The British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA) asked us to help them make better use of web technologies to support their events. So two of our ex-scientists, Steve Boneham and Will Allen, dusted off their lab coats and showed them what the web can offer.

The BA exists to connect science with people, advancing public understanding of science and engineering through an extensive range of regional and local events. Modern Web technologies have great potential to promote the BA's events, and at a recent branch forum in Newcastle, we ran a session to highlight their use.

Steve said, "There are so many web tools to choose from; I demonstrated a wide range of tools, from custom maps and calendars to social media for sharing photos, video or bookmarks, suggesting possible uses and evangelising about their potential use."

Will then emphasised the value of established methods of promotion, the importance of quality web writing, and the need to consider your audience's needs. He said, "There was lots of open discussion about finding the right tool for the job and we ended the session with an exercise for participants to action plan their next steps."

Steve added, "It was only a short session, but people certainly left with greater awareness and reassured that utilising web tools really isn't rocket science!"

The event organiser Ann Rooke contacted us after the session, saying, "Thank you for yesterday, you did a great job with a very diverse group! The feedback was very good and I'm sure they will appreciate being able to access the slides and bookmarks for reference."

Slides from the session can be viewed and downloaded from Slideshare and the bookmarks for our demonstrations (including a link to the slides) are on Diigo.

Find out more: http://www.diigo.com/list/nspb01/baas