is there a video recording available of the press conf as well? lodewijk
2008/7/29 Brian McNeil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > To add to what Florence said, the opening day's press conference was one of > the most professionally organised parts of the event. All the stops were > pulled out to present the WMF to the press as an established and serious > body. > > The room used for the press conference should likely have been hijacked for > as many sessions as could have been fitted in it. Every desk had its own > power point and an RJ45 cable to get connected with. There was a microphone > with a push to talk button, and a pair of headphones. The headphones allowed > for simultaneous translation from English to Arabic, and vice versa. > > The regional press were there in force, you could not have fitted another TV > camera into the back row. If I recall correctly, Florence commented in her > presentation later in the conference that some of the TV coverage prompted > people to turn up at the conference's second and third days to find out > more. > > Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of the standard fare in the Q&A - the > tired old "academics don't trust Wikipedia", and the one Jimmy was quick to > step on - conflating the WMF with Wikia. I can't comment on the interviews > after the main press conference, unlike Florence I got some lunch on the > first day. The mystery pasta dish was delicious, and I looked for it in vain > the remaining two days of the conference. > > > Brian McNeil > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Florence > Devouard > Sent: 29 July 2008 00:14 > To: Wikimania general list (open subscription) > Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Comments > > I certainly was a very lucky woman, since I was *pampered* in terms of > hosting and travel. So, I did not share your suffering regarding travel > between the two cities. > > However, it seems a fair point to say that in the future, we should > choose a city where there is an international airport. > > With regards to "outside" complaints, yeah, I was also a bit annoyed by > the persistence of some people; yeah, I was cheated with regards of > money several times (but I expected such thing in Egypt). I was also > harassed in an unexpected fashion the last day, and I did not appreciate > that at all. Airco was an issue two nights in a row and there was no > wifi in hotel (but eh, that's Africa). And yeah, information was often > missing. > I also regret we were all hosted in many different places, which did not > help finding each other. > > In terms of "inside" complaints, my biggest one would go to the rather > unsufficient "community space" and "food/drinks". > People were delocalized on several levels so it was very difficult to > find each other. Unsufficient room to sit down for lunch. Worse for me: > lunch separated for "vip" and "regular". That was a killer for social > interactions, and vips could not go to "lunch meeting" with their lunch > box since they had no lunch box. > I naturally know why this was done this way. But I still find that a bad > idea. I do not think we should artificially separate "vips" and > "regulars". Or at least, we should be able to mix. > In previous years, the press conf was followed by a lunch in the room. > Not this year. Very unfortunate, because for me, it meant... no lunch at > all. By the time I got out of interviews, the lunch upstairs was closed. > I would suggest sticking to a very light and easy buffet after the press > conference. > > Last, in Taipei light snacks and drinks were available all day long. > This year, only tea and coffee and a few cookies, at fixed times. Often, > sessions were late, so by the time one got out of the room, coffee break > was over. Only once did I succeed to get an out-of-schedule coffee (the > day I missed the coffee in morning, then missed the lunch, then missed > the coffee break in the afternoon), but it was really tough. Until I > found the source of softdrink for money, I had to drink most of my > liquid input during the day from the tap. A miracle I was not sick. > Still, the coffee guys were here all the time, but most of the time > simply not serving. It escapes me entirely why coffee, tea and bottle > water were not served freely during the entire event. Next year, we > should try to be sponsored by Starbucks, as we were by CocaCola in > Boston (I am SUPER serious here. We'll save huge amount of time not > running to the local starbuck...). > > Beside this, I found all the local volunteers super useful, helpful, and > smiling. A real pleasure. The party was great ! I was also very pleased > by the presentation of wiki use by US gov, and really appreciated the > presentation about the flaggued revisions from Philip. > Rooms were confortable and of the right size (though, yeah, missing > plugs), there was all the equipement for the video record, and security > was not too heavy ;-) > I did not miss the tech sessions... however, I missed Mark. > > > Every Wikimania has its "very cool" and "not so good" sides. As far as I > am concerned, the "very cool" have always outweighted the "not so good". > > What made me the saddest this year were all the people being sick during > the event. I think more warning regarding food and water could have been > helpful. What made me the happiest was to see that the outreach was a > success. > > A question for the future though will be as to whether Wikimania will > focus on the "outreach" or on the "community gathering". > > ant > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > _______________________________________________ Wikimania-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
