The convention center's high-tech spine: the new Midwest Express Center takes technology to the cutting edge to serve a variety of users.(Focus on Communications Technologies)

In 1978, as part of its pre-convention preparation, the State Medical Society of Wisconsin gave officials of the old Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center & Arena (MECCA) a list of the "technology" the group required.

The society's half-page list consisted of one 20-amp, 208-volt electrical outlet; 13 public address systems; and three blackboards. Then, as now, medical meetings were considered "high-tech" affairs by the convention industry.

Recently, as past of its pre-convention preparation, the National Governors Association (NGA) submitted a list of the technology the governors will need for their August 1998 convention at the new Midwest Express Center. The list, which totals six full pages, includes two high-speed ISDN lines for data transmission, 200 hardwired telephone lines, plus hardware and other equipment for satellite transmission. The NGA convention, in contrast to medical meetings, is not considered a particularly high-tech event.

"The NGA is a very typical user of their size," said Sharon Poindexter, …