IWMW 2015 Open For Bookings

I’m pleased to announce that bookings are now open for IWMW 2015, the 19th in the series of annual Institutional Web Management Workshops, which provide development opportunities for those with responsibilities for the provision of institutional web sites or development and implementation of digital strategies in the UK’s higher/further education sector.

The Content

As is the norm the IWMW 2015 event will last for 3 days, starting after lunch on Monday 27 July and finishing before lunch on Wednesday 29 July.

The event consists on a number of plenary talks together with interactive workshop sessions, which provide an opportunities for participants to actively engage in discussions of areas of interest.

The plenary talks are grouped into a number of themes:

• Putting The Web Manager First: The opening session provides an opportunity to hear from two institutions about how institutional web and digital teams are responding to the challenges we are all facing.
• Supporting Our Users: Two plenary talks will explore how institutions are responding to their customer needs in the context of new operating realities and the importance of providing outstanding user experience as a key differentiator for an increasingly demanding student environment.
• Managing the Content; Developing the Services: Two plenary talks will explore approaches to managing content and developing services.
• Beyond the Institution: In light of the importance of use of third party services for supporting institutional services there will be two talks from organisations who can support institutional activities: Jisc and LinkedIn.
• What Does The Future Hold?: The IWMW 2015 event will conclude with a panel session in which experienced web managers will address the topic “What does the future hold?“

An innovation this year is the series of half-day master classes, which provide more time for participants to explore areas of interest.  The master classes are grouped into the following themes:

• Embed Yourself in an Institutional Web Team:  Managers of two institutional web teams (based at Liverpool John Moores University and Bradford University) will facilitate sessions which will provide opportunities to learn how other web teams address challenges they are facing.
• Agile Working: Managers of two institutional web teams (based at the universities of Edinburgh and Bath) explore approaches to agile working for content creation, delivery and standards and usability testing.
• Perspectives from Beyond the Sector: Staff from three commercial companies which work closely with the higher education community with Lessons facilitate master classes on Lessons Learned from Helping HE Institutions Develop their Digital Strategies, Exploring the Use of CMSs across Higher Education and Radical Simplification.

The Cost

The cost of the IWMW 2015 event is £390 which covers two nights’ accommodation, workshop materials, lunch on the second day, the conference dinner and a wine reception. For those who do not require accommodation the price is £300.

Note due to the limited size of the main lecture theatre we will not be able to host as many participants as recent years. In addition there are limits to the numbers of participants in the workshop sessions and master classes. We therefore recommend early booking!