Colorado State University Hosts Virtual Meeting For International Textile And Apparel Association
Wednesday, June 3, 1998
FORT COLLINS--Colorado State University will use an emerging
computer technology to conduct a meeting for the International
Textile and Apparel Association June 4-7.
During the meeting, to be held on the Colorado State campus,
participants will attend a combination of traditional,
face-to-face sessions and electronic group sessions to brainstorm
and develop a detailed strategic plan for the association. During
the electronic sessions, each participant or group of
participants will simultaneously type anonymous comments into a
personal computer that is linked to other participants. Thirty-
seven textile, apparel and merchandising scholars in education,
business, government and industry were selected from across the
United States and Canada to participate in the event.
"Electronic meetings do not replace face-to-face meetings,
but they can be extremely helpful," said Antigone Kotsiopulos,
chairwoman of the department of design, merchandising and
consumer sciences at Colorado State. "This group's agenda is very
conducive to the electronic meeting format. Participants will be
merging ideas and constructing a vision for the association's
future. The software allows participants to record ideas, discuss
them, organize them and vote on them. We've found virtual
meetings can move faster and have broader, more creative
participation than traditional spoken meetings."
Activities will kick off June 4 with an opening session from
5-9 p.m. in Aylesworth Hall. Electronic meeting sessions and
discussion will follow June 5 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. in the Weber
Building computer lab. On June 6, electronic meetings and
discussion will continue in small groups from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on
the third floor of the Gifford Building. Activities will
conclude June 7 with discussion of objectives for the
association's future.
GroupSystems software will be used for the electronic
meeting sessions, which will be technically coordinated by Lavon
Blaesi in the department of design, merchandising and consumer
sciences.
The merchandising program at Colorado State was the first
program in the nation to be recognized as a program of excellence
by the American Textile Manufacturers Institute. This, as well as
the university's central geographic location and use of
electronic meeting technology helped the International Textile
and Apparel Association choose Colorado State as the meeting
site, said Kotsiopulos, a former president of the association.
The International Textile and Apparel Association is a non-
profit educational and scientific corporation dedicated to
providing opportunities for interaction among the many
disciplines in the textile and apparel industries.
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