Then if we are to approach this more realistically, the outcomes should be measured on a longer scale. You do not develop a network from a single networking event. And certainly I'd prioritise this for more established community members. Certainly I'd see community integration as a significant positive outcome for the chapter.
I'd be very keen to see a dedicated technical community manager as a paid role, who would mostly spend their time going to London tech events and representing the movement. *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 18 March 2014 13:12, Fæ <[email protected]> wrote: > On 18 March 2014 12:12, Edward Saperia <[email protected]> wrote: > > Perhaps part of the reason that we struggle to recruit is that we don't > > publicly take part in events in related topics. An event like this has a > > communications budget far in excess of our own, we might as well take > > advantage of it. We should have someone charismatic there to present on > > behalf of the community. > > "Promotion" and "networking" is a rationale we have put forward many > times before for paying for conference/event attendees. Often the > money is put up based on commitments to write a blog post or an > internal report. For a speculative, principality social networking > event, the lost opportunity cost of volunteer and employee time and > expenses should be justified with measurable reported outcomes, such > as increased project participation, content creation or productive > long term partnerships with other organizations. > > The charity is accountable and committed to transparency, so if money > and time is spent in ways with no direct outcome that benefits > Wikimedia projects or the open knowledge aims of the charity, we > should expect questions to be raised. In my view, and that of several > other members, an example of a poor decision was sending an > inexperienced new volunteer for an all expenses paid weekend at a > Berlin conference last year, there was a blog post afterwards with > ideas, none has provided any measurable outcomes in the several months > since; in fact the volunteer has been completely inactive in terms of > creating educational content for Wikimedia projects.[1][2] > > If there were a couple of conference that we could see made a real > difference to finding new active volunteers for Wikimedia projects or > where highly productive long term partnerships with organizations were > started, then I would prefer to see the charity provide scholarships > for several active volunteers to take part or attend. The key here is > measurement of outcomes, something that the new board have made a fuss > about in the new strategy and should be a natural part of the way the > charity works and makes decisions about where to spend its £700,000+; > keeping its active volunteers at the centre of the decision making > process. > > Links > 1. > https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Water_cooler/2013#Diversity_Conference_-_how_many_UK_volunteers_are_going.3F > 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kwaku_BBM > > Fae > -- > [email protected] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
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