On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 12:00 PM, theo10011 <de10...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey Steven > > On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 10:13 PM, Steven Walling <steven.wall...@gmail.com > > wrote: > >> Just throwing my two cents in as someone relatively new to Wikimania but >> not unexperienced in conferences, I would make three points. Forgive me if >> someone said these before in a better way. >> >> 1. Wikimania isn't actually that big. I agree with Harel when he points >> out that the level of overhead involved in organizing is a barrier to strong >> bids, but still, my understanding is that Wikimania tends to draw less than >> a thousand people. That's about the size of a municipal or regional >> technical conference in my experience. >> > > [snip] > > With such a diversified group comes travel issues- Visa, Airfare, > restrictions, not to mention other cultural and logistic issues far to > numerous to mention. > Agree that these are important things to deal with. We already have the scholarship committee, which tends to have some folks do it year after year. Same with the program committee. So maybe it would be good to have another committee to help visa issues (together with local team)? or have someone at WMF who has some experience with that? > > >> >> 2. Even if Wikimania is not relatively big when it comes to technology >> conferences, the problem is growing a strong local team of volunteers in a >> new place every year. That's very, very hard. We're not unique in having >> that difficulty as a movement, but I don't think it means we should abandon >> volunteer-based organization for the event. >> > > That's why a Wikimania Committee would have been the ideal solution, an > oversight body that can retain this experience. Of course, we're not talking > about abandoning the volunteer-based method, but perhaps bringing in outside > help. > We already have the program and scholarship committees, so extending that idea to have an advisory group is not a bad idea. > >> 3. Making Wikimania biannual will only serve to create more pressure on a >> new local team to create a huge, unique event, not lessen it. If we think >> Wikimania is too much to have as a rotating single yearly conference, I >> would suggest (and this isn't a new idea or mine alone) that we pick one or >> two semi-permanent locations on different continents and hold them regularly >> in those places. Say, one in Bangalore, one in Berlin, one in San Francisco, >> as examples, and hold them on a rotating basis. >> > > Did you mean Biennial or biannual ? Harel made that mistake earlier :-) > Having Semi-permanent locations is also a good idea, but they should > ideally be located along with established chapters. I know Bangalore for > example might not be in a position to host an event yet. > > Don't agree with semi-permanent locations. Not sure WM India or WM Germany wants to be organizing Wikimania so often? It's better to rotate it among the chapters (and unofficial chapters). Although 2012 is tricky with having insufficient bid candidates, I think as chapters and groups mature and build capacity, we will have enough that will want to bid for 2013 and beyond. One thing to keep in mind though is we are organizing specialized events, such as hackathons, GLAM-Wiki conferences, regional conferences, etc. So, how much vacation time do volunteers have to attend multiple events? Maybe we could put Wikimania on an 18 month schedule, perhaps? not quite annual, not quite every 2 years? and give some balance between that and opportunities to attend these other specialized events. Cheers, Katie (@aude) > > >> >> However you do it, a greater number of smaller, distributed events is the >> solution for easing the pressure of a single monolithic conference. >> > > Ya but it wouldn't be the one event on everyone's radar like Wikimania is > currently, "A wiki freak show on the other side of the world" as Delphine > put it eloquently. Its the largest event for Wikipedians, and its going to > grow whether we like it or not, its just an eventuality of venturing into > new geographies and demographics. > > > Regards > > > Theo > Salmaan Haroon > > >> On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 7:02 AM, theo10011 <de10...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> >>> On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 8:26 PM, Casey Brown <li...@caseybrown.org>wrote: >>> >>>> On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 9:48 AM, theo10011 <de10...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> > Also, about what Dalton said above, about hiring a single event >>>> > planner/manager in the chapter, I think it's still far from being able >>>> to >>>> > manage a Wikimania style event professionally. Unless they are >>>> experienced >>>> > with International event planning, its still going to be a very large >>>> task >>>> > for any single chapter. >>>> >>>> It's a large task for a single chapter to plan Wikimania with the help >>>> of a paid event professional? Our Wikimanias have been planned by a >>>> lot less -- usually just a group of hard-working Wikimedians, some >>>> with the help of a chapter, some not. :-) >>>> >>> >>> Allow me to reiterate, I meant its a demanding task for any group, let >>> alone an individual planner. :-) >>> >>> Our Wikimanias have also been getting larger and more complicated, I >>> think thats one of the central issues. I only suggested, maybe its time to >>> consider outside/professional help? >>> >>> >>> Theo >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wikimania-l mailing list >>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > >
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