This has been a really interesting discussion so far, I think! A part of me wants to say that the grouping off at this Wikimania isn't the fault of anyone, but is a natural course of what happens at larger conferences. Having had the chance to attend conferences of many sizes and of varied topics, it's interesting to see how things play out socially and logistically. There's much to be said for wanting to keep things as Meet-Up-like as possible, but I feel that you'll never quite succeed in what you're aiming for as long as Wikimania is so large. And the fact that it's growing is a great thing, by the way! 

Things will change through the years, and people can adapt. But the truth of the matter is that this really was quite an overwhelming conference by anyone's standards, and when you're in a mass of people it's only natural to gravitate toward your comfort zone. It's a bit of a survival mechanism, especially for those who aren't as outgoing! In contrast, when it's a smaller conference (a couple hundred people) where everyone is able to mingle freely, the environment is more conducive to being more Meet-Up-style.

I'm not saying that a balance can't be reached, but I'll be really interested to see how this challenge is addressed. There have already been some great suggestions!

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 12:05 PM, Joseph Fox <josephfoxwiki@gmail.com> wrote:
I do hope the HK guys are reading ;)

Joe

On 19 Jul 2012, at 23:59, Thomas Dalton wrote:

> On 19 July 2012 05:57, Florence Devouard <anthere@anthere.org> wrote:
>> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference" rather
>> than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
>> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I could
>> see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German chapter
>> people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community of the
>> English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there were
>> naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and
>> bonding.
>
> I certainly found myself talking to people from the UK far too much. I
> did make a point of leaving the UK group to go and speak to other
> people a few times, but there is a strong tendency to drift back to
> the people you know. I think it becomes more of a problem the larger
> Wikimania gets.
>
> Having been to quite a few international Wikimedia events, I know a
> lot of non-UK people too, which helps. People at their first
> international Wikimedia event must find it even harder. There
> difficult part is always initialising conversation with someone new
> (we're all Wikimedians, so finding something in common to discuss once
> you've started talking is usually pretty easy). I have two ideas for
> helping people initiate conversation:
>
> * A speed-dating style event near the beginning of the conference.
> Make sure it is the only thing happening at that time to maximise
> participation. You won't be able to get everyone to talk to everyone
> else within a reasonable amount of time (1000 people, 30 seconds each,
> that's over 8 hours!) but you could speak to a large enough proportion
> of attendees for there to be someone you've met in most groups so that
> you can easily join the group.
>
> * "Talk to me about..." lists on badges. Knowing that someone is
> interested in a particular thing can give you an excuse to talk to
> them.
>
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