For us in Portugal joining wikimedia, even in a relatively close city like Stockholm, without a scholarship stands at a minimum cost of 1000€, which really is a prohibitive cost for the great majority of people here, corresponding to way more than a regular full month wage (two minimum wages, actually).

25% of that cost corresponding to fees that even wikimedia volunteers have to pay does seem quite obscene to me.

If a significant amount of the cost is going to fancy luxury hotels and parties - those last ones barred to wikimedians below 18 years, in this years event - this really should be something to be reviewed. Also, I agree that it is quite difficult to understand such an high fee in this year wikimania, where most of the stuff seems to be organized on campus.

Paulo 

A segunda, 3 de jun de 2019, 00:32, Gnangarra <gnangarra@gmail.com> escreveu:
As has in previous years been suggested if we want Wikimania to be truly inclusive and encourage more people to attend then the WMF should just extend the fundraising by a week and use that to subsidise the event making it more accessible to everyone. 1,000 particiants at 250€ is just an extra 250,000€ to collect, collecting enough to allow 200 scholarships would enable greater participation from more communities.

On Mon, 3 Jun 2019 at 03:16, Mykola Kozlenko <mycola-k@ukr.net> wrote:
In 2015, 2017 and 2018 we had Wikimanias in really upscale hotels. I can perfectly understand why renting conference rooms and arranging catering for all participants in a Sheraton or a Hilton is expensive. For instance, Montréal experience in 2017 was pretty much worse 233 USD indeed given that we were in a centrally-located Sheraton.

This year we are having a Wikimania on a university campus. Yes, Stockholm is an expensive city, but Montréal is not really cheap either. I can't really understand how a university campus in Stockholm is more than 50% more expensive than a Sheraton in Montréal.

I don't say I want these costs unbundled, I am happy to pay for the full experience, but with a price tag that high I would really like to know where all this money will go.

Best regards,
Mykola (NickK)

--- Оригінальне повідомлення ---
Від кого: "Isarra Yos" <zhorishna@gmail.com>
Дата: 2 червня 2019, 18:19:17

On 01/06/2019 19:44, effe iets anders wrote:
> You're claiming that this year is a higher rate than usual, I don't 
> think this is actually true. Some context:
> - 2016: 500 euro, but this included accommodation and full board
> - 2017: 315 CAD (~233 USD)
> - 2018: 275 USD

2016 is indeed when it first went up, but even then the 500€ value was 
fairly consistent with how much one could expect the whole thing to cost 
when including fairly decent food and accommodation. What was concerning 
was that then the cost stayed relatively high, without any of the 
included stuff - if the 250€ is only the registration price, there's not 
much to decouple. For instance, is there any food to not include? Lunch 
being included has pretty much always been standard, for good reason, 
and we're not doing breakfast and dinner for everyone in the first 
place, are we? (As I recall, 2015 did include dinner, though, which may 
indicate part of why it was also more expensive.) And even in terms of 
fanciness, I'm not sure how much value that has, or if they even have 
been meaningfully more so than they used to be. Comparing to the 
Wikiconference USA/NA events I attended some of the same years (I don't 
think any were over $50, definitely not more than $100), the Wikimanias 
were mostly just... bigger. Higher volume.

For reference, prior wikimanias cost the following for Wikimedians:

2015: $95
2014: £50.00
2013: $45
2012: $35
2011: $45
2010: 30-40€
2009: $45
2008: $45
2007: $40-60
2006: $90
2005 I can't find, but it was the first and thus organised a bit differently

So what happened? How is 250€ now not a lot of money? The first 
Wikimania I attended was in 2012 and my entire budget was $500, which 
was basically my holiday budget for the year. I was a student from a 
poor background, and a lot of our contributors are students. Quite a few 
of our contributors aren't exactly upper class, or from countries with 
great conversion rates. Should we really be requiring them to get 
special support now to even register for the main event for what is 
supposed to be a world-wide, inclusive movement?

250€ is a quite a lot of money. Other things to attend may still cost 
around the same or more, but if we also need to spend it on those 
things, we're not going to have that money left to spend on the 
registration as well.

-I


https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Registration
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wikimania-2014-registration-11063436035
https://wikimania2010.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Registration
https://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/Registration (and the same page 
on other years)
https://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Registration&oldid=5931


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