Some of the world’s most successful and exciting businesswomen shared their expertise via satellite Wednesday to a national audience, including students who stopped by the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

Eric Yarwood, assistant program manager at the Maintenance Shop, said The Main Event, sponsored by Women.future, was held from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (EST). The event was filmed at Harvard but broadcast via satellite to many campuses around the nation, including Iowa State.

The event panelists included prominent businesswomen such as: Goldie Hawn, actress; Margaret C. Whitman, president and CEO of eBay; Lillian Vernon, CEO of the Lillian Vernon Corporation; Cynthia Trudell, president and chairwoman of the Saturn Corporation; and surprise guest, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Yarwood said he was excited Iowa State had the chance to broadcast this program.

“This is the first time we’ve used the net for something strictly educational, though. I think it gives students a different learning tool,” he said.

Yarwood said ISU programmers heard about the event through Network Event Theater, an organization that offers first-run films and other programs to university campuses.

“I’ve known about the event for a few months,” he said. “We really started advertising for it two weeks ago and sent out press releases to staff and professors.”

The program was split into seven categories of interest to women, with a question-answer format. The panelists answered questions via ICN rooms and faxes sent in by viewers.

Questions covered a wide range of topics, including how women are investing their money, how new health technologies impact women, how women are using and working on the Internet and the ways women are changing the world of work.

Though the program was not as well attended as Yarwood hoped, those who did stop by said they found it interesting.

Kayla Stratton, associate director of legal affairs, human resources and information systems for the Board of Regents, said she decided to stop by and watch the program out of curiosity.

“I was on campus today and thought this sounded like an interesting concept,” she said. “My area of expertise is affirmative action and gender equality, so I thought this would be very interesting.”

Stratton said she found the program worthwhile.

“I think the concept being presented is very interesting. The women selected to be on the panels are leaders in their field, so I found it very interesting,” she said.

Laura Sweeney, undeclared graduate student, also said she enjoyed the program.

“I work at the Catt Center for Women [and Politics] and was curious to see what they’d be showing. I’m hoping to learn some things and then take that back to the center,” she said. “I’m also writing a paper for my women’s study class on women’s access and use of the Internet, so I’m taking notes like crazy.”