The conference took place January 28 at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel University Park, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania prides itself for being ahead in in Y2K remedials at the state level. At the local levels though, from what I can see, nothing much is happening. Only within the past month have I seen significant media reports. I've recieved nothing through the mail, schools etc.

Read the comments from this conference, very interesting what the conferencee proposed on how to go about increasing awareness.

My favorite was the very last one at the bottom of the page, from people at Table 35: "Table 35 This seminar is too late. It was needed last year before government entities passed their 99 Budget. We needed to be more aware of these issues last year to better prepare for action in 1999."

The overall emphasis was on not panicking the public as Table 10 suggested " Distribute red cross info flyer through the church , business and community organizations to increase community awareness prior to scheduling public community meetings. the red cross brochure has been described as non threatening, a good starting point." Still, there's some very good suggestions. But as Table 35 said...too late.

Conference Participants' Y2K Suggestions Pa2K.org's main page

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), February 26, 1999

Answers

Gosh! What an undertaking that conference was!!

Interesting to note at:

What suggestion and recommendations do you have for the Pa2K outreach program.

Table 33 (answered as follows)

Based upon the representation of the 2,500 municipalities in the Commonwealth, we feel that a substantial number of municipalities do not understand the importance of the problem, and that it is not only a "Computer Problem," but applicable to ALL mechanical operations dependent upon micro chips.

-- Suburb (an@metroarea.com), February 26, 1999.

Whilte the first sections were refrshingly comprehensive and sensible and dealt mainly with getting the word out, The last secion, "Any Other Comments," provided some interesting material, as you noted with the chilling "too late" comment, Chris.

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Table 4 - Adopt a Standard for what Y2K compliance exactly means. Specifically define Mission Critical.

Table 5 - Suggestions to news media to tone down the doom and gloom and emphasize the positive of the efforts to assure problem are minimized.

Table 7 - Don't over-sensationalize the issues, e.g., elevators locking between floor; OTIS, the leading manufacturer of elevators, has info on their website describing elevators and the Y2K problem. Business people will listen more to rational explanations and business impact that talking about extreme possibilities.

Table 13 - Is there money to help local gov. fund y2k compliance ? Have a master list of y2k compliant computers, equipment , chips , vendors.

Table 16 - Meet with managers of industry

Table 25 - (Critical Mass) Initiatives should be employed at this time if a municipality or government agency has not adopted y2k plans.

Table 28 - What has the state done to make local hospitals compliant with technology. Is this the responsibilities [sic]

Table 35 - This seminar is too late. It was needed last year before government entities passed their 99 Budget. We needed to be more aware of these issues last year to better prepare for action in 1999.

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How many people attended this conference--do you know, Chris? True, it should have been held a year ago but given the scope of activity so far, it's wonderful!

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 26, 1999.

From the list of participants posted, I'd say around 150+ at a glance.

Participants were "Invitees: Municipal government representatives, partner associations, and members of the Pa2K Outreach Network"

No ordinary citizens invited. We be sheeples that need guidance from them municipal shephards...to lead us over the cliff.

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), February 26, 1999.