Hi Cascadians,

Here are some of the developments at WMCON:

We discussed volunteer burnout, and how affiliates can prevent it among our volunteers. Some of us have raised this subject with WMF as needing their attention as well. I am told by Community Advocacy that they are working on this issue, as well as civility.

We discussed the need for better and easier tools to evaluate the impacts of programs.

We asked for a learning pattern about how to increase affiliates' human resources capacity

We discussed the recruitment and retention of students, professors and high school teachers in Wikipedia education programs.

We discussed how to use data and storytelling in written communications like grant reports, blog posts, social media, and press releases.

We discussed how we can recruit good quality board members, and keep boards functioning well with low drama and an atmosphere of public service.

We discussed government and WMF bureaucracy and how they affect affiliates. We learned some of the finer points about Wikidata.

We talked about how projects can fail in good and not-so-good ways. Learning from failure is good; doing pilot projects with managed risk is good.

We talked about storytelling, which would be applicable to various kinds of grantmaking reports as well as press releases and outreach efforts. Storytelling can include numbers, and narrative context for those numbers. We learned that for editor retention, the projects with the highest rate of 3-month retention appear to be writing contests. Photo events like Wiki Loves Monuments and Wiki Loves Earth engage many more people, but the activity of those users appears to be low outside of photo events; it may be possible to engage such high numbers of photo event participants that a reasonable number, even if a small percentage, of contributors would remain active throughout the year.

We discussed communications with the press. WMF Communications is developing resources for affiliates to assist with this. Also, Dorothy said that she'd be willing to consult with us about press releases and other tools that we can use to recruit for our events.

We are discussing the creation of a new mailing list for thematic organizations and user groups, and/or expanding the existing Chapters email list so that it is open to board members of thematic organizations and user groups.

The Wikimedia Affiliates Network page on Meta ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Affiliates_Network) appears to be an abandoned draft. Some of its ideas appear to be similar to ideas that got support at the conference, such as affiliates networking and supporting each other. I created a logo for the Wikimedia Affiliates Network, by modifying a logo that User:Sonia created awhile back. People may modify the WAN page in accordance with discussions at WMCON.

Community Resources, formerly known as Grantmaking, is considering providing more support for user groups

Community Resources and the FDC are considering a new grantmaking track for annual plans that are too complex for GAC but fall below the current bright-line thresholds for APG applications

Community Resources is planning to have a community consultation about grantmaking processes later this year.

WikiAmericans have discussed ways in which we can collaborate this year. These include:

* National campaigns for themed events, e.g. Wiki Loves Pride, Art & Feminism

* Peer reviews of each other's grants

* Share media contacts on a private list with designated people at each affiliate. Particularly noteworthy: BBC, NPR, PBS, C-SPAN, WMF communications staff for the blog, etc * GLAM-Wiki US Consortioum Coordinator, to be hired by WMUS-DC but will have a national scope

* Camera and accessories loans and insurance

* Press credentials

* Public policy coordination

* Creation of a mailing list for US board members and officers

* Language preservation programs for Native American languages

Particular suggestions and ideas for Cascadia Wikimdians that were discussed at the conference or came to mind:

* Expand our human resources capacity by using press releases and other tools to recruit new participants * Expand our human resources capacity by hosting editing contests, because those have a relatively high 3-month persistence rate for new contributors * Expand our human resources capacity by creating new partnerships, such as with education and GLAM organizations. * Expand our human resources capacity by holding events on a regular basis at the same location * Document our outcomes more holistically and with greater detail. This includes individual outcomes achieved by Cascadia members. * Document the in-kind support and benefits from partnerships that we receive, such as through UW and OHSU. Bringing resources into the movement is viewed favorably by WMF, including shared and partnership resources. * For dealing with our current challenges regarding WMF's present unwillingness to fund staff time, and our position that we need part-time staff in order to sustain and grow, we have at least 3 options: :* Continue to negotiate with WMF :* Distribute work among more officers, volunteers, and board members (though this may conflict with the concept of the board as a governing group rather than a working group) :* Recruit more people to volunteer. See ideas above. There were a number of suggestions at the conference regarding how to increase human resources capacity, although many of those have questionable long-term sustainability and stability. :* Expand our financial capacity through outside funding :* Crowdfund for specific stories, events, or projects

Many photos and some of the presentations for the conference are available on Meta in the category https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_Conference_2015.

The "official" notes from conference sessions will hopefully be available by early next month, after they have been reviewed by presenters for quality assurance.

Let's discuss our potential next steps when we meet on Monday.

Cheers,

Pine