<p>I was able to attend a couple of tech conferences this fall. The first was the revived Microsoft Exchange Conference (MEC) in September, which was put on by Microsoft to celebrate the launch of Exchange Server 2013. The second show was Microsoft Exchange Connections, part of the larger Windows Connections event, which is collocated with DevConnections, giving IT pros and developers a full slate of sessions on a range of topics including SharePoint, Microsoft SQL Server, mobile development, cloud computing, and more.</p><p>Although these two conferences were different in focus, each being successful in its own ways, the back-to-back experiences highlighted for me a shortcoming of conferences these days, particularly tech conferences. The conferences themselves aren't keeping up with their attendees in the use of technology. Conference organizers need to get on the ball and take advantage of technology to give attendees a better conference experience. The Wi-Fi Problem and the Multitude of Connected Devices</p><p>One of the biggest problems, and one that I've seen or heard about at just about every major conference in the past couple of years, has to be the failure of the conference Wi-Fi. If you've been to conferences recently, you know what I'm talking about: You sit down at the opening keynote, ready to log in to the conference Wi-Fi network and fire up Twitter so you can live blog, or maybe just prepare to catch up on some email during the boring bits. But you find you're unable to get on the network at all because it's already congested. Or you get on, but it's so slow as to be useless, or you get booted off.</p><p>I've spoken with conference speakers who have mentioned how disconcerting it can be to look out at an audience and see all the faces turned down toward their individual screens rather than up at the projected presentation, as if no one were paying attention. But in fact, the new reality for conference attendees in the tech space is that we're reliant on our host of connected devices; rather than not paying attention, we're actually processing multiple streams of information: the live keynote from the presenter on stage and the immediate commentary on the keynote from our colleagues and peers flowing across our screens. Some IT pros might be on call and troubleshooting problems back at their offices at the same time as well.</p><p><a href="http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/wireless-technology/technology-conferences-need-technology-144895">Keep reading...</a></p>