Services

Organising and hosting conferences and forums

Our main service is that of organising and hosting short, time limited online conferences, and longer term forums, typically 12 months or more. We have considerable experience in running both these types of event, using our own conferencing system, a highly configured version of the long established and very popular system, Web Crossing. We are not the cheapest way to set up a forum or conference, but, as well as our technical expertise, you also get the benefit of our experience in making these events successful - there is far more to it than simply setting up the software! We have organised some of the biggest and most successful online events in the UK. We have worked with major organisations, including UK government departments. Thousands of people have attended our online conferences.

We offer four options:

Option 1: Forum setup only

This is for ongoing forums. We will build the forum site for you, providing you with everything you need to get started. Specifically, this includes:

Obtaining the forum environment, which will be licensed to you.
Configuring it with the look and feel you require.
Map it to your domain name.
Set up all folders and discussions.
Set up other options you require, e.g. Wiki, polls, document revision, blogs, etc.
Configure login options and access rights.
Set up the initial batch of users.
Provide user guides.

The basic cost of this is £6,000, plus the cost of the Web Crossing license, which is approximately £320 for a full year (though it is also possible to pay on a monthly basis). The Web Crossing fee includes up to 30,000 page views per month. Additional page views incur an additional cost of $3 per 1000 pageviews. We can advise on whether or not you are likely to exceed this limit - in most cases, probably not.

Option 2: Regular maintenance and support

Following on from Option 1, you may require ongoing support - e.g. to make changes to the forum, to manage the operations, to provide advice and guidance on how to run it most effectively, liaise with and advise your conference facilitators. This is available on a monthly basis, at £500 per month, with a minimum period of three months.

Option 3: Training

If you prefer to manage the forum yourself, we can provide training for this. Web Crossing is a highly flexible and configurable system, and there is extensive help available from Web Crossing themselves. However, it also has a fairly steep learning curve, and if you prefer to get started quickly, we can offer face to face training at £900 per day, minimum two days.

Option 4: Short term online conferences

Rather than an ongoing open ended forum, these are short conferences, typically four or five days. We would host, configure and manage the conference, providing a full service. This includes:

Set up all folders and discussions.
Set up other options you require, e.g. Wiki, polls, document revision, blogs, etc.
Configure login options and access rights.
Register the users.
Provide user guides.
Provide technical support to all participants.
Working with workshop facilitators (provided by you).
Working with workshop presenters, putting their papers and presentations into a suitable format.
Providing reading weeks for delegates before and after the conference.
Providing guidance for facilitators and presenters, on how to work effectively within the online environment.
Providing text transcripts of all discussions after the conference.
Processing delegate fees (if applicable).

The base cost of this is approximately £9,500 (however, depending on exactly what you want, the cost may be more than this). If you want us to process the delegate fees via our secure online facility, there is a fee of £8 per delegate (if the conference is free to all or some delegates, the charge is £3 per free delegate, and £8 per paying delegate).

Other services

If your needs don't quite fall into the options above, or you just require advice on how to run a successful forum or conference, please contact us for pricing.