> > Of course London was a bit of an exceptionally big Wikimania - but did you > evaluate your effort somewhere, and note what you spent your time on > somewhere? Just to get an impression which components take most effort (as > Dariusz suggested)? >
That's hard to do, in practice. I think I could roughly break it down into: • Designing the event - dates, schedules, spaces, tracks, themes, site visits, branding, collateral, etc. • Programming - session submission judging + associated communications, session & meetup scheduling, programming the keynote track, fringe events. • Recruiting - finding and managing team leaders and deputies for 16 teams: Control Centre, Helpdesk, Digital, Volunteer Management, Programme, Venue, Exhibition, Hackathon, Video, Comms, VIPs, Content, Runners, Hospitality, Registration, & Entertainment. But I have over ten years experience running events. I think it'd be extremely challenging to do this as a committee unless you had a team that had run large events together before. *Edward Saperia* Founder Newspeak House <http://www.nwspk.com/> email <[email protected]> • facebook <http://www.facebook.com/edsaperia> • twitter <http://www.twitter.com/edsaperia> • 07796955572 133-135 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG 2016-07-10 20:25 GMT+02:00 Harry Mitchell <[email protected]>: > >> I agree with Ed here. Organising a conference of this size is a huge >> undertaking to ask of volunteers. I wouldn't want to see Wikimania go down >> the road of being organised by a team of professional conference organisers >> because then it would lose the organic community feel that makes it so >> special, but we shouldn't rule out stipends for the local team. Otherwise >> we end up with the slightly odd situation of the WMF or local chapter >> bringing in paid staff to fill gaps left by volunteers but the volunteers >> still effectively working full-time unpaid. I had a much smaller role in >> 2014 than Ed and others and was fortunate to be in a position to dedicate a >> lot of time to it; I certainly wouldn't be in a position now to devote as >> much time as I did for free and without wishing to speak for Ed, I doubt he >> would be either even if he was willing. >> >> If that's a problem in major developed economies, I'd imagine it would be >> even more of a problem in places where people have less disposable income. >> >> Harry Mitchell >> http://enwp.org/User:HJ >> +44 (0) 7507 536 971 >> Skype: harry_j_mitchell >> >> On Sun, Jul 10, 2016 at 4:22 PM, Edward Saperia <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Thanks for that comment, Dariusz; >>> >>> Wikimania London took over two years of preparation, and occupied me >>> full time for six months in the run up to the event. It's a massive >>> undertaking, and in retrospect it seems deeply unfair to expect volunteers >>> to do this. >>> >>> There was a bidding process, so there was heavy pressure to >>> minimise/understate the budget - which mostly comes at the cost of the >>> volunteers. I think the community just has to be more realistic about what >>> it costs to put on a 1000+ person event. >>> >>> Were I to do it again I would absolutely include subsistence for the >>> organising team in the budget. It needs professional commitment and >>> professional skills, even with WMF staff support. >>> >>> I do think that the movement deserves an annual event, and particularly >>> that the WMF should capitalise on it more from a comms perspective. >>> Wiki*edia is a significant entity and we should be presenting ourselves as >>> such. >>> >>> *Edward Saperia* >>> Conference Director 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 >>> >>> >>>> In the same time, I've seen the following problems over the years, not >>>> directly linked to the financial cost (which in the face of our relative >>>> financial stability can be justified by the benefits, depending on how we >>>> define them): >>>> - huge WMF staff involvement (most Wikimanias run smoothly also thanks >>>> to countless hours put in by the staff), >>>> - huge volunteer local organizers involvement (in fact, my observation >>>> is that many chapters organizing WIkimanias suffer from a motivation crisis >>>> afterward). >>>> >>>> [...] >>>> >>>> While we can get the money (at least for now), the human involvement >>>> cost is something I would not dare to dismiss just by emphasizing the >>>> benefits of Wikimania for the movement. >>>> >>>> [...] >>>> >>>> Instead of discussing whether we should have a Wikimania every year or >>>> not, perhaps we should try to list and discuss the reasons why it is such a >>>> big strain? If it is clear that we can't afford it every year (because of >>>> the human cost, probably more importantly than the finances), the decision >>>> to break with the annual format will be a natural consequence of such an >>>> analysis. >>>> >>>> [...] >>>> >>>> Dariusz Jemielniak ("pundit", a current Trustee). >>>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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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