The annual IWMW event provides an opportunity for members of institutional web teams not only to learn about how their peers across the UK’s higher education community are addressing the challenges of provided large-scale institutional digital services, but also to make and develop professional connections with peers.

We recently published a post about the “Updates to the IWMW 2019 Programme” which summarised the content at the event. But the social side is equally important!

The social activities at IWMW events provide an opportunity not only to reward people for hard work over the year but also to meet up with new people and catch up with contacts made at previous events.

Main Social Events

In recent years we have provided a formal conference dinner and a barbecue as the main social activities on the two evenings of the event. This year, as we are based in Greenwich, we have more scope for enhancing the social activities.

Barbecue at IWMW 2018
(let’s hope for good weather again!)

This year we will again be holding a barbecue, which will take place on the first night: Tuesday 25 June. This has proved very popular in recent years as it provides an ideal opportunity to renew contact with delegates you may have met at previous IWMW events as well as meeting new people in a friendly informal environment.

There may also be a team challenge taking place as part of the barbecue (more news on that soon) and we would like to encourage delegates to take part in a group photo, perhaps on the Millennium Sundial in the Park later in the evening (we’re looking into the best options!).

The following evening we are pleased to announce that we will be providing a river cruise with meal. As can be seen from the City Cruises web site the cruise aims to provide “Great food, terrific service, a lovely ambiance coupled with a professional crew and hospitality team are sure to make the hire a success“.

The river cruise will provide great views of the London waterfront!

The dinner cruise, on the good ship Peace, will depart the Greenwich pier at 7.30pm and will return for 10.30pm.

Guests will have a drink on arrival and then a three course dinner. There is also a bar on board.

There will be a quiz and a chance to take in the sights and sounds of the Thames as we cruise along the capital’s glorious river.

Additional Social Activities

There will be a number of additional social activities which we are finalising, including a meetup at a local pub for those who arrive on the day before the event starts.

We’ll also be hosting a quiz. There will also be various other opportunities to win a prize – and members of the HE Digital Slack group have recently been suggesting prizes on the #IWMW2019 channel!

Still A Chance to Book

The official closing date for bookings was Friday 31 May. We are now analysing the bookings in order to finalise the room requirements for the various parallel sessions we’ll be running. While we are doing this, we will keep the online booking form open for a short period. But please book soon!