diff --git a/app/classes/conference.php b/app/classes/conference.php
index 8dd79c0..165640b 100644
--- a/app/classes/conference.php
+++ b/app/classes/conference.php
@@ -274,25 +274,52 @@ ORDER BY
         $until_time = htmlspecialchars(strip_tags($until_time));
 
         // number of conferences for time period (if given)
-        // NB we need to cross check with first occurrence of "bridge selected"
-        // as in Jicofo logs there is no way to get the time for conference ID creation
+        // FIXME sometimes there is no start/end time, find a way around this
         $sql = "
-SELECT COUNT(c.conference_id) as conferences
-FROM
-    conferences c
-LEFT JOIN (
-    SELECT ce.conference_id, MIN(ce.time) as first_event_time
-    FROM conference_events ce
-    WHERE ce.conference_event = 'bridge selected'
-    GROUP BY ce.conference_id
-) AS first_event ON c.conference_id = first_event.conference_id
-LEFT JOIN
-    conference_events ce ON c.conference_id = ce.conference_id
-WHERE
-    (ce.time >= '%s 00:00:00' AND ce.time <= '%s 23:59:59')
-AND (ce.conference_event = 'conference created'
-    OR (ce.conference_event = 'bridge selected' AND ce.time = first_event.first_event_time)
-)";
+SELECT COUNT(*) AS conferences
+    FROM (
+    SELECT DISTINCT
+        (SELECT COALESCE
+            (
+                (SELECT ce.time
+                    FROM conference_events ce
+                    WHERE
+                        ce.conference_id = c.conference_id
+                        AND
+                        ce.conference_event = 'conference created'
+                ),
+                (SELECT ce.time
+                    FROM conference_events ce
+                    WHERE
+                        ce.conference_id = c.conference_id
+                        AND
+                        ce.conference_event = 'bridge selected'
+                )
+            )
+        ) AS start,
+        (SELECT COALESCE
+            (
+                (SELECT ce.time
+                    FROM conference_events ce
+                    WHERE
+                        ce.conference_id = c.conference_id
+                        AND
+                        (ce.conference_event = 'conference expired' OR ce.conference_event = 'conference stopped')
+                ),
+                (SELECT pe.time
+                    FROM participant_events pe
+                    WHERE
+                        pe.event_param = c.conference_id
+                        ORDER BY pe.time DESC
+                        LIMIT 1
+                )
+            )
+        ) AS end
+        FROM conferences c
+        JOIN
+            conference_events ce ON c.conference_id = ce.conference_id
+        WHERE (start >= '%s 00:00:00' AND end <= '%s 23:59:59')
+    ) AS subquery";
 
         $sql = sprintf($sql, $from_time, $until_time);
 
diff --git a/app/helpers/pagination.php b/app/helpers/pagination.php
index 1614e39..9a36352 100644
--- a/app/helpers/pagination.php
+++ b/app/helpers/pagination.php
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@
     if (isset($_REQUEST['event'])) {
         $param .= '&event=' . $_REQUEST['event'];
     }
+    if (isset($_REQUEST['from_time'])) {
+        $param .= '&from_time=' . $_REQUEST['from_time'];
+    }
+    if (isset($_REQUEST['until_time'])) {
+        $param .= '&until_time=' . $_REQUEST['until_time'];
+    }
 
     $max_visible_pages = 10;
     $step_pages = 10;
diff --git a/app/pages/conferences.php b/app/pages/conferences.php
index 30308c0..9915faf 100644
--- a/app/pages/conferences.php
+++ b/app/pages/conferences.php
@@ -9,8 +9,12 @@ $db = connectDB($config, 'jilo', $platformDetails[0]['jilo_database'], $platform
 include '../app/helpers/time_range.php';
 
 // conference id/name are specified when searching specific conference(s)
-// either id OR name, id has precedence
 // we use $_REQUEST, so that both links and forms work
+// if it's there, but empty, we make it same as the field name; otherwise assign the value
+
+//$conferenceName = !empty($_REQUEST['name']) ? "'" . $_REQUEST['name'] . "'" : 'conference_name';
+//$conferenceId = !empty($_REQUEST['id']) ? "'" . $_REQUEST['id'] . "'" : 'conference_id';
+
 if (isset($_REQUEST['id']) && $_REQUEST['id'] != '') {
     $conferenceId = $_REQUEST['id'];
     unset($_REQUEST['name']);
@@ -140,6 +144,6 @@ if (!empty($conferences['records'])) {
 }
 
 // display the widget
-include '../app/templates/widget.php';
+include '../app/templates/event-list-conferences.php';
 
 ?>
diff --git a/app/templates/event-list-conferences.php b/app/templates/event-list-conferences.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f90f3b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/templates/event-list-conferences.php
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+
+                <div class="row">
+                    <div class="card w-auto bg-light border-light card-body"  style="flex-direction: row;"><?= $widget['title'] ?></div>
+
+                    <!-- Results filter -->
+                    <div class="card w-auto bg-light border-light card-body text-right" style="text-align: right;">
+                        <form method="POST" id="filter_form" action="?platform=<?= $platform_id?>&page=<?= $page ?>">
+                            <label for="from_time">from</label>
+                            <input type="date" id="from_time" name="from_time"<?php if (isset($_REQUEST['from_time'])) echo " value=\"" . $_REQUEST['from_time'] . "\"" ?> />
+                            <label for="until_time">until</label>
+                            <input type="date" id="until_time" name="until_time"<?php if (isset($_REQUEST['until_time'])) echo " value=\"" . $_REQUEST['until_time'] . "\"" ?> />
+                            <input type="text" name="id" placeholder="conference ID"<?php if (isset($_REQUEST['id'])) echo " value=\"" . $_REQUEST['id'] . "\"" ?> />
+                            <input type="text" name="name" placeholder="conference name"<?php if (isset($_REQUEST['name'])) echo " value=\"" . $_REQUEST['name'] . "\"" ?> />
+                            <input type="button" onclick="clearFilter()" value="clear" />
+                            <input type="submit" value="search" />
+                        </form>
+                        <script>
+                            function clearFilter() {
+                                document.getElementById("filter_form").reset();
+                                const filterFields = document.querySelectorAll("#filter_form input");
+                                filterFields.forEach(input => {
+                                    if (input.type === 'text' ||input.type === 'date') {
+                                        input.value = '';
+                                    }
+                                });
+                            }
+                        </script>
+                    </div>
+                    <!-- /Results filter -->
+
+                </div>
+
+                <!-- widget "<?= $widget['name']; ?>" -->
+                <div class="collapse show" id="collapse<?= $widget['name'] ?>">
+<?php if ($time_range_specified) { ?>
+                    <p class="m-3">time period: <strong><?= $from_time ?> - <?= $until_time ?></strong></p>
+<?php } ?>
+                    <div class="mb-5">
+<?php if ($widget['full'] === true) { ?>
+                        <table class="table table-striped table-hover table-bordered">
+                            <thead class="thead-dark">
+                                <tr>
+<?php     foreach ($widget['table_headers'] as $header) { ?>
+                                    <th scope="col"><?= htmlspecialchars($header) ?></th>
+<?php     } ?>
+                                </tr>
+                            </thead>
+                            <tbody>
+<?php     foreach ($widget['table_records'] as $row) { ?>
+                                <tr>
+<?php        foreach ($row as $key => $column) {
+                    if ($key === 'conference ID' && isset($conferenceId) && $conferenceId === $column) { ?>
+                                    <td><strong><?= htmlspecialchars($column ?? '') ?></strong></td>
+<?php               } elseif ($key === 'conference ID') { ?>
+                                    <td><a href="<?= $app_root ?>?platform=<?= $platform_id?>&page=conferences&id=<?= htmlspecialchars($column ?? '') ?>"><?= htmlspecialchars($column ?? '') ?></a></td>
+<?php               } elseif ($key === 'conference name' && isset($conferenceName) && $conferenceName === $column) { ?>
+                                    <td><strong><?= htmlspecialchars($column ?? '') ?></strong></td>
+<?php               } elseif ($key === 'conference name') { ?>
+                                    <td><a href="<?= $app_root ?>?platform=<?= $platform_id?>&page=conferences&name=<?= htmlspecialchars($column ?? '') ?>"><?= htmlspecialchars($column ?? '') ?></a></td>
+<?php               } else { ?>
+                                    <td><?= htmlspecialchars($column ?? '') ?></td>
+<?php               }
+                } ?>
+                                </tr>
+<?php     } ?>
+                            </tbody>
+                        </table>
+<?php
+if ($widget['pagination'] && $item_count > $items_per_page) {
+    $url = "$app_root?platform=$platform_id&page=$page";
+    include '../app/helpers/pagination.php';
+}
+?>
+<?php } else { ?>
+                    <p class="m-3">No matching records found.</p>
+<?php } ?>
+                    </div>
+                </div>
+                <!-- /widget "<?= $widget['name']; ?>" -->