I was very happy that WMF took the time to actually make a feedback form and send it to all participants. But I was a bit wondering why it was actually sent to participants as if it was a Wikimedia Foundation event. I understand it is sent by the evaluation team and it might make sense to evaluate the impact of an event largely funded/run by Wikimedia Foundation. Still it would rather be expected from the Wikimania organizers themselves. I thought it was a bit odd. Thoughts?
Also, I think it would have been cool if the Wikimania committee somehow had been involved in making that questionnaire. One of the reasons is that each Wikimania comes with its own flavor and I think that beyond the individual satisfaction of the attendee, we need to "measure" the impact of the larger picture.
One of the big core things pushed forward by the Wikimania 2014 team during the bid was the fact it wanted to be an outreached event. Did you know ? It was a sort of a tagline.
What was called "wikifest" in the bid gave birth to the "Community Village" (open to the public and free).
Third thought... as a current Wikimania committee member as well as Wikimania jury member for 2014 bid process, I also would like to reflect on some of the significant discrepancies I identified between the bid and the actual event. Not in the spirit of confrontation and blind criticism, but in the spirit of transparency, goals and "measures of success". Side benefit: helping jury to better evaluate future bids (I remind you that the call for volunteers is OPEN).
So bid link: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014_bids/London
The London bid was bold. Big things planned and big budget. The largest we ever saw. Cuts had to be made to the original bid and we ended up with a three tier system, depending on the money collected ultimately.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014_bids/London/Logistics/Financials (see the three tier)
My understanding is that the venue ended up being way more expensive than it was originally budgeted (I'd love figures on this) and obviously, fundraising did not go as well as hoped. I guess we wont have details before several months, but rough budget figures would be lovely.
Some people outlined a few points as not compliant with the bid (oyster cards or drinks and snacks throughout the day, same-day released edited videos of sessions, venue open 24/24) or not in line with what was announced in Wikimania 2013 (I was not there, this is earsay) such as closing party at the Tate. Other points worked quite well (indeed the wifi was good ! and all rooms were video equipped). Some thoughts on this would be welcome.
To be fair, Wikimania London team was the first one to be so explicit in what could be expected, so it is easy to criticize afterwards (in comparison, Mexico bid is much more vague so it won't be possible to list "what should have been done". But it tickles me a bit... and in retrospect, I think bidders should provide clear statements on what they will make every effort to provide. Or we should provide clear statements in what is expected no matter what.
I think we should work on providing more structured submission guidelines for next Wikimania.