On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 1:27 PM, James Owen <jowen(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Harel,
We as a community and the people on this list who care about Wikimania need
to do our part, to put in some work and actual hours, maybe have some face
to face meetings... and find way to elevate some of the pressure for the
local teams, and to help them realize what to do with their new found energy
once the conference is completed. Maybe we discover the best way is to hire
outside organizers who are managed and supported by a local team,
maybe we create a system where Wikimania bidding teams get a grant to hire
a staff person for a year to help with organizing, there are many options we
could explore.
I would be very open to having help with some of the event planning.
Speaking from experience organizing conferences for the government, we did
have an event planner working with us to help negotiate with the venue, the
caterer, etc., to scope out the venue and handled logistics for travel /
scholarships. The help with negotiating costs helps offset the cost of
hiring the person.
My role for myself and my colleague were to organize the program (where
knowing about the subject matter was important) and we had ultimate
authority to make decisions.
If we could hire her (or someone) to help our local team in DC, then I would
be much more comfortable with going forward with a bid for Wikimania.
Though, having such help doesn't alleviate the need for a strong local team
of volunteers to handle key aspects of organizing.
Cheers,
Katie (@aude)
But in general we need a group of 5-10 individuals to
really do some work
and think of this strategically, a Wikmania committee not to manage the
bids, or organize wikimania but to be responsible for the future of the
conference.
*
James Owen
Executive Assistant & Board Liaison
Wikimedia Foundation
Office +1.415.839.6885 x 6604
Mobile +1.415.509.5444
Fax +1.415.882.0495
Email- jowen(a)wikimedia.org
Website-
www.wikimediafoundation.org
*
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