Travel

Business Travel Coordinators' Forum (BTC-Forum)

Moderated Electronic Discussion Group

About BTC-Forum

Moderator: Nahum Goldmann, Nahum.Goldmann (at) ARRAYdev.com, ARRAY Development, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

BTC-Forum is an online discussion list for the users of the Business Travel RFP Service Service.

The discussion will be conducted using email and the Internet/Web. Full text proceedings will be kept on the Net with a password.

Invitations are being extended to participants who have been selected to bring a range of relevant perspectives to the discussions. To recommend that a particular person be invited to contribute to this discussion, please contact Moderator Nahum Goldmann (Nahum.Goldmann (at) ARRAYdev.com).

To Accept This Invitation to Participate:
     Send email to array (at) arraydev.com
Body of message (NOT Subject): subscribe btc-forum

To Contribute to Discussions: Send mail to array (at) arraydev.com

"BTC Forum" DISCUSSION PRINCIPLES

Experience has taught us that this kind of forum can work well, provided we follow a few simple rules:
1. Focus on one question at a time, rather than several.
2. Set a clear time limit. This helps keep contributions focused and reminds participants that this process is leading to an eventual output which will be distributed to key decision makers.
3. Do something useful with the results. Compiling and distributing results is important. Participants will be asked to suggest other appropriate uses as results emerge.

The value of this exercise, both in terms of process and eventual results, lies in its utility to you as a participant. Our goal is to launch a debate that you will find worthwhile and that will generate ideas that you can use.

Evaluation is an important element of any communication project. Your formal and informal comments will assist in refining procedures and ensuring the discussion process achieves the stated objectives.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND (For information only)

BTC-Forum is based on DeLiberation Extranet Release 2.0, a simple and easy to use Internet/Intranet and Web based conferencing tool developed by ARRAY Development of Ottawa. DeLiberation provides an effective consultative framework for developing a working consensus among a dispersed group of participants, regardless of their familiarity with the Internet technology.

DeLiberation includes a private list server that supports email interaction between participants. To fully take part in the discussion, you need only have access to email. A supporting Web site provides a password protected repository for drafts and final documents, reports submitted by the participants and links to other relevant Internet sites.

DeLiberation is built around HyperMail, a specially modified Internet/Intranet engine which automatically translates email into the Web format. HyperMail provides a "central archive" of all the email contributions collected in a shared hypertext database format. This means individual participants have ready access to information but do not need to organize and maintain this information themselves.

Minimum technical requirements for using the email-based service are:

As the requirements and preferences for email and Web access may vary, consult your local technical support person for the best hardware/software configuration to use.

BTC-Forum -- Administrative Notice

Thank you for subscribing to BTC-Forum. This discussion group is sponsored by ARRAY Development of Ottawa, Canada - http://www.arraydev.com/.

A Web repository of all contributions for the mailing list is located at http://www.ARRAYdev.com/travel/archive/, and Administrative Tools can be found at http://www.ARRAYdev.com/travel/support/m-list/mailtool.htm.

This message is being sent monthly to the list. If mail cannot be delivered to you for any reason, your email address will be automatically removed from the list.

BASIC COMMANDS

To get a description of all valid commands:
     Send email to array (at) arraydev.com
Body of message (NOT Subject:)
     help

To contribute to the mailing list:
     Send email to array (at) arraydev.com

To subscribe to the separate messages version:
     Send email to array (at) arraydev.com
Body of message (NOT Subject:):
     subscribe

To unsubscribe from the separate messages version:
     Send email to array (at) arraydev.com
Body of message (NOT Subject:):
     unsubscribe

Notice the difference between the email addresses for subscribing (BTC-Forum-request) and contributing (BTC-Forum)!

Please send any further question about BTC-Forum to:
     array (at) arraydev.com.

Any text you wish to share with other participants must be in the body of an email message. Do NOT send attachments. Many participants are not able to receive or decipher them.

(c) ARRAY Development, 1998

Please contact us using email (preferred), fax or by phone, to:
array (at) arraydev.com
Phone: (613)733-0399
Fax: (613)248-4819