In our previous bid(s), we investigated the possibility of using UofT residence as a way to reduce accommodation cost. Since Wikimania is always hosted between May and August, we should have no problem renting the residences. We may or may not accommodate all, but nonetheless it is a good cost-cutting measure for attendee. Another advantage of this is that residence cost will not fluctuate as much as hotel rooms. UofT definitely has rooms for small lightning talks to large presentations. Again, less cost comparing to Toronto Congress Centre or Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The downside that I can think of right now is food. Participants may have to walk a bit to eat. (But hey, good time to figure out what's a double-double so that Rick Mercer can't pull a prank off you!)
Good point about discounted air fare, we never thought of that before.
Andrew
"Fill the world with children who care and things start looking up."
> Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:20:18 -0400
> From: wikiroux@gmail.com
> To: wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-Canada] Wikimania Montreal 2011?
>
> If you're talking about rooms, you'll need to look at past Wikimania
> events (preferably those within North America, as there will be
> similar numbers), specifically for how many room nights were booked.
> Most properties have a 12-18 month horizon beyond which they will not
> guarantee room cost, and will provide estimates only. Usage of meeting
> room facilities will often be gratis based on food & beverage minimums
> being met, which can be very high--but trust me when I say it's
> simpler to feed a thousand people at a single breakfast buffet than to
> send them out into the wilds of Toronto. Half would just order room
> service anyway.
>
> Looking at the past Wikimanias, I think we could ballpark between
> 500-750pax attending, at 2 or 4 to a room that means about 180-300
> rooms. That is a *lot* of rooms for a single hotel. We should look at
> the Delta Chelsea (if aiming for downtown), or possibly the Doubletree
> (if staying near the airport, which I'd advise against--it's in the
> middle of nowhere). The Chelsea has function rooms but the maximum
> capacity is 550pax in reception format--not sure if that would work
> for Wikimania (and smaller capacities for other room formats--seminar,
> etc). The Doubletree does have the convenience of being across from
> the Toronto Congress Centre, which has approximately eleventybillion
> square feet of space--that would, of course, be an added cost.
>
> We should look also at group rates for air. We can probably bank on
> blocks of people arriving from a few major cities--if we can get bulk
> rates on airfare, or make such rates available, that would help people
> a lot.
>
>
> enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
>
>
>
> 2009/9/16 Geoffrey Plourde <geo.plrd@yahoo.com>:
> > I'm normally a busy person, but if you give me raw figures, like costs of
> > rooms and estimates, I think I can cook some books up for ya. At the very
> > least, I can advise the unfortunate soul left with the task (5 years of
> > accounting, 2.5 of tax forms).
> >
> > Geoff
> > ________________________________
> > From: Nicholas Moreau <nicholasmoreau@gmail.com>
> > To: Wikimedia Canada planning list <wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org>
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 6:20:13 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-Canada] Wikimania Montreal 2011?
> >
> > If we go with a Toronto bid, lets try and make it as fresh as possible. The
> > 2009 bid was basically just the 2006 one, written up better, with some
> > endorsements. I'm not saying any of the previous bid was bad, just that we
> > shouldn't just copy-paste and reword.
> > Key things:
> > - How many of us have been to a Wikimania? Other bid teams have members
> > with practical experience in this area, and I think that helps. Wikimania is
> > just a schedule, some interesting episodes of Wikipedia Weekly, and some
> > random photos to me, since I've never made it to one. The insight that
> > someone could deliver to our bid, had they attended a prior year's event,
> > would be invaluable.
> > - I agree manpower and helpers is essential... we could have a brilliant
> > facility, schedule, budget, but if it only looks good on paper... [er...
> > screen I guess.]
> > - Budget details: we need someone that can crunch numbers this time, for
> > either bid. I seem to remember in 2008 or 2009 being asked for a detailed
> > budget. At least one other team had a tour-de-force, namely the eventual
> > winner, Buenos Aires. Their gaant chart, viewable on their bid page, was
> > only a fraction of the planning material that I saw, and was humbled by.
> > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2009/Bids/Buenos_Aires#Budget
> > Nick/Zanimum
> >
> > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2006/Toronto
> > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2008/Toronto
> > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2009/Toronto
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 11:00 PM, Casey Brown <lists@caseybrown.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 10:53 PM, Andrew Leung <andrewcleung@hotmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> > In my opinion, it's easier to work on Toronto's bid since it was one of
> >> > the
> >> > final 4 shortlisted submission, which demonstrated that the bid is of
> >> > good
> >> > quality.
> >> >
> >>
> >> ...but the same bid has been attempted like three times, hasn't it?
> >> Perhaps it would be a good idea to try something new? Look at all the
> >> work already done on the Montreal bid. The main issues with the
> >> Toronto bids, from what I recall, have been manpower and interested
> >> helpers. These are things that the Montreal bid has so far. :-)
> >>
> >> --
> >> Casey Brown
> >> Cbrown1023
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Wikimedia-ca mailing list
> >> Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org
> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
> >
> >
>
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