SMART Boards Link Obama Activities
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
Products from SMART Technologies, Calgary, Alberta, will link the inauguration of Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., and the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball to the Bronzeville Ball being held in Obama’s home community of Bronzeville in Chicago.
SMART Boards will be used to showcase inauguration highlights and to provide a live, interactive feed from the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will attend.
SMART is providing three SMART Board 680i interactive whiteboard systems and two SMART Board interactive displays, ensuring an interactive experience for all attendees. One SMART Board interactive whiteboard will stream live video to the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball and a host of other balls around the country, enabling guests to interact with people at each location.
The remaining SMART Board interactive whiteboards and displays will be dedicated to showing coverage from events throughout the day. One will have a continuous loop of the inauguration ceremony and President Obama’s acceptance speech. Another will show live ABC coverage. The last two will highlight Bronzeville community businesses and be available for guests to sign and write messages on. These messages will be saved digitally, using the SMART Board interactive whiteboard, as a commemoration of the event.
At capacity, the Bronzeville Ball is expected to have 300 people in attendance. It is being hosted by the Bronzeville A.E.R., a group that represents art, entertainment and retail. A portion of the proceeds from the Bronzeville Ball will be donated to NetGeneration of Youth’s Teen Cybertech Café, an education program that SMART also supports.
“Bronzeville is President Obama’s backyard, so the people of this community are extremely excited about having direct access to the events in Washington that the SMART Board interactive whiteboards and displays are providing,” says Andre Guichard, a key organizer of the Bronzville event. “I think this is creating an even better opportunity than actually being in Washington because now people will be able to interact with so many of the different events going on around the country simultaneously.”
“Barack Obama’s presidency is an historic event not only for the people of the United States, but for the world,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO. “SMART is proud to bring these two communities of Bronzeville and Washington together on such an exciting day.”
When SMART Technologies invented the touch-sensitive SMART Board interactive whiteboard in 1991, the company began a tradition of creating innovative, easy-to-use products that has earned it worldwide recognition and trust. That tradition has elevated SMART to the position of global leader in the interactive whiteboard product category and resulted in a strategic alliance with Intel Corporation.
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