Gore To Join CIOs On NFRTech Conference PanelGore To Join CIOs On NFRTech Conference Panel

Retail industry IT execs will get to grill former Vice President Al Gore at the National Retail Federation's inaugural NRFTech conference and trade show this October in New Orleans. Gore will give a speech on "Technology and the Future of America," and then join a panel with four leading retail CIOs--including Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s Jerry Miller--to discuss the topic.

The NRFTech event runs Oct. 14-17 at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. Gore's speech will take place Oct. 16.

Gore will discuss technology, government, and private industry, and how they will interact with one another in the future. "He'll give his vision of where technology is going and where it has been, then the CIOs will get to tell him what it's like in the real world," says Cathy Hotka, VP of IT at the NRF, a retail-industry trade association. And no doubt he'll clear up that controversy about who invented the Internet.