Hi Chris, If there is only one Wikimedia Foundation board recognised thematic organization, why did you chose to use a plural? And The Wikinewsie Group has aff-comm recognition, and as the Board has never rejected an aff-comm recommendation, I don't particularly see the problem.
What I do see as problematic is WM-UK organizing this conference, talking about chapters moving towards professionalism in the context of the Wikimedia Movement while charging chapters and a thematic organization to attend, selecting a hotel for participants to stay at that costs above the per diem rate that the WMF funds for, and then saying there is the expectation that it will not be an issue for people to attend with the high registration fee and high accomodation costs because these will not be incurred by individuals but by their organizations. As the Movement appears to be having a discussion about finacial responsibility and effect use of donor funds, that sort of approach appears to run counter to all of that. No explanation other than "We talked down the price!" appears to have been forth coming as to why a place was selected that costs roughly USD$200 a night. There is no agenda for this conference to understand why the conference is worth that expensive costs. The people presenting clearly are not in need of the conference as it is Wikimedia UK, Wikimedia DE, Wikimedia PL, Wikimedia France. These are by and large the chapters with FDC funding or access to independent sources of funding. They are clearly not being targetted for training. The people who appear to be targetted as attendees are ones who have no money... and you're off to charge them large amounts. I don't see how these costs, which you expect to be absorbed by donor funds, are a good use of those funds. I don't see how expecting people to incur expenses over around USD$850 to attend a two day conference ($400 for two nights, $65 for registration, $230 for a flight from somewhere close in Europe, $50 to get to the event from the airport, $100 in food) where the thing starts out by violating WMF guidelines. What knowledge exactly are you planning to pass on to people from less developed chapters? Fiscal responsibility, best use of donor funds, following WMF's best practices for grant funding... These are off the table? What else is there? Sincerely, Laura Hale On Friday, December 6, 2013, Chris Keating wrote: > Hi Laura, you can bypass the registration fee by selecting "other payment > option" in the way I said. > > In response to another off list query, I should point out that > unfortunately this workshop is only open to existing (incorporated & > recognised) chapters/thorgs, not those still in planning or awaiting > recognition. > > > > -- mobile: 635209416 twitter: purplepopple blog: ozziesport.com _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
