2013/9/18 Balázs Viczián &lt;balazs.viczian(a)wikimedia.hu&gt;hu>: are out May I point out that if you want to be able to book tickets 3 months before <event:date> you should start working on <event> at the very least six month in advance. How can you tell the destination of your booking if you don't know where the event is going to be held? From WM-IT's experience with WMConf 2013 (which we are discussing to replicate) you have to start organizing it in November, no later. Cristian

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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.

On 18/09/2013 14:29, Nathan wrote: 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

I agree. The work behind the organization is more than organizing a wiki-meeting to drink a beer. People have to consider the costs for travel, the booking of tickets and the accommodation plus visas. Yes, six months is a convenient timeline to start working on. regards On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 3:19 PM, Andrea Zanni &lt;zanni.andrea84(a)gmail.com tickets nor find -- Ilario Valdelli Wikimedia CH Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens Association pour l’avancement des connaissances libre Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera Switzerland - 8008 Zürich Tel: +41764821371 http://www.wikimedia.ch _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

On 09/18/2013 06:58 AM, Jon Davies wrote: I fully intend to prepare a bid for Montreal to host this, once the requirements are made slightly clearer. I already have all the contacts with venues and government levels from my organization of the 2011 Wikimania bid and plan to use the success story of that conference to shore up Montreal's bid to host a Wikimania. :-) -- Marc _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Balasz, you miss the point: certainly, conferences _can_ be organized in any major city. That's not what this conversation is trying to establish. We are trying to get the deafeningly-silent majority of chapter/ThOrg board members on this list to _participate_ in determining the location, and later the program, of next year's WMCON. If the level of interest expressed so far is a fair reflection of the actual level of interest, and given WMDE has expressed interest in hosting, we could default to that and forego this whole bid process. The point of the bid was to accommodate a perceived interest in sharing the burden (and joys) of hosting; if that perception is incorrect, we don't need this process. So which is it, dear colleagues? Is everyone else just happy for Someone<tm> to handle this? Is everyone else just waiting for the invitation to the actual event, and the program put together by others? A. On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 10:23 AM, Nicole Ebber &lt;nicole.ebber(a)wikimedia.de https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Future_of_the_Wikimedia_Conference#Log… contacts -- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! https://donate.wikimedia.org _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

I think you miss my point: I see an event that is being pushed despite no sufficient visible interest in it from those whom you are targeting with it... Sure you'll have more applications than vacant slots, it is pretty easy to find people to travel for free virtually from an to anywhere in the world. Also, everybody loves to talk. If you measure success that way, it will be a 100% success. Balázs