Digital Engagement (DE) are please to offer a specialised academic conference web site solution to Victoria staff responsible for running conferences. Based on Wordpress, the solution is able to meet any/all of the following requirements (meaning that some modules can be disabled if you have an alternative solution for that specific need (e.g. EasyChair to collect and manage proposals/papers)):
- Public web site: Using one of two pre-selected themes, you have control over aspects of the design and of all the content for a public web site. You are not restricted to Victoria branding and shouldn't actually use the University branding. The site will be in English, no other languages at this time. The site can be kept live for up to a few years after the conference, but will eventually be closed down.
- Sponsors: We can profile sponsors, if necessary.
- Registrations and payments: Developed in close co-operation with Finance, this allows for money to arrive in to the University bank accounts with sufficient information for journaling to the correct project codes and audit/refund tractability. We support credit card payments, together with tax invoices and receipts. We also support complex ticketing (different categories, prices, combinations, discount codes, open dates, etc), custom registration forms, etc.
- Call for proposals/papers: Collect and manage both abstracts, and reviews, including blind reviews if necessary. Customised notifications, flexible handling of attachments, reporting in the system and downloadable.
- Secure hosting: Selected in conjunction with ITS, we have about 10 sites on the account, ranging from blogs to poetry sites and conferences. We will register a domain name of your selection, ensure the site is secure and backed up, and retain administrator access just in case.
- Training and support: Due to popularity and the open source nature, the internet has thousands of freely available training and support materials.Further, many people have experience in using Wordpress so purchasing additional help is affordable.
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A few example sites built on this solution that are currently live:
- Mataroa: Encounters Between Medicine and the Arts
- Art as Dialogue, the 8th International Art in Early Childhood conference
- "Effective and Humane": Restorative and Māori Justice Approaches to the prison crisis
- Experimental Psychology Conference 2019
- LEW 2018 – Conference on Labour, Employment and Work
- SAANZ – Sociological Association of Aotearoa New Zealand Conference 2018
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