What do you do with those bags and the proceedings and papers from the medical conferences and annual meetings you attend? What if you went to a conference and instead of a bag and a bunch of bound papers or journals, you received an Apple Ipod Touch device with all the proceedings already loaded?

If you are attending the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this year, this is reality. All registered physicians who attend will be given such a device to keep. The device will have the program guide; calendar of events; exhibitor listings; speaker information, and social venues already loaded. The Association increased registration fees for physicians by $100 to cover the cost of the devices.

Leaders of the AANS tout the ability to instantly inform attendees of changes, updates to papers, and the like.

In a statement on the AANS website, Michael Oh, MD, who was involved in the conception of the paperless conference idea said the device would replace half a million sheets of paper.

See our poll question on the front page about how much you'd pay for your society's annual meeting to go paperless