In 2008 I looked into hosting this meeting for 2009 in Stockholm. I
quickly learnt that the travel logistics/costs was heavy against such a
place, being outside central Europe and not having a real international
flighthub.
Berlin was a much better place in this respect and I believe also
Amsterdam would be well placed and perhaps also Paris and Zurich, but
other cities including London I think would mean a higher total travel
cost (Milan was also well placed)
So why not simplify the choice of city with just asking WMNL and WMDE
who wants to arrange it?
Anders
Katie Chan skrev 2013-09-18 16:59:
On 18/09/2013 14:29, Nathan wrote:
Simple solution - until someone else volunteers
to host the
conference, just have it in the same place every year. You can work
out distribution of funding independently from where it is actually
held. Since WMDE seems to be in the driver seat, having a backup plan
of a conference in Germany seems like a smart idea. That might
privilege people with easy travel to Germany, but well organized
affiliates can always propose a plan to host it elsewhere.
It wouldn't be too bad to have a recurring conference in a fixed
location. The staff setting it up won't need to overcome issues
related to lack of experience, relationships with vendors and venues
can be normalized, attendees can depend on the quality and standards
of the event, and participants can expect a higher level of content
because other potential distractions are eliminated.
It *was* held in the same country (namely Germany) every year
previously, until Italy hosted it this year. I presume the idea of
changing was so we *don't* have it at the same place every year so
that affiliates far from Germany don't have to travel as far some
years (though Italy isn't necessarily that far away from Germany this
year). Also possibly funding issue as WMDE don't necessarily want to
bear the cost of the whole conference every year.
Italy applied to the WMF Grants Program for fund to host this year
conference. Unless the WMF have agreed to guarantee funding for future
years conference (I haven't been following so not sure), then whoever
is hosting the conference will also need time to apply for funding
from Grants.
KTC