While everyone keeps looking at the cost thats not the question we should be asking, because even if the costs were reduced to 500,000, 100,00 or even 10,000 that doesnt reflect the value we get from the in person contacts, the global connections the sharing of experiences, learning of concepts, even the moral support and reenergization that occurs. When I talk to people who have attended Wikimanias nobody says that was a waste of my time, I learnt nothing, I wish I could get back those 5 days that is a better indicator of its value to the community.
On 10 February 2016 at 17:13, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
From a US perspective, even here in the global north we have plenty of students and middle-class participants for whom $1500 in travel, food and lodging plus 5 days away from work, family, or school amounts to a significant or impossible sacrifice.
Perhaps someone could tell us the statistics for how many people have attended Wikimania each year who were not WMF employees, FDC or WMF Board members, scholarship recipients, or financially sponsored by WMF affiliates or WEF. Of those people who pay 100% of their own costs plus the cost of admission tickets, my guess is that many live within a day's travel time by train, car, or bus.
I would hypothesize that thematic conferences also have a low percentage of people who pay 100% of their own costs, but that regional conferences which have lower travel costs for the average attendee receive modestly higher percentages of unsubsidized attendance.
It seems to me that WMF finacial support for conferences, including regional and thematic conferences, will continue to be the norm.
Whether $1 million is appropriate for Wikimania and whether a more modest budget would be appropriate and feasable are different questions that merit careful reflection.
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