Ahoi! +100 for OKFestival 2015 location outside Europe and USA !
Daniel On 08.10.2014, at 17:49, Abbas Mahmood <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Rufus, > > I think that OKFest shouldn't be held in Europe simply because that's > where most of your staff are based. If OKF sees itself as a global > organisation, then OKFest could be used as an opportunity to raise > awareness about the OKF mission in lesser known regions, such as > Africa and the Middle East. I believe that the publicity that can come > out of OKFest would raise awareness and potentially lead to the > increased formation of Local Groups/Ambassadors in these regions. > > Regards > Abbas > (Former Ambassador) > > On 10/8/14, Rufus Pollock <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hi All, >> >> Open Knowledge Festival 2014 in Berlin this year was fantastic and we plan >> to run an Open Knowledge Festival 2015 next year. >> >> I’m writing as part of what will be an ongoing process to solicit input re >> Open Knowledge Festival 2015. Today's email focuses, at this point, on a >> key first step, namely the location - I emphasize that this is just the >> first of many things to discuss re the Festival but this is the first >> priority as we need to sort out the location (and relatedly the date) asap. >> I will also take a moment to provide a bit of essential background for a >> decision about location. >> >> Background >> >> First, some background: As we said last year (2013), we have made some >> changes about how we do OKFestivals and OKCons: >> >> A. Primary organizing responsibility for Open Knowledge Festival will fall >> on Open Knowledge “International” (rather than being a local chapter) . >> Open Knowledge International will, of course, always work with all local >> groups and the broader community to include them in the event, especially >> in programming. >> >> B. Open Knowledge Festival will likely not move around that much, at least >> for the foreseeable future (it will likely stay located in one (or at most >> 2) places) >> >> C. OKCons (Open Knowledge Conferences) can be organized locally and >> regionally by any local groups who want to do so. Open Knowledge encourages >> local community-organized OKCons and Open Knowledge International can >> provide some event guidance and cross-promotion. >> >> Why make these changes? >> >> >> - >> >> By creating these distinct options local groups are encouraged free to >> go run events without depending on Open Knowledge “International” (and >> Open >> Knowledge International will happily support and promote all such event >> activities). Meanwhile Open Knowledge International has primary >> responsibility for coordinating a great Open Knowledge Festival. >> - >> >> Its a huge amount of work to put on an Open Knowledge Festival and >> involves significant financial commitment as well as dedicated staff and >> resources. Both 2012 and 2013 events were amazing but took a huge amount >> from the partner local group and also involved significant risk for all >> parties (in terms of up-front financial commitments etc). >> - >> >> These events whilst awesome have so far almost never broken even on a >> full-cost basis - they generally make a small-ish loss (and there’s >> always the risk of a big loss since you have to make up-front >> commitments >> for venue, organizing etc and revenues in terms of tickets etc come >> later). >> As a smallish non-profit, this is a big deal for Open Knowledge >> International but it is potentially an even bigger deal for a local >> group >> (especially when they commit a lot of time and energy). At the same time >> we >> plan to continue the approach whereby Open Knowledge Festival was a >> great convenor of many communities. Many friends and partners hosted >> side-events or united their community at the event. We will make every >> attempt diversify these events with friends and partners in a similar >> way >> in the future. >> - >> >> Running the event in the same place can significantly reduce >> organizational and other expenses (since you can reuse learning and >> experience from previous years). It also may make it easier to >> fund-raise >> since you have pre-existing contacts. >> >> >> The Specific Issue >> >> This brings me to today’s specific issue: thinking about the location of >> Open Knowledge Festival 2015? >> >> At present, the two likely options are London or Berlin based on: >> >> A. the location of the coordinating and organizing team (who are primarily >> Europe based at the moment) >> >> B. the strong desire to run the event somewhere we’ve run major events >> before (as above: this helps us build on previous learning and experience, >> saves on logistical planning and reduces risk in a big way). This is >> similar to other large open events such as OSCon or MozFest. >> >> However, it would be fantastic to hear people’s thoughts both on this idea >> and on the criteria by which we should determine location (these could be >> especially relevant if at some point in the future we want to consider >> relocating or moving the Festival around). I also emphasize that this is >> just the first of many things to discuss regarding Open Knowledge Festival, >> and as always, we hope all of the community will get heavily involved >> especially in programme curation. Also by confirming the venue and doing it >> somewhere that is cost-effective we can spend more time and energy on >> bringing as many of the community to the event as possible. >> >> The kinds of criteria I can imagine at the moment are (in no specific >> order): >> >> >> - >> >> Cost /ease of travel to the location from around the world (e.g. are you >> at or near a large international hub airport) >> - >> >> Complexity and cost for organizers / coordinators (e.g. organizing an >> event in a new location is more complex than doing in previous location. >> Organizing with 4 lead organizers is more complex than with two or one) >> - >> >> Venue options and costs (this is all-in costs - often a venue may be >> cheap or even “free” but has large number of hidden extra costs - or >> requires the organizers to take care of setup and takedown etc) >> - >> >> Living costs at the location (e.g. hotels, food etc) >> - >> >> Complexity of travel arrangements for participants (e.g. how hard is it >> to get visas- this is extra important for organizing team as they will >> often have to support this process) >> - >> >> Local partnership opportunities >> - >> >> Local fund-raising opportunities >> - >> >> Financial complexity of operation (e.g. do you need a local fiscal >> partner/sponsor and how complex are the local tax and legislation) >> >> >> Would be great to get folks’ thoughts both on additional items not included >> and any thoughts on this list as well as generally. >> >> Regards, >> >> Rufus >> > _______________________________________________ > okfn-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss > Unsubscribe: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss _______________________________________________ okfn-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss Unsubscribe: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss
