On Fri, Jul 8, 2016 at 10:33 AM, Lodewijk <lodewijk(a)effeietsanders.org>
wrote:
There is only one body that can make funding
commitments: the WMF board of
trustees.
Not quite true on a number of levels :) The Board doesn't directly make
funding commitments, it approves them – and wholesale, not line by line.
It would hardly change its approval of an annual budget based on how this
1% of the budget is allocated to travel+events.
The ED could make a meaningful commitment on this front. As could the
broader community of potential organizers and regional organizations. For
instance, a city with regional support & access to a great & inexpensive
venue could commit to host a Wikimania in any year when there wasn't a
suitable bid elsewhere.
Wikimania doesn't have to stand or fall with WMF
funding.
Right. More specifically, if Wikimania is billed as a costly WMF
line-item, organizers will plan for it and attendees will expect it
(whatever that means - opulence, ticket prices, number of attendees fully
subsidized by the WMF [whether via scholarship or otherwise]). If it
isn't, people will plan and design the conferences differently.
Also noted in the roundtable discussion: WordPress has an interesting model
with hundreds of self-funding regional meetings a year, and two
international meetings, all of which are significantly lower overhead than
Wikimanias but still great community events, fun & productive. The primary
costs of any con are airfare and lodging. If we make sure that everyone is
close to a multinational event hosted somewhere with simple travel &
lodging options, whether or not they attend The Largest International
Gathering (or whether indeed there is a single one) makes less of a
difference.
SJ