Yes, there are a lot of benefits to having 2 years to plan, mostly in terms of fundraising. Venues are not usually booked out that far in advance, but things like negotiating discount codes with airline groups, for example (like Star Alliance), needs to be done at least one year in advance. Also, most foundations and donors lock commitments in early, so having a relationship built for a year before making the ask makes fundraising easier. 

Best,

Nicholas

2014-03-24 20:52 GMT-04:00 Ed Saperia <edsaperia@gmail.com>:

But fundamentally bidding to run a Wikimania is now a massive commitment. We discovered that one year is mostly too short for effective fundraising; large event pledges are usually made more than a year out.

Sent from my iPhone

On 25 Mar 2014, at 06:37, Nathan <nawrich@gmail.com> wrote:

> Will this make it harder for volunteers (e.g. chapters without a professional staff or resources to hire one) to plan? A two year timeline for bids and planning is a long, long time for a volunteer commitment.

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