A word from the trenches; I am very keen to keep Wikimania prices low. It's not quite decided yet, but I think our ticket prices will be less than $100, which compared to any conference of comparable size is absurdly low; it would be worth buying a ticket for the catering alone. It's not unusual for large conferences to cost fifty times this.
However, for the past six months a significant amount of the (volunteer) Wikimania team's time has been dedicated to fundraising, so there is a cost to this. *Edward Saperia* Chief Coordinator Wikimania London <http://www.wikimanialondon.org> email <[email protected]> * facebook<http://www.facebook.com/edsaperia> * twitter <http://www.twitter.com/edsaperia> * 07796955572 133-135 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG On 23 March 2014 22:03, Lodewijk <[email protected]> wrote: > As Wikimedia movement, we have the luxury to approach this question > backwards. Instead of thinking about how we will pay for the event (we have > many sponsorship opportunities and even a good amount of donations), we can > look at who we would want to attend the event. We could design our pricing > system such to accommodate that. > > So, maybe we should first answer that question - what would our ideal > attendance look like? > > Best, > Lodewijk > > > 2014-03-23 13:48 GMT+01:00 maarten deneckere < > [email protected]>: > >> Two general thoughts that I think are important. >> Firstly, most attendees will pay the conference fee themselves. You >> cannot compare with the general conference where those (high) fees are paid >> by the university or company of the attendee. >> >> Secondly, selection of Wikimania 2015 location is a voting process with >> the public, as such bidders will try to keep to conference fees as low as >> possible. >> >> I personally support Chan's "four group" hierarchy: Non-Wikimedian price, >> Wikimedian price, Partial scholarship, Full scholarship, and his hesitance >> to raise general prices. >> >> Maarten >> Wikimania Cape >> Town<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2015_bids/Cape_Town> >> >> >> 2014-03-23 2:54 GMT+01:00 Deryck Chan <[email protected]>: >> >> Wikimania indeed has a tradition of setting artificially low entry prices >>> for the reasons Nicholas described earlier in this thread. Of course, >>> there's nothing to stop Wikimania 2014 from raising ticket prices. I should >>> remind though that until 2013 we basically have a hierarchy of 4 ticket >>> prices: >>> >>> 1. Non-Wikimedian price: supposedly the full cost (but is still >>> effectively slightly subsidised) >>> 2. Wikimedian price: substantially subsidised entry and food, for those >>> who've paid a lot to travel to the venue from the other side of the world >>> 3. Partial scholarship: for those who can almost / just about afford to >>> attend Wikimania on their own budget, but would use up their savings unless >>> their air travel was subsidised. The partial scholarship encourages them to >>> go to *more* Wikimanias. >>> 4. Full scholarship (for those who simply can't afford Wikimania) >>> >>> In 2014, the partial scholarship is removed, so I would hesitate to >>> raise the Wikimedian ticket prices, lest we disincentivise "medium-income" >>> Wikimedians (particularly students) from attending. However, by all means >>> consider raising the non-Wikimedian price, or even have a "donor price" >>> (full cost + £100, say?) with a shiny badge to let generous attendees pay >>> more! >>> >>> Deryck >>> >>> Deryck >>> On 23 Mar 2014 08:07, "Charles Gregory" <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> My impression was that the prices took into account that (a) most >>>> members of the Wikimedia community are volunteers (b) most attendees have >>>> paid many hundreds, if not thousands of US$ in airfares/accommodation costs >>>> to attend, on top of the ticket price. Volunteers also have to use up >>>> their own annual leave (or forgo wages) if their Wikimedia activities are >>>> not on behalf of their employer. >>>> >>>> You could get away with having separate rates. The other conference I >>>> have experience with, Linux.conf.au, has rates which differ by almost >>>> an order of magnitude: Professional $899, Hobbyist $399, Student $99. >>>> (These prices are Australian dollars, which is approx USD +/- 10%) (IMHO >>>> the Hobbyist rate here is still a bit high for a volunteer.) This >>>> conference is, however, a major source of income for Linux Australia, >>>> whereas Wikimania is indirectly supported by donations to WMF. >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> >>>> Charles >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 10:34 AM, Nicholas Bashour < >>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> For Wikimania 2012, I remember that we wanted to make sure the largest >>>>> number of people could attend. DC was an expensive enough city that we >>>>> felt >>>>> if registration prices were too high, it may discourage some of the people >>>>> who didn't get scholarships from attending. >>>>> >>>>> That being said, there's no reason why future Wikimanias shouldn't >>>>> offer various pricing options, like higher "individual sponsorship" >>>>> registration for those who want to sponsor on a smaller level, student >>>>> registration, etc. >>>>> >>>>> Sincerely, >>>>> Nicholas Michael Bashour >>>>> >>>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>>> >>>>> > Am 22.03.2014 um 19:21 schrieb Samuel Klein <[email protected]>: >>>>> > >>>>> > Proposed prices for Wikimania tickets continue to seem artificially >>>>> > low. I'm not sure what the benefit to this is. Could people who have >>>>> > run events in other contexts comment on how you set ticket prices? >>>>> > >>>>> > In my experience, tickets are set at roughly what it costs for each >>>>> > person to attend. Then there may be different sorts of tickets: for >>>>> > local supporters & volunteers, for school groups, for students & >>>>> > community members, presenters, VIPs & sponsors. Sponsorship helps >>>>> > ensure how many tickets of each type there are. Last-minute tickets >>>>> > are more expensive. >>>>> > >>>>> > This has a few benefits: >>>>> > * tickets fully cover the cost of food and materials >>>>> > * tickets contribute significantly to covering the cost of the event >>>>> > * scholarships and reimbursements for attendance (for scholars, >>>>> > professionals, academics all getting covered by their home >>>>> > institutions), in paying for tickets, cover the full cost of those >>>>> > people attending the event. >>>>> > * more accurate headcounts in advance. >>>>> > >>>>> > Warmly, >>>>> > Sam >>>>> > >>>>> > _______________________________________________ >>>>> > 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 >>>> >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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 > >
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