to make sure we are reaching everyone who wants the educational opportunities we are trying to provide.”

For NHPR News this is Chris Jensen