Reading your comment to Bruce & Denise, above about planning your trip, somehow reminded me of something I think you would find very useful.

You may already know of this, but, as an architect as well as a college adjunct faculty member, I use a FREE conferencing website named “Vyew” (www.vyew.com).

The key to this service is that this is an Internet website, not a program, so there are no program download or firewall security issues. You can use it with people across town or across the globe – anywhere you have Internet access. The company has cost versions of the service, but I’ve never needed the additional features or capacity beyond the free version. You should check it out. I have no personal or business stake in this, by the way – it just works really well and easily, so I’m always excited about passing the word along about it.

The basic idea is that you register at Vyew to set up a virtual meeting room (you can actually set up many meeting rooms under the same registration, each private from the others) where you meet people with whom you are working. Each meeting room contains a “whiteboard” (onto which you can import graphic or text images) and includes some simple drawing and texting tools with which to communicate. You send an invitation with a link to the meeting room to the person with whom you are working, and they click on the link to enter the meeting room.

Nice thing is that, through the link, you can meet at the same time, or each of you can enter and leave messages/drawings for the other separately whenever convenient (you always retain control over this privilege); so, no one is tied to a particular time, if one is not immediately available. Presently, with the free version, you can meet in a each Vyew meeting room with up to 20 people, I think it is, simultaneously, using a free conferencing phoneline; you pay your own long distance charge to call the number to simultaneously connect with the other meeting participant(s), but bringing all together on the same line is free.

If you try it, let me know what you think at my email (easier for me to receive than remembering where I left this note). I really like Vyew. It saves me a ton of unnecessary driving costs and time in transit.