1. Having a dedicated staff member at the foundation to co-ordinate and help with Wikimania bidding and planning is something we should consider. Its the biggest event we have every year, having some one familiar with the community and the requirements for Wikimania is probably a good idea, just a single point of contact (one-stop-shop person as Harel put it) would be helpful for the hosts.
Although the Wikimedia Foundation is happy to support and guide (when needed) the wikimania organizing teams I want to call out that Wikimania is a conference created by and for the Wikimedia community and is not a conference of the Wikimedia Foundation. It is my personal belief that the conference is a rich and meaningful experience for the Wikimedia community because it is created by the community for the community. This being said, the individuals who hold the most knowledge of Wikimaina is not the Wikimedia Foundation or its staff, a committee of individuals who have been involved in Wikimania in the pass would be a better point of contact for Wikimania organizing teams.
2. We definitely need a committee to oversee wikimania planning, and take over the entire process from planning to execution. The jury is not that connected to the entire process, a committee can provide a lot of support. Considering all the committees we have or have had, this one seems like a no-brainer.
3. Hiring outside staff or a manager for the event is also an option.
4. We don't want to burn-out the organizers, so getting them as much help as possible should be our priority. it would be advisable to avoid new or forming chapters and focus in on areas which holds conferences regularly.
I believe Harel and Avi can provide us a lot of feedback about what they need from the community and the foundation as they go through their planning, I assume we can count on your support James for a Wikimania Committee or maybe even a designated staff personnel in future?
I am happy to help as a volunteer and must of my work with the wikimania jury is as a volunteer and not as a paid employee of the Wikimedia Foundation. It is not my position to allocate resource on behalf of the organization so I can not speak to my ability to support a committee as a primary role of my position as a paid staff. Again I think this is best organized by the Wikimedia volunteer community and not as an initiative of the WMF staff. This all being said I am sure any committee that could form would be support in some ways by WMF (for example WMF might support some travel cost for the committee members to hold meetings, or travel to hold a site visit with the local team) but the committee should form as a community initiative not a staff initiative.
I should also clarify my earlier statement about a possibility for a grant, this statement again is me as a volunteer not as a paid staff. It is simply an example of how a committee could make a recommendation to the Foundation. The committee would outline and suggest responsibilities and roles for the team, WMF, jury, and community as a whole.
In my opinion someone from the community should work toward creating a committee, put out a call for participation and start to hold meetings and create a strong list of recommendations for what will need to happen to improve the future of Wikimania and support bidding and organizing teams. The committee could ask for resources from WMF if they wish to hold a face to face meeting to complete some of this work. It all seems within the scope of how WMF can support the work of the volunteers.
Regards,
James
Theo
Salmaan Haroon
On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 12:14 AM, aude
<aude.wiki@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 1:27 PM, James Owen
<jowen@wikimedia.org> wrote:
Harel,
We as a community and the people on this list who care about Wikimania need to do our part, to put in some work and actual hours, maybe have some face to face meetings... and find way to elevate some of the pressure for the local teams, and to help them realize what to do with their new found energy once the conference is completed. Maybe we discover the best way is to hire outside organizers who are managed and supported by a local team,
maybe
we create a system where Wikimania bidding teams get a grant to hire a
staff person for a year to help with organizing, there are many options
we could explore.
I would be very open to having help with some of the event planning.
Speaking from experience organizing conferences for the government, we did have an event planner working with us to help negotiate with the venue, the caterer, etc., to scope out the venue and handled logistics for travel / scholarships. The help with negotiating costs helps offset the cost of hiring the person.
My role for myself and my colleague were to organize the program (where knowing about the subject matter was important) and we had ultimate authority to make decisions.
If we could hire her (or someone) to help our local team in DC, then I would be much more comfortable with going forward with a bid for Wikimania.
Though, having such help doesn't alleviate the need for a strong local team of volunteers to handle key aspects of organizing.
Cheers,
Katie (@aude)
But in general we need a group of 5-10 individuals to really do some work and think of this strategically, a Wikmania committee not to manage the bids, or organize wikimania but to be responsible for the future of the conference.
James Owen
Executive Assistant & Board Liaison
Wikimedia Foundation
Office +1.415.839.6885 x 6604
Mobile +1.415.509.5444
Fax +1.415.882.0495
_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l