I found this the most interesting part of the recent IdeaLab discussion
about changing the Wikimania framework.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Towards_a_New_Wikimania
"*The total spend by WMF for Wikimania 2014 in London and 2015 in Mexico,
including all travel, accommodations, scholarships, staff support and
direct conference expenses, was ~$1 million USD*"
This is a pity. Small grants to support a con is one thing, but this is too
much.
Please let's stop encouraging conferences that do not cover their own
costs. A good conference series pays for itself, including its scholarship
pool. There are plenty of communities our size or larger with wonderful,
regular conferences of hundreds or thousands of people, which break even or
turn a small profit.
FUDCons are an interesting case in point. As I understand it, there was a
time when RedHat basically sponsored the events, with scholarships for all
active contributors and extensive grants. This was ok, but skewed
participation. Then the lavish sponsorship stopped. Attendance dropped;
community members felt unloved. Then after a time, this passed, and
everyone attended again. (Perhaps a core Fedora contributor can describe
this more accurately!)
SJ