What technologies are affecting the way you plan meetings?

A: “Internet Pictures Corp. (iPIX) allows me to virtually tour any site I want to check out for an out-of-town meeting. I can look all through the rooms and the meeting space. I don't know how I'd live without it. Also, Web conferencing: We can have an impromptu meeting with five execs from New York, California, London, South America, and Hong Kong if we need to.” — Eleanor Porr, corporate events manager, PentaSafe Security Technologies, Houston

A: “The [corporate] intranet has made my life much easier. I am able to do advance registrations for meetings and travel. The information is automatically forwarded to our travel partner and any contractors who may need it. Attendees get instant confirmations, and I can dump information into spreadsheets. I went through a one-time involved setup for the original Web pages, and now I just update and revise the same pages for other meetings.” — Jill Soth, corporate event manager, Avnet Computer Marketing, Phoenix