This past Monday, Kelley Executive Partners Virtual Campus in Second Life hosted "Virtual Worlds and the Future of Business Education" -- a half-day virtual conference exploring the role of virtual worlds and social computing in evolving the role of executive education and changing the relationship between institutions of higher learning and global organizations. Presenters including John Cady, Executive Director of Kelley Executive Partners, Prof. Anne Massey of Kelley School of Business and corporate guests from IBM, Technology Intelligence Group, and Linden Lab, creators of Second Life.

Over 80 people attended inworld, including representatives from IBM, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Alcoa and other large organizations; as well as scholars and educators from around the globe. An additional 80+ viewers attended proceedings via the realtime web and SL-to-web chat integration, enabling direct conversation with presenters and attendees. The interchange was a compelling mix of clear-sighted vision and collaborative problem-solving: as with most Second Life virtual events, the audience became important contributors to the discourse, sharing their considerable knowledge and insight.

Thanks from Kelley Executive Partners to all participants and guests. We hope you all will stay in touch and remain part of the Kelley Executive Partners virtual community in Second Life as we collectively advance this vision of educational enrichment. And stay tuned for future events on Kelley Virtual Campus!