Following up on [[Brandon]]'s successful talk at the 2011 [http://www.isec.org/sec/ Space Elevator Conference], on the subject of getting a [http://www.startram.com/ StarTram] launch system built for the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad, [[Ben]] applied for and obtained a speaking slot on the 2012 conference's agenda for a talk called "Why go to space? (and get there using a space elevator?)" The talk was very well-received despite lacking the scientific rigor of most presentations at the conference.
The PowerPoint presentation for the talk is available [https://skydrive.live.com/?id=5FC9CD5EA201996E!161&cid=5fc9cd5ea201996e#!/view.aspx?cid=5FC9CD5EA201996E&resid=5FC9CD5EA201996E!1032&app=PowerPoint here] (click the NOTES button at the bottom right for the text of the talk).
The paper Ben wrote to accompany the talk is available [https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?cid=5FC9CD5EA201996E&resid=5FC9CD5EA201996E%211031&app=Word here].
The rest of the conference was fascinating as usual, and included presentations by over a dozen scientists and engineers on various aspects of the space elevator and other advanced space-launch concepts, as well as a Family Science Fest with teams of students competing in a LEGO ribbon-climbing contest.