We've now got an RSS feed so you can automatically get blog updates. Scroll down this page and you'll see this feed in the sidebar at the bottom left. If you're not sure what this is or how to use it, there's an excellent link here:

http://paulstamatiou.com/2005/11/13/how-to-getting-started-with-rss/.

By the way I'd recommend Google Reader as a great newsreader.

Of course, some browsers, such as Safari, allow you to read RSS feeds directly in the browser.

Tags: Website

We've managed to keep the cost below £500. It's going to be £495 and include registration, accommodation and all meals. More details of daily registration, etc. later.

Tags: Payment, Cost

Just got the first abstract! Should we give a prize? Maybe we should.

Tags: Abstracts

Well, the mail shot seemed to go well. Less than 5% undeliverable, which is excellent. A few people no longer want to be included in future mailings, but not many. 159 people looked at the web site on Friday and over 60 completed the enquiry form. One problem is that three people said they could not access the web site. Not at all sure why that would be. Difficult to replicate without knowing much more. My suspicion is that they are using a very old browser.

Going to work on the database for registration this weekend. I'll finally get the fee set this week too. The last conference was £475. The current fee will be slightly more. I'm just not sure if I can keep it below £500, but I'd like to.

Tags: Publicity

Tonight I'm going to send out a mailing for the conference, to let people know it's happening! I'll try to encourage them to visit this web site and fill in the enquiry form. It will also give me a chance to see which email addresses are no longer valid and who doesn't want to be on this list.

Apparent people liked the publicity postcards at ASHA, so that's good.

Tags: Publicity

Having got the form for collecting enquiry data up and working, I came across Dabble.com. Looking for something else, actually, but that's the way things often work! First, you sign up, then you design yourself a database online and then design a form for data entry. Finally put the link in the web site, publish it and it's online ready to go. You can also do some rather interesting things like publish a map of the world showing where all the enquirers are from. Of course it took rather longer to get it all up and running than I'd hoped, but I think in the end the time saving will be worth it. And it looks good.

Tags: Website

Done a little more on the website, heard from another keynote speaker too. Also got two enquiries about the Conference. Almost decided on costing, but sill need a bit more info first! Or am I just putting off making a decision?

Tags: Website

The advertising postcards arrived safely, so that's good. Going to try and work out the cost now. Almost impossible to be totally accurate - how many delegates will we get, how much sponsorship, if any? There are fixed costs, like room hire, which don't vary per person, but costs such as meals, which do. The latter costs are much more straightforward, we know if we get x people at y cost the total amount is xy. It's the fixed costs which are tricky. We just have to make an estimate of how many delegates we are likely to get and divide the cost by that number. But if we get it wrong we either charge more than we needed to and potentially put off delegates or charge too little and end up not meeting our costs. Plus we need a contingency fund for unexpected expenses - even after years of doing this there are still unexpected things happen which cost money!

Tags: Website, Payment

Seven hours straight work now. But a lot of progress! I think the registration/paymentt form can go live in the next few days.

Tags: Website, Payment

Almost got this working. Just getting someone to test it for me. Also getting some feedback on the rest of the web site. But I still need to figure out what are the best methods for implementing payment. Well finally got it figured out. If prospective delegates fill out the online form, they can choose their payment method. I can then invoice them. Seems a straightforward solution. Also allows me to check they haven't booked twice, or some other error.

Tags: Website

Just received this, so it's now on the website. Completed and uploaded the enquiry form too. Also spent ages fiddling around with the registration form. Not sure when this will be done. But I'd really like it on the web by the end of next week.

Tags: Website

Signed up for Google Checkout some time ago and now validated the account. So we can take credit cards via both Google and PayPal. But I now have to find a shopping cart so delegates can choose accommodation, what days they are attending, etc. If everyone just signed up for the whole conference it would be so easy! And the fees Google and PayPal charge for their services are different.

After several hours I think I have the solution to the shopping cart problem. Found a cut down version of FatFreeCartPro, which handles Google and PayPal. Looks like it will do what I want, but I now have to design the form and check the generated html code. Pretty certain it will work with Fuzioned, my hosting company. The contact form works well, so PHP is obviously operational. Also have to design a form for delegates signing up and wanting to be invoiced.

Anyway, time for bed now.

Tags: Website, Payment, Addresses

I thought it might be interesting to keep a diary of what I"m doing to get the Conference running. At the moment I've just printed about 240 postcards for distribution at ASHA. And now I'm busy carefully separating the cards (they're printed four to one sheet). Also today, spoken to the other conference organisers, emailed one of the key note speakers and had a Skype chat with another presenter. Probably do a bit more on the web site before bed!

Tags: Publicity