12 Conference and Event Websites for Design Inspiration

The time has come; the old website has got to go. You hate it, the attendees hate it, the boss hates it, and even your mother hates it and she doesn’t even own a computer. The damn thing is not very functional and looks like it was created somewhere between 1973 and 1999 and just like an old broken down old car, it costs you a boat load of money just to keep it going. Money that would be better spent on speakers, venues, and booze. 

Getting ready to create a new conference or event website is not actually the pain in the ass that many people would make it out to be. With a little planning, the experience can be quite pleasant in a “you just got your teeth cleaned” kind of way. You know, sucks at the beginning but it is amazingly awesome at the end.

Before you begin any web project, you need to know where it is going to end up. You need to get a good idea of what styles you like and what you don’t; You need to know what functionality is important and which is worthless. You need to imagine what you want the finished product to be in order to start.

To get you thinking about the end game, here are some designs to inspire and motivate, have a look and actually click through because in some cases the picture does not tell the complete story of what your new conference site can be. Remember, your website is the first experience many attendees will have with your event so it pays to make a good first impression.

ACRP 2013

The Brand New Conference

Great Conference Web Design

An Event Apart

Brooklyn Beta


Do Lectures


Future of Web Design New York

Future M

Society for Human Resource Management

The Combine 2012


Web Expo Prague

YamJam

Dreamforce 12 

Keith Johnston is the Publisher and Chief Writer Guy of PlannerWire | You can learn more about him here , connect with him on Twitter , Facebook , Google + and LinkedIn.

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  • http://twitter.com/DahliaElGazzar Dahlia El Gazzar

    Awesome and inspirational! You got some of my favorites in there, Mr. Johnston. I think the simplicity of Dreamforce and YamJam, speak louder than most event website that I currently see. Planners think more is more, and tend to make a website explode [especially on the home page ;) ] I think you are far better off working on updating your content, refreshing the home page, and having a constant flow of info that will keep your event participants coming back more and more to your website. Enough said.

  • Steven James

    5/12 are responsive. I’m trying to work out whether I am pleasantly surprised or disappointed.
    Thanks for putting in the time to create this list. We will all have our subjective prejudices, but there are some fine ideas here.

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