Hello,
I am one of the conference organizers, and I would help.
WikiConference USA is partially an un-conference.
This means that there will be some improvisation during the conference, so while some talks will be scheduled, the schedule will be updated to include less-rehearsed talks which anyone spontaneously proposes. Someone might, for example, propose a talk in response to something discussed earlier in the day.
Here are some ideas for making a good contribution to the conference -
- Submit a proposal to present. Expect a diverse audience. The only thing Wikipedians have in common with each other is that they all participate in Wikipedia, but there are so many ways to do this, not much can be taken for granted about your audience's understanding. If you do planning for a presentation, a good model if you have an hour slot is to present for 10-15 minutes with a conceptual overview. Take some questions so that you can gauge your audience's understanding, then if there is a demand for deeper discussion, then go into other details.
- Wikipedians are interested in Wikidata, but are having trouble understanding what it can do. Still, there is a culture in the community of people comments in the way that they can, even if they do not understand the details of how it works. So if you give a Wikidata talk, try to find a way to emphasize the outcomes you want to provide, because even readers can comment on the extent to which outcomes are desirable even if they cannot follow the steps of how you might achieve those outcomes.
- Try to support other talks at the conference. It might not be intuitive that a Gene Wiki talk should go to, for example, a meetup about women's involvement in Wikipedia or art in museums, but at this conference everyone in attendance will be very chatty with an entire social circle. Visit groups which seem active regardless of whether you think they are relevant, and try to exchange ideas of what you are doing with what they are doing. Many people will want to hear about Wikidata even if they have no interest in medical info, and creating a buzz about new projects goes a long way to getting good will.
- Good will is important for invasive projects because practically all new ideas on Wikipedia will break some process that is critical to some community's routine. Wikipedia is highly interconnected, so using a bot to edit medical boxes may create a controversy in the politics of India, and there is no way to predict these things. The way to respond to problems is to try to give disclosure of what you are doing in advance, explain deeply to people who ask questions, and be ready to quickly respond to criticism if something goes wrong.
I know about the Gene Wiki Wikidata project. It is very exciting. I am so glad that some of you will be able to attend this event.
Email me directly if any of you wish to talk by video or phone.
yours,