The XVth International AIDS Conference's Web site does a nice job in presenting information and schedules about the conference. It misses many opportunities, however, to be much more effective in facilitating information flow and networking among delegates. Here are five ideas on how it should be improved for 2006:

1) Put conference content online: There is a great deal of information about the conference, but little from the conference: abstracts, presentations, posters, other information materials are available mostly in print or not at all.

2) Put delegate directory online: When I signed up for the conference, I gave permission to share my information with other delegates. But where is the directory? A good attendee directory is often the single most useful thing about attending a conference.

3) Search: With lots of materials online, a good search capability is required.

4) Links: Encourage links to the site through an updated policy and by building the site with unique URLs for each page.

5) Interaction: Every session, every satellte meeting, every training course lends itself to a unique home page which offers not only information about the offering but also the opportunity for delegates to interact. An easy way to do this is through a conference wiki, but a more structured community site would be the best option if there is sufficient planning.

The "real world" conference was very well organized and useful. The "virtual" conference can go a long ways to assisting delegates -- and ideally even those that aren't able to attend in person.