The programme for the IWMW 2018 event, which will be held at the University of York on 11-13 July, will be published shortly – we are just awaiting final confirmation for a number of the sessions.

However we are able to confirm that the price of the event is being held at last year’s price: £400 for the 3 day event, which includes 2 nights’ accommodation, meals, conference dinner and social events as well as attendance at the event. For those who do not require accommodation the price is £330. This year, for the first time, we are also able to announce discounts of 10% for institutions which make a block booking for 5 or more delegates.

The theme for this year’s event, the 22nd in the series of the annual event for those working in institutional web and digital teams, is “Streamlining Digital“, with talks and parallel sessions exploring ways in which the sector can continue to provide and enhance institutional digital services despite the challenges the sector currently face.

The opening session has the theme “Learning From Stories” with talks reflecting on personal experiences (Alison Kerwin, head of the web team at the University of York who previously had similar roles at the University of Bath and Edge Hill University will share her thoughts on “10 Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier (In My Career)“) and institutional stories, with Jane Van de Ban, Birkbeck & Chris Scott, Headscape who will be “Telling the Birkbeck Story: How Customer Journey Mapping Helped Us Develop Our New Approach To Web“.

One approach to “Streamlining Digital” which, in the past, has been regarded as somewhat controversial is outsourcing. In a session on “What Can Outsourcing Offer?” we will hear about the potential benefits of the range of outsourcing options which are available and how institutions can choose appropriate solutions. And as a counter-balance we will also hear from an institution which has decided to develop large-scale web services in-house!

The importance of ensuring that institutions provide “Effective Digital Teams” will be addressed in two talks: one on “Stress…and what to do with everything starts falling apart” and another on “Understanding Invisible Labour“. Following this session delegates will have the opportunity to give their thoughts on topics of interest to them in a new feature at an IWMW event: a 30-minute “Lightning Talks” session which will be open to all delegates.

On the final day we will hear from a number of speakers who will provide institutional case studies.

We will continue to provide a large number of parallel sessions from which delegates can attend two sessions which may be of particular interest.

The online booking form will be opened shortly. If you are concerned that staff development funds may be frozen in the near future you should seek funding approval asap.