The annual The State of the European Union conference brings together business leaders and top politicians to analyze the economic climate and discuss the future for businesses in Europe. For its third conference in June 2013, the organization hosted a so-called Virtual Town Hall that gave participants the opportunity to call in from six European cities: they were able to join a conference that was physically taking place in Brussels, but without travel costs, loss of time or climate impact. Microsoft Lync Online 2013 provided the video streaming for the conference to and from all six cities, using the standard public Internet.

1. State of European Union conference goes
pan-European with Microsoft Lync Online
country: Belgium
sector: Conferencing
profile
The annual State of the European Union conference
brings together business leaders and top politicians to
analyze the economic climate and discuss the future for
businesses in Europe. For its third conference in June
The State of the European Union annual confer-
2013, the organization hosted a so-called Virtual Town
ence brings together Fortune 2000 business lead-
Hall that gave participants the opportunity to call in from
ers and top politicians to analyze the economic
six European cities: they were able to join a conference
climate and discuss the future for businesses in
Europe.
challenge
Integreon, the organizer of the annual State of the
European Union conference, wanted to host a socalled Virtual Town Hall that gave participants the
opportunity to call in from six European cities and
that was physically taking place in Brussels, but without
travel costs, loss of time or climate impact.
Microsoft Lync Online 2013 provided the video streaming
for the conference to and from all six cities, using the
standard public Internet. To enable the participants to
interact, the conference organizer in Brussels used for the
first time ever a Lync Room System, which consists of a
join a conference that was physically taking place
pre-configured PC with all the necessary software, a con-
in Brussels.
sole with touch control, an HD camera, specially engineered microphones and speakers, plus a couple of large
solution
Microsoft Lync Online 2013 provided the video
streaming to and from all six cities, using public
networks. Integreon just needed to activate the
Lync Room System, which consisted of a preconfigured PC with all the necessary software, a
displays.
All the other users could switch on their PCs to join an
audience of over 400, follow the conference on big displays and interact through HD real-time videoconferencing. Microsoft Lync Online showed how technology can
encourage open and frank discussion across borders.
Microsoft Lync Online

2. console with touch control, an HD camera, spe-
The annual conference of the State of the European Union
cially engineered microphones and speakers, plus a
brings together Fortune 2000 business leaders and top
couple of large displays. Users switched on their
PCs with HD cameras and joined an audience of
over 400, in Brussels.
politicians to analyze the economic climate and discuss
the future for businesses in Europe. For its third conference in early June 2013, the organization hosted a socalled Virtual Town Hall. This gave dozens of extra partici-
benefits
Û HD conferencing over public networks, at low
cost
Û Plug-and-play for both moderator and attendees
pants the opportunity to call in from their corporate offices in London, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Paris and Milan and
join the 400 participants present at a top conference
physically taking place in Brussels.
Û Easy access thanks to cloud model
Virtual Town Hall discussion
Û Attendees from six cities
Microsoft Lync 2013 played a key role in expanding the
Û No travel costs, loss of time or climate impact
corporate representation at the conference by connecting
Û Participants interact across Europe
presentations and discussions between major European
cities. Participants were able to interact with each other
through live high-definition video that successfully trans-
software&services
Servers
Developer Tools
Windows
mitted voice and images simultaneously, and more importantly, see the subtle gestures and body language that
made it seem like a real meeting. Around 50 invitees
called in from Paris alone, increasing the conference’s impact.
“The two previous conferences were also organized in
Desktop Applications
Brussels and if you wanted to join in, you had no option
Business Solutions
tor-in-chief and Integreon’s CEO. “With the Internet
but to travel in,” says Robert Gogel, the conference’s edichanging the business processes of all participants, we
Online Services
Lync Online
Microsoft Services
Microsoft Technologies
Microsoft Security
were looking at the possibilities of doing something similar with our conference. We believe the corporate voice
needs to be heard across Europe, but obviously not everyone can be in Brussels on the same day. If people could
join in online and we gave them a fantastic interactive
experience, they would be able to attend without travel
costs, loss of time or climate impact. We were able to
gather input from all these locations abroad, and they
were able to discuss live with speakers and guests in Brussels.”
Live video streaming
Robert Gogel first talked to Microsoft’s Ludo De Bock, after which it was decided to run a pilot with Microsoft Lync
2013, cloud software for live meetings and part of the

3. Robert Gogel: “The use of the Lync cloud technology at this six-city conference was a great example of
democracy in action.”
Office 365 suite. Ludo De Bock, Senior Director at
International, real-time political debating
Microsoft: “Lync Online is one of my favorite
“The cloud service is not entirely new to enabling
Microsoft services because of its features, including
the political scene. US presidential campaign
the ability to create, moderate and join web meet-
Obama for America chose Microsoft Lync to keep
ings with people inside and outside organizations.
staff and volunteers connected to supporters and
It’s more than just facilitating online meetings, it’s
each other in 2012,” adds Ludo De Bock. “But this is
about helping provide a flexible way of working,
the first time that Lync Online was showcased at a
enabling global collaboration and workforce mobil-
conference of this dimension. Being a partner of The
ity, as well as helping save money.”
State of the European Union, we were really honored
to provide the technology that shaped part of the
Microsoft Lync Online provided the video streaming
conference.”
for the The State of the European Union conference
to and from all six cities. It facilitated the discussions
In the conferencing set-up, people at the different
complementing the debate in Brussels. During the
locations were able to look at two big screens with
conference, Lync also proved its potential to con-
live HD video. On one screen they could see the
tribute to real-time political discussions and deci-
presentation from Brussels. On the other they could
sion-making.
see the conference’s participants in multi-party
mode, meaning that everyone could see everyone
Robert Gogel: “The use of the Lync cloud technol-
else.
ogy at this six-city conference was a great example
of democracy in action. A discussion and debate
amongst various stakeholders across Europe, using
public networks and readily available PCs with HD
cameras, showed the audience of over 400 how this
new technology can encourage open and frank discussion across borders.”
Conference room preparation
“The person normally taking care of the AV equipment in conference centers, company meeting
rooms and other venues is the person who can easily handle this equipment too,” says Ludo De Bock.
“Running a test upfront is essential to check lighting, echo cancelation and available bandwidth. As
far as hardware is concerned, an up-to-date stan-

4. dard PC with an HD webcam and a special echo canceling
USB microphone should be sufficient.”
For conference organizers and frequently used company
meeting rooms, the Lync Room System is available from
different hardware vendors such as Crestron, Polycom and
SMART Technologies. The system consists of a preconfigured PC with all the necessary software, a console
with touch control, an HD camera, specially engineered
microphones and speakers, plus a couple of large displays.
It all fits on a handcart, so you can tow the kit around a
building and install it anywhere that has electricity and an
Internet connection.
Robert Gogel
“A discussion and debate amongst various
stakeholders across Europe, using public
networks and readily available PCs with HD
cameras, showed the audience of over 400
how this new technology can encourage
open and frank discussion across borders.”
Low-cost standard equipment
For the State of the European Union conference, the central meeting was organized at the Brussels Egmont Palace,
a popular conference location that was already fully AV
equipped with traditional sound and video systems. Ludo
De Bock: “With the use of a so-called AV bridge, we could
transmit the signal from the existing AV equipment to our
PC via a USB cable. Together with an HD webcam with
motorized panning and zooming, plus a quality sound
system, this brought us a one-time extra cost of about
3,000 euros. That’s all you need for live, full HD videoconferencing over a standard Internet connection. It’s only a
fraction of the price for fixed systems. What’s more, conference organizers can continue to use their existing
equipment.”
As with any physical conference, virtual conferences over
the Internet also need people to orchestrate all the inter-
for more information
For more information about the Microsoft products
and services described, call +32 (0)2 503 31 13 or
visit http://www.microsoft.be/cases. There you will
actions. That moderator could operate the camera, switch
the sound on and off, decide what appears on the screens,
add people to the conference on the fly by sending them
an email with a link to click and join, chat with moderators
find other companies that use similar applications.
at other locations, broadcast the whole conference
For more information about the Lync Room Sys-
essary edit the documents being discussed in real-time.
tem, call +32 2 503 31 13 or visit http://
www.crestron.com/rl, http://www.polycom.com or
http://smarttech.com/smartroom.
For more information about the State of the EU
conference, visit http://www.stateoftheeu.eu.
through an external streaming service provider and if nec-