Roundtable Wrap-Up: RT 6-Final Thoughts

Roundtable 6 came up with a few conclusions over the conference’s five discussion times. After debating the government’s role in the global technology market, we decided the government should take a hands off approach. Government intervention only increases the role of lobbyists and forces the United States to use technology that might not be in its best interest. Another key issue discussed was the benefits and disadvantages of the “Internet Age”. Benefits included interconnectedness and the speed, access, and wsealth of information. The major disadvantage discussed was the disconnect between people. As more and more technology is created, person to person interaction drastically increases. We decided people need a good balance of both technology and personal interaction. One of our most interesting discussions involved mobile banking and its potential to bring the developing world out of poverty. Issues also discussed were cloud computing, rare earth metals, and the problems that come with scarcity and abundance.

Our roundtable came up with a few suggestions for future roundtable discussions. While I would not make it mandatory, I would definitely provide all roundtable members with their fellow delegate’s papers before beginning discussion. If our roundtable’s delegates had been able to read each other’s papers before the discussions, we would have spent less time overviewing and more time in deep, meaningful discussion. Another flaw of our roundtable was the amount of time we spent on each topic. I felt we jumped from topic to topic too quickly, thus limiting the depth of our conversations. While this did allow us to discuss a wide range of topics, I think spending more time on less topics might have been more beneficial.

Overall I thought our roundtable ran smoothly. Moderator Rishi Shah did a good job at engaging all the delegates and was open to advice on discussion topics and group events. The delegates interacted well with each other and respected each other’s opinions. NAFAC 2011 was a great success and many of the delegates from roundtable 6 are already planning to return for next year’s conference .