{"id":33,"date":"2008-02-13T15:46:08","date_gmt":"2008-02-13T21:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.minkhollow.ca\/KB\/Blog\/?p=31"},"modified":"2010-05-08T11:36:45","modified_gmt":"2010-05-08T17:36:45","slug":"rant-about-conference-websites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2008\/02\/13\/rant-about-conference-websites\/","title":{"rendered":"Rant About Conference Websites"},"content":{"rendered":"Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

I seem to be on a bit of a Rant-kick today.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is partly because I am now finished my dissertation and have successfully defended it. I don’t feel the same need to placate.<\/p>\n

Many of the conferences I follow have not only a substantial web presence, but they now also support online submission, review, and registration to a greater or lesser extent. Some work very well and others are very amateurish.<\/p>\n

I have a few suggestions:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Keep your site updated.<\/li>\n
  2. Provide student rates.<\/li>\n
  3. If you give a date for when something will be available, MAKE SURE YOU DON’T LIE. Not only is it frustrating, but it gives the impression you don’t really know what you’re doing.<\/li>\n
  4. Don’t make me click through half a dozen pages to get at what I want.<\/li>\n
  5. Let me back out of and review any forms I am asked to fill in.<\/li>\n
  6. Give me the ability to edit my personal information.<\/li>\n
  7. Don’t say you have online registration and then tell me to print off and mail in a form. That’s just goofy.<\/li>\n
  8. Don’t ask me to sign up for something (workshop, special session, etc.) without giving me an abstract and telling me who is doing it. There are people I will pay to listen to and others I won’t. Let me decide. If you don’t think you can draw participants if you reveal the speaker’s name, you’ve got the wrong speaker.<\/li>\n
  9. The conference dinner is an important social event in a conference – make it good, and don’t charge us an arm and a leg to attend. Ideally, it will be included in the conference fee.<\/li>\n
  10. Make presenters feel special.<\/li>\n
  11. If you say something like, “The paper submission system is online.” then for heaven’s sake, make it a an active link so I can actually get to the paper submission without having to hunt around for it. In one example, the link for online submission was at the bottom of a page called, “author guidelines”. Webpage real estate is not expensive – how much more does it cost to provide multiple links to things and anchors within pages?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n