Technology is changing the way the world works, and your USGA Florida Green Section is bravely entering the times with our first Live Meeting, or on-line conference. Please mark your calendar for Thursday, March 5th at 10:00 am (EST) and join us as three USGA agronomists, John Foy, Todd Lowe, and Brian Whitlark (Southwest Region) bring us up to speed on issues affecting golf course management. John will give a brief update on what’s going on around the state, Todd is going to let us know if there is hope on the horizon for a Nemacur replacement, as well as give an update on Methyl Bromide and MSMA, and Brian Whitlark will talk about the infatuation with base saturation…. do we need all that calcium?

Go ahead now and follow USGA Green Section Construction Education Director Jim Moore’s steps listed below to install this free program. Once installed, use the link provided to check your system, which will tell you whether or not you are ready for Live Meeting. Then on March 5th, grab a cup of coffee, invite your staff if you like, and join us on line.

Inevitably, a few of us are going to miss one of the steps below. Don’t panic! If you think you may not have installed the program correctly, call the USGA computer help desk staff, or Jim Moore. Their contact information is at the bottom of this email. If you can, log on to the meeting 15 or 20 minutes ahead of time. Jim Moore will be on line and should be able to tell if you have a problem, and if so, will do his best to help you fix it. In order to allow the meeting to start on time, we encourage you to check your computer ahead of time.

We look forward to sharing our first Live Meeting with you. Our goal is quarterly Live Meetings, and the USGA is looking into the possibility of continuing education credits for future meetings.

Don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions! Thanks, Your Florida Green Section

The following information is provided to help you attend and enjoy USGA Green Section on-line conferences. Please take the time to read this document prior to trying to attend the meeting.
Overview:
We all recognize the importance of staying up-to-date with trends in our game and industry. Historically, one of the most effective means of getting new information was to attend educational sessions at Turfgrass conferences, USGA family meetings, etc. In today’s economy, it is likely that the cost of travel and time away from the workplace will greatly reduce the ability of many of us to attend as many meetings as we have in the past. Fortunately, there is now another option. On-line conferencing (also called “webcasting” or “web conferencing”) is a new and exciting tool to allow people to share information via the Internet without the need for costly travel. The USGA and the Green Section has implemented this technology to better serve the game and industry of golf.
What you need to attend:
1) You will need a reliable and constant broadband Internet connection to attend and enjoy the online meeting. During our online meeting a constant “stream” of audio is sent to your computer. Should your connection be broken even for a very short period of time, you may experience an interruption in the audio. Slow, intermittent connections will not work. Wireless and DSL connections will work but are prone to periodic disconnects that you might not notice when browsing the web or working with e-mail. Please see the “Troubleshooting” section below for how to reconnect during the meeting if necessary.
2) You must use a PC (not a Mac) and Microsoft Internet Explorer (not Firefox) as your web browser.
3) The USGA uses Microsoft Office Live Meeting to “broadcast” our on-line meetings and educational sessions. For you to attend one of our Live Meetings, you will need to download and install the Microsoft Live Meeting 2007 Client. This program must be installed on the computer that you will use to attend the meeting (see the next step).
Installing Microsoft Live Meeting 2007 Client (please read carefully)
As mentioned above, you will need to install the Live Meeting Client on the computer you will use to attend the meeting. Please do the following well before the meeting date.

1) When you click the “check your system” link below, you will be taken to a Microsoft site that will check your system to see if you have the latest version of the Live Meeting Client installed. If not it will walk you through the installation. (Note: DO NOT choose the web access option during installation. You will not be able to hear if you do.) Be sure to watch for messages in Internet Explorer to allow the installation. Once installed, you will be taken to a test Live Meeting site that indicates you have successfully installed Live Meeting (in various languages).
2) Here is the link to check your system: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=90703. If the link does not automatically work, copy and paste into your address bar.
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Joining the Meeting
Once you have successfully installed the Live Meeting 2007 Client you are ready to join the Green Section online conference. Note that you cannot join the conference until within 30 minutes of the start time.

The Green Section Florida Region conference takes place on Thursday, March 05, 2009 at 10:00 AM (EST).

When you are ready, click the following link.

Join the meeting

If for some reason the link above does not work you can manually join by doing the following:
1. Copy this address and paste into your web browser:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usga/join
2. Copy and paste the required information:
Meeting ID: Z2S7KN
Entry Code: pwC#2{2'n
Location: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usga
Troubleshooting
If you are having trouble installing the Live Meeting Client:
1) Be sure you have permission to install programs onto your computer.
2) Be sure to watch the information bar near the top of Internet Explorer during installation for messages. Depending on your security settings, you may have to repeatedly allow Microsoft to install plug-ins such as Active X. We have used Live Meeting extensively and have not had any problems so don’t hesitate to allow the installation.
If you are having trouble with your audio during the meeting:
1) As mentioned above, any interruption in your connection can result in your audio being disconnected. Attendee’s should be able to reconnect through the Voice & Video pane. Click on the Voice & Video tab at the top of the page. You will see a small phone with an “X” next to it. Click on the phone to disconnect. Then, click on it again to “Join Audio”. Depending on your connection, you may have to do this multiple times throughout the meeting.
If you are having other problems feel free to contact either the USGA tech support group at 800.222.8742 (ask for the PC help desk) or call Jim Moore at 254.848.2202