The size of the lecture hall precluded use of a speakerphone, so a technician at Brown was employed to interface a standard telephone to the audio system in the room. The result was some wire, alligator clips, a small amplifier and an adapter for the patch panel. This simple setup proved quite effective, though it did not allow the remote presenter to hear audience reaction or questions from the floor.
Interfacing computer generated audio to the sound system has since proven to be easily done, but was not used during the conference due to some last minute technical problems. An Internet-based audio protocol could be used in place of the telephone.