Re: [Foundation-l] Announcement: Wikimania *2009*

All, We are pleased to announce that Buenos Aires has been selected as the location for Wikimania 2009. The jury was particularly excited by a few parts of the Buenos Aires bid: * A strong, organized team, with division of labor already underway and support from Wikimedia Argentina. Many people contributed to the bid, with obvious enthusiasm for organizing the conference and quick responses to inquiries. * A detailed budget proposal and planning schedule. Many major expenses are being covered by the provider. The total budget is similar to Wikimania 2007's, including a larger travel scholarship fund, and they have provided detailed charts ahead of time. * A significant number of sponsors already lined up, with some already confirmed. They hope to cover half the accommodation and $60k in travel scholarships, which will help to ease travel costs for participants from far away. * A solid venue : as with Toronto, this was situated within a well-maintained cultural center in a major international city, near an airline hub; culturally open, and an international melting pot. * Relaxed visa rules, and easy entry from South American countries. * Good Spanish-language media contacts, with the promise of outreach to and the opportunity to work with the Spanish-language Wikimedia communities. Toronto, the runner up, also provided a great bid. The jury was especially excited by: * Strong English-language press in the area, and media experience among the bid team * A very accessible venue, especially for US/European attendees. * An excellent venue : a university campus, with dorms directly at the venue. As with Buenos Aires, it was situated within a well-maintained cultural center in a major international city, near an airline hub; culturally open, and an international melting pot. * Extensive budget accommodation in the dorms; with many options for casual social space. * A dedicated bid team, with the hope of Wikimedia Canada being formed in time to help coordinate. However, the jury felt that Buenos Aires' bid showed stronger organization overall. Additionally, much of the information in the Toronto bid was carried over from previous bids, and it was unclear how much of a commitment for the University of Toronto facilities there was specifically for 2009. Brisbane and Karlsruhe also provided good bids. Brisbane in particular had an enthusiastic bid team and a strong proposal, with particularly good local sponsorship opportunities; though this was offset by the high travel costs for out-of-country attendees. The jury felt both bids needed more detail (including specifics about accommodation options, and more detailed budget information) to be compelling. As in previous years, the relative accessibility of locations was extensively discussed. The jury believes that it's important for Wikimania to be accessible to as wide an audience as possible, particularly to members of the Wikimedia community; the relatively high cost of travel to South America from Europe and North America was one of the most significant drawbacks we identified in the Buenos Aires bid—especially coming on the heels of Taipei and Alexandria. Having said that, the jury believes that the Buenos Aires bid overcame this drawback with its numerous advantages, among those the opportunity to hold the conference in a Spanish-speaking locale, on a new continent. We hope to receive strong bids from easily accessible locations for 2010. Congratulations to the Buenos Aires team! Wikimania 2009 promises to be an exciting and successful conference. -- Phoebe Ayers, Cary Bass, James Forrester (non-voting jury moderators), on behalf of the Wikimania 2009 Jury http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2009/Jury