Patent ID: 7984099

Claim:
A method for defining and controlling a conference, occurring at a physical conference location, using conference software executing on a computer system, the method comprising: storing conference information associated with the conference, the conference information including a database listing the physical conference location and attendees of the conference, the attendees registered to attend the conference at the physical conference location; associating, in the database, first and second ones of the attendees with respective first and second real identities; assigning, in the database, first and second personal proxies to the respective first and second ones of the attendees; communicating, during the conference, with a first wireless device of the first attendee and a second wireless device of the second attendee to convey updated conference information, the updated conference information including a list of attendees from the database in the computer system; receiving from the first attendee, a message directed to the second attendee using the second personal proxy; and directing the message to the second attendee using the second real identity.