Take one part career fair, one part technology demonstration and one part free ride on a Segway and you have all the makings of the second annual Information Sciences and Technology (IST) Future Forum.

"It lets people know what IST is all about," said Elaine Lau, co-chair of the event, which will be held today in the IST Building.

"The day is open to all majors -- people who are interested in the future of technology or people who are thinking about taking IST courses," she added.

The day will officially begin at 11:30 a.m. with a keynote speech about the future role of information technology in major companies by John Meyer, the president of Lucent Worldwide Services, said Shaun Knight, program manager for IST Future Forum.

Following the keynote speech will be information and displays from the event's corporate sponsors, including IBM, Dell and Microsoft.

"This interaction between 30 of the most influential businesses and the students is a great networking opportunity for IST students," Knight said.

Student projects will also be on display. There are 20 student groups who have been working as consultants for companies, he said.

"These projects gave IST students real-world experience," Knight said. "They have held conference calls, sent e-mails and helped solve these companies' problems."

Lau said that many of the projects are about integrating technology into the workplace and improving current technology.

"But some of these projects are on things like hacking and gaming," she added.

Throughout the day there will also be 14 panel discussions, Lau said.

The 45-minute panels will feature business representatives and faculty members, co-chair Greg Schwarz said. The panels vary from "Information Retrieval: What's next after Google?" to "Platform Wars: Mac, Windows, Unix."

"I'm looking forward to the panel on information security," Schwarz (freshman-information sciences and technology) said.

Schwarz said he is coordinating the Segway rides for the event.

"We are working with the Office of Physical Plant to borrow a few Segways," he said.

Attending any part of the day is free and open to all students, Schwarz said, but participants who want to ride the energy-efficient scooters were required to watch a 30-minute training video before today.

Students who have registered will be entered into a drawing for prizes such as Xboxes, iPods and a Dell notebook, he said.

"We have almost $3,000 in prizes" purchased by the forum committee, Schwarz added.

For IST students, the day will begin at 8 a.m. with mock interviews.

"There will be 13 companies on hand to conduct these interviews," Knight said.

Lau said more than 500 people attended last year's Future Forum.