Hi Carol,
There is always room to improve, and I wish I had more time to devote to
planning the event, but, by the time a few of us were able to get
organized (Gayle, Sue and I) we were knee deep in Wikimania and AdaCamp
activities. Perhaps it's my fault for failing to reach out to the
community (delegation, something I'm working on professionally and
personally!) I did hear that a lot of women wished they could have
gotten to know those around them in a mixer type atmosphere. Perhaps in
Hong Kong we have a chance to try out a few different things. We also
didn't expect over 100 women, so that was quite a shock to see for me,
and I believe it threw myself, Sue and Gayle for a loop. I also liked
the intros - and I do think about half way through a few of us were like
"oh crap, this is going to take a while!"
I'm not sure what the situation will be next year in Hong Kong - the
venue, the space, etc. I'd love to see a more mixer like atmosphere
perhaps than having us on lock down at tables. I'd love to see more
WikiWomen step up to the plate and perhaps help plan the event
collaboratively next year. (nudge nudge wink wink ! :D)
Hindsight is 20/20 though, and we can only take what we learned from
this event and explore ideas for next year in Hong Kong!!
-Sarah
On 7/25/12 6:40 AM, Carol Moore DC wrote:
From
http://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback#Other_meetups_and_meetings
The Women's Luncheon on Saturday was something I was very much
looking forward to, but it fell short of my expectations. I was
enjoying bonding with the women at my table, asking the speakers about
their presentations and hoping to form some more solid relationships
with veteran and new Wikipedians alike. Being required to sit back
quietly while 125+ women each stood up to introduce themselves felt
like a waste of an opportunity to build a stronger female editing
community. Knowing that the women are passionate about sharing was
good, but wouldn't have been more to the purpose to encourage
networking so all the women in attendance would be more inclined to
stay active and recruit knowing there was a pool of support they could
personally draw upon? [[User:Samarista|Samarista]] ([[User
talk:Samarista|talk]]) 17 July 2012 (UTC)
I personally liked the intros. Perhaps suggest a common topic or two
people can discuss at tables?
Or have a separate meetups - a couple at different times, perhaps with
different themes. That might answer her concerns ?
Note that in the feedback section two of us mentioned that
annoucements of meetups needed to be better.
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*Sarah Stierch*
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