EYES ON THE CHILD

Meetings & Conventions: Short Cuts January 1998 Current Issue
January 1998
Short Cuts:EYES ON THE CHILD

For parents who bring a child to a convention, it's comforting to know that a reputable company is running the child-care center. But perhaps nothing beats the chance to peek into that room, unobserved, throughout the course of the day.

At the annual meeting of the American Society of Association Executives this past July, Baby-Cam offered concerned moms and dads that peace of mind. The video monitoring system allowed parents at Chicago's McCormick Place to view activities at the child-care center run by San Diego-based KiddieCorp at the Hyatt Regency, about a mile away. A camera mounted at the child-care center beamed video to an Internet Cafe in the ASAE general services area.

"I had my four-year-old, Windsor, in child care," says mom Susan Bitter Smith, executive director of the Arizona Cable Television Association in Phoenix and immediate past chairman of ASAE's board. "She had a wonderful time, and it made me feel like I wasn't abandoning her." In fact, Bitter Smith observed her daughter making a strategic alliance -- she was playing tea party with ASAE CEO Bill Taylor's granddaughter.

"It was fun to check on her," adds Bitter Smith. "I've put her in convention child care before, so I wasn't concerned about the care, but if I were a first-time user, Baby-Cam would have given me a boost of confidence that I was doing the right thing."