Protect Kids in Cyber Space

My objective with this crowdfunding project is to host an insightful, knowledgeable, worthwhile, value for time and money conference / workshop. I have hosted the South African Annual Cyberlaw Conference for 7 editions thereof. The last edition focused solely on the Protection of Minors in Cyber Space. Other conferences have since the start of my first conference sprung up and deal with a variety of cyber law aspects and I have decided to focus my event on the Protection of Children in Cyber Space. One talks here about cyberbullying, harassment, sexting, identity theft, cyber stalking, etc. If I could help one parent, or one child, or one counsellor in obtaining more knowledge about the dangers facing our children in cyber space and what can be done when facing issues such as cyberbullying or sexting, the event will be successful. Having a 10 year old daughter I know the uphill battle parents are facing in protecting their children.

Everyone who contributes will receive recognition and my heartfelt and eternal gratitude (certain levels of contribution will receive rewards). There are thousands of worthy causes on here, but I hope that some of you will consider this project one of the worthy causes.

My intention is to make the conference / workshop affordable for anyone to attend and for that to happen, I need to raise enough funds to cover the overhead expenses, such as:

• From my past experiences the marketing of a conference play a crucial part, and having relied on word of mouth and e-mailing known contacts in the past, I realised that a successful conference / workshop depend on a professional marketing approach. But as with most things in life, professional marketing costs money. A large portion of the funding raised with this project will go towards marketing the conference / workshop (Approximately 40%).
• Another large portion of the funding will go towards securing the attendance of internationally known speakers / presenters. Many have indicated in the past that they will waive a speaking fee, if I can only cover their travel and accommodation costs, but those costs are usually prohibitive in light of the weak South African rand and foreign currency exchange rates (Approximately 30%.
• Venue hire and catering will also require funding. My intention is to secure a venue with the facilities to make the proceedings of the conference / workshop available online, with two way participation of online attendees (Approximately 20%).
• I usually come across individuals or institutions who can make a contribution to the content and success of the event, but due to bureaucratic or other reasons are unable to pay the attendance fees, and in such instances I grant complimentary attendance access (Approximately 10%).

I don’t have a date yet for the conference / workshop, but the preliminary planning is to hold the conference in June/July 2016 should this crowdfunding project be successful.

Should anybody or any institution want to come on board as a sponsor, do not hesitate to contact me. Should anyone want to reserve places for attending the event, contact me.

Even if you do not wish to donate or contribute anything in terms of the crowdfunding project, please “like”, or “share”, “retweet” or “forward” the details hereof to all your contacts. Let’s get the word out and hopefully this event will be even more successful than the previous events.

This conference is my passion, and I have a huge amount of support from local speakers, who presented at the previous conferences, to continue to try and make people aware of the dangers facing our children.

You can be part of this project and make it successful!