You can blame it on me!   I had thought I had posted the announcement
over the holidays but it was sitting on my drafts mail folder.

Ellie

> On Jan 22, 2015, at 11:37 AM, Christopher Cooper <ctc_wikimedia@fastmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Iolanda,
>
> Thank you for your thoughtful and swift response.
>
> I'm not particularly critical of the bid team for being open about the result, since there are good reasons to get the news out there and it would be unreasonable to expect a bid team to keep their win or loss a secret for any period of time.
>
> I think the answer here is for the official announcement of the jury's decision to be as prompt as possible; this doesn't seem to have been an issue in previous years. The decision to award Wikimania 2015 to Mexico City was also done with the condition that further WMF vetting was required, and this isn't a problem, as long as it is noted in the announcement and on the updated pages.
>
> Kind regards,
> Christopher
>
>> On 22/01/2015 10:21, Iolanda Pensa wrote:
>> thanks Christopher!
>> I perfectly understand your point in the communication. I decided to give the news on twitter (and then to share it on facebook where the Esino Lario community is very present) because I needed two things
>> 1. to make sure people got excited about it and kept their enthusiasm. we have been waiting a lot for this answer and it arrived after the expected date (it was postponed). I had around 200 people asking me every day about it; i needed to tell them as soon as possible to not consume the enthusiasm and making sure they are on it.
>> 2. to fundraise. the very same day (December 24th - and I can assure you that with two children 5 and 6 years old is not really the best day) I delivered an application for 200'000 euro to be used to involve people in the region in wikimedia activities for 2 years, and to have more funds for the infrastructures. The deadline was December and i needed to tell them we have been selected immediately and i could not wait later on to communicate the information.
>>
>> Of course Esino will be visited by Ellie and Garfield and the decision is provisional. At the same time it is important to say that we had already a site visit in July 2014 (Deror and Manuel Schneider) with a positive evaluation, and our bid provide full information in a realistic and correct way. Of course it would be better to announce the winning after May 2015 (after the confirmation), but this would delay the project and now we need fundings, partners and people to get involved to make it. Esino is an extremely complex situation to have a conference and we want to make sure it happens and it happens well. This at the end is the role we have.
>>
>> I wanted to provide you and explication because I do understand and respect your point. I hope the explanation can clarify why I did it; I really wanted to let you know that I didn't do it for pride and joyful enthusiasm (which I have but i could wait for the official announcement); i did it because we need to move and move fast: start working in making Wikimania Esino starting and get the necessary attention from the stakeholders (we are currently negotiating with the Lombardy Region for a program of agreement which needs to get done now or we can't get all the resources for the event).
>> my warm regards
>> iolanda / iopensa
>>
>>
>>> Il giorno 21/gen/2015, alle ore 21:04, Christopher Cooper <ctc_wikimedia@fastmail.com> ha scritto:
>>>
>>> May I offer my congratulations to Esino Lario on winning the bid. I personally backed Manilla for various reasons, but it was a fair contest, and I look forward to going to Italy in 2016.
>>>
>>> I have noted though that there was some confusion caused by it becoming public knowledge via Twitter that Esino Lario had won, despite there having been no official announcement. I think in future years the decision should be formally announced and pages updated before tweets etc. are made.
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>> Christopher
>>>
>>>> On 20/01/2015 23:24, Ellie Young wrote:
>>>> Dear Wikimedians,
>>>>
>>>> On the recommendation of the Wikimania 2016 selection Jury Committee, we have accepted the proposal from the Esino Lario Italy team.   The  Wikimania Esino Lario team is composed mainly of volunteers.  It is promoted by  Wikimedia Italia and Wikimedia CH in partnership with Esino Lario city council, Ecomuseo delle Grigne, Pro Loco Esino Lario, Parco Regionale della Grigna Settentionale and the Esino Lario local associations and community. nThe proposal will be further vetted by the WMF staff in the coming months, after which time we hope to confirm the award.   Please join us in congratulating Wikimania Esino Lario!
>>>>
>>>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2016_bids/Esino_Lario
>>>>
>>>> We would also like to thank the team from Manila, Philippines for their efforts in putting together excellent proposal.  As a volunteer-led movement, it is hugely encouraging to have so many who want to support Wikimania. The bidding process requires a substantial time investment, and we are most grateful for every team’s hard work.
>>>>
>>>> For those of you who are considering hosting in future years, we expect to issue the Request for Proposals  for 2017  in September.
>>>>
>>>> Sincerely,
>>>>
>>>> Ellie Young, WMF Conference Coordinator
>>>> On behalf of the Wikimania Steering Committee
>>>
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