Hey folk, Emmanuel Engelhart (User:Kelson) and I (Christophe Henner, User:Schiste), attended Wikimedia Deutschland's General Assembly as representatives of Wikimédia France (also present were representatives of WM-CH, WM-NL and WM-PL). For the first time, Wikimedia Deutschland decided to hold workshops on Saturday and the general assembly on Sunday. I will not tire you with details of the flight; I shall briefly describe the weekend, starting Friday evening upon arrival at the hostel. After being welcomed by members of Wikimedia Deutschland, we took advantage of it being a Friday night to taste some local specialties (potatoes during the meal and beer afterwards ;) ). Saturday was, then, the day given over to the workshops. Here is the schedule: * 11 am – 6:30 pm : Workshops (three sessions at 2 hours each) o 11 am: Session #1 + Legal Basics for Wikimedia Customer Support (German) (Part 1) + Opportunity to visit the nearby Museum for Communication and the exhibition "globalisation 2.0", where Wikipedia is a topic among many others o 1 pm: Lunch o 2 pm: Session #2 + Wikimedia, an international movement (English) + Legal Basics for Wikimedia Customer Support (German) (Part 2) o 4 pm: Coffee break o 4:30 pm: Session #3: + Wikimedia - Technical infrastructure (German) + Visions and Reality Checks (German) + Communicating Effectively about Wikimedia Projects (German) * after 7 pm: get together (probably barbeque) (See http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mitgliederversammlung_2007/en for more details.) The first workshop of Saturday morning was about OTRS and started at 11 AM, but I did not go because my German-language skills are limited to ordering food and drink, clearly not enough to talk about OTRS and legal jargon. I went to the Museum of Communication to visit the Globalisation 2.0 exhibition, which mentions Wikipedia. A video is shown which is accompanied with text stating that Wikipedia started in 2000. We looked for the "edit this page" button, but can't found it. Honestly, the museum wasn't really interesting, the exhibition being a little too disorganized, but it did permit some discussion on how the German-language Wikipedia works. At noon, lunchtime, then a workshop called "Wikimedia, an international movement". It started with a "presentation" by Delphine Menard in which she talked a bit about the Foundation and its history. Then the representatives of the chapters got up and gave quick overviews of them. What followed were discussions between the members on the chapters' respective projects and problems and the things they wish to improve and how they should go about improving them. A wish to improve communication between chapters was expressed, as well as the creation of joint projects. The workshop was quite interesting, but really too short. I hope we'll have the occasion to repeat this experience or improve upon it. ;) After the afternoon workshops, the weather being nice, we all ate outside and barbecued. A very nice time was had by all. I, for one, finished the finished on the banks of the Main with many other wikimedians. The following day was rather quiet. The general assembly was held in the afternoon. I did not attend it as I had to take the plane back home. I found the idea of holding the general assembly on a Sunday and workshops the day before excellent. I hope the chapters will copy this idea for their general assemblies. It enables people to work, learn and perhaps most importantly, develop links with the other attendees. There we are, I think I have summed things up. I have surely forgotten a few things, but the weekend was quite full and rich for me. It was an experience I would gladly repeat. I have naught else to say but thank Nina for the organization, as well as the Wikimedia Deutschland members who invited us. Have a good day, schiste / Christophe Henner PS: Thanks to Arria who have made the translation of this report :)