Freedom251 › Event Abstract Management Software
START Conference Manager
What START Conference Manager is
START Conference Manager is a web-based system for running peer-reviewed conferences. A single-panel interface automates the conference workflow, while configurable views and policy controls serve authors, reviewers, committee members, track coordinators, and program chairs. Administrators can accept PDF, Postscript, MS Word, RTF, PowerPoint, and plain-text submissions, with optional conversion. Blind-review settings carry author-visibility choices through review. Reviewer assignments can be drafted from bids and quotas, then adjusted manually. Multiple tracks and hierarchical reviewing are supported through track-manager consoles. Review forms allow unlimited criteria and custom quantitative or qualitative scales. Optional message boards support paper-level and committee-wide discussions with email forwarding. Authors can revise submissions until the deadline. START runs on a customer server or through remote hosting. Hosted installations include maintenance, backups, upgrades, and support. Pricing is supplied after contacting the developers.
Who it suits
START suits conference organizers managing peer review, multiple tracks, configurable forms, and varied submission formats. It can fit organizations wanting customer-server deployment or hosted operation.
What it does well
- Automates conference workflow
- Supports multiple submission formats
- Provides blind-review controls
- Drafts reviewer assignments from bids and quotas
- Allows author revisions before deadlines
What to know first
- Pricing requires contacting developers
- No free plan
- Hosted or self-hosted setup must be chosen
- Configuration can involve many role controls
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Single-event license | Price supplied after contacting developers · one year's meeting of a conference or workshop · free support and upgrades during license | On request |
| Multiple-use license | Price supplied after contacting developers · several meetings or conferences · progressively discounted per-use pricing · free support and upgrades during license | On request |
As softconf.com lists them, read 1 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Verdict
START Conference Manager covers submission, review, discussion, and revision workflows in one system. Its deployment choices and extensive configuration make it suitable for organizers with defined conference processes.
Facts from START Conference Manager's own pages
- Author updates
- Authors can refine an existing submission up to the deadline without creating a new submission. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Blind review
- Submission setup supports blind review and propagates author-visibility settings through the review process. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Committee discussions
- Optional per-paper and committee-wide message boards can forward postings by email. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Configurable roles
- The system provides configurable views and policy controls for authors, reviewers, committee members, track coordinators, and program chairs. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Hosted operations
- Softconf-hosted installations include installation, maintenance, backups, automatic upgrades, unlimited support, and possible customizations. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Hosting
- START can run on a customer server or be hosted remotely at softconf.com or another provider. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Multi-track management
- The system supports multiple tracks and hierarchical reviewing with semi-autonomous track-manager consoles. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- START V2 is an integrated web-based system for managing peer-reviewed conferences. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Review assignment
- START can generate draft reviewer assignments using reviewer bids and quotas, which administrators can manually adjust. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Review forms
- Administrators can configure review forms with unlimited criteria and custom quantitative or qualitative scoring ranges. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Submission formats
- Administrators can allow PDF, Postscript, MS Word, RTF, PowerPoint, and plain-text submissions, with optional document conversion. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Support
- Customer support provides step-by-step help, email ticketing through OTRS, request history, and public, customer, and conference-management FAQs. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
- Workflow automation
- Each step of the conference process is fully automated through a single-panel interface. · softconf.com, 1 Oct 2026
Where START Conference Manager stands on Freedom251
- Event Abstract Management Software#28 of 29