Preetam Rai took the photo on the right at the Cambodian Blogger Summit in Phnom Penh. In this case, Fulbright Scholar Kalyan Keo was Skyping in from Syracuse, New York.

See the same behavior at the Eahil conference (10th European Conference of Medical and Health Libraries) in CLuj-Napoca, September 2006.

Or at the MacFair in Cerritos College, California, where a speaker Skyped in from New Zealand.  

The Speaker-Skypes-To-Conference use case (design jargon: "use case" is a common pattern for how some people use a product) has best practices:

1. Turn other software off on both computers. You don't want Outlook to slow Skype down or alerts to pop-up in mid conversation.
2. Test the connection.
3. Test the webcam.
4. Test you can hear the speaker. Try to test the audio in the auditorium, including any public announcement or other speaker system. You are checking for feedback and noise.
5. Test the speaker can hear the audience. When you use "sound reinforcement" (where the stage and audience use microphones) assure the laptop has audio-in connected and working and at the right levels.  
6. Assure you have enough light on you (the speaker) so you show up in full color. Light helps the camera.
7. Display the speaker with video at full screen. Spare the audience looking at your desktop's wallpaper.
8. Put a webcam on the conference laptop. Point it at the audience. So the speaker can see the audience. This really helps speakers. If you have a wide-angle setting, turn that on too.

Most Commonly Mentioned Benefits:

• Speakers presenting who would not be available otherwise.
• Lower cost to speakers/organizers.
• Fast and Free, except for projector and speaker rental.