Hello, everyone.
I would like to visit Kenya around mid-August, shortly after Wikimania 2011, and to meet with all of you. It would be an opportunity for those of you who haven't met me yet to attach a face to the name, and to talk about Wikimedia Kenya, the Foundation, Wikimedia in Africa, or our wider movement.
It would be of great help to me if you can help me make the best plans for my visit. I expect to spend about 4 days in Kenya, so it's not a lot of time, and I'd like to pack a lot of things into it.
My ideal schedule would include:
* General meetup with as many Wikimedia Kenya members as possible (see below) * Workshop for Wikimedia Kenya members on a topic of your choosing (see below) * Public speaking in one or more appropriate venues (see below) * Meeting potential partner organizations or government officials -- any meeting where I can help your group make progress * any other idea?
==Logistics== I will be arriving around Aug 14th or 15th, and leaving around Aug 19th or 20th. I will definitely be in Nairobi, and possibly also visit Mombasa.
==Meetup== I'd like to meet as many Wikimedia Kenya members (non-members also welcome!) as possible. If there's a lot of interest in Mombasa, I'll try to have a meetup and workshop there too. All we need for the meetup is a room large enough to contain all who would want to come, and reasonably quiet so we can hear ourselves talking. Wifi and a projector would be a plus, to be able to show things online, but definitely not a necessity.
==Workshop== I am very eager to share experience, advice, and contacts with your group. I was thinking of holding a workshop -- maybe 3-4 hours long -- on one or two topics. Here are some possible topics I feel I can offer some insight on:
1. Motivating Volunteers: how to attract, care for, feed, and keep volunteers; how to handle crises 2. Public outreach: how to speak about Wikipedia and Wikimedia in public; how to adapt our message to academics, to government officials, to students, to youth, etc. 3. Programs, Grants, and project planning: how to plan and manage projects and money 4. International aspects of the Wikimedia movement: how to engage the international movement (chapters, the Foundation, international volunteers), beyond socializing 5. something else you'd like to hear me talk about?
Please let me know if you're interested in such a workshop and can host one (in either or both Nairobi and Mombasa), and if so, which of these topics you are most interested in.
==Public speaking== If there's any opportunity to have a small public outreach event, maybe on one (or more) campus(es), I'd be delighted to appear as guest speaker on behalf of the Foundation, and either give a general introduction to Wikipedia or (if one of you would like to give the Wikipedia intro) I might give a talk about Wikimedia as an international movement and share some of our inspiring work around the world.
If your group has the time and interest in beginning to organize such events, please let me know and we can begin planning at once.
==Meeting Third Parties== If you feel there is some door I can help you open (e.g. in government, or with some international company), or some organization that can be brought into closer cooperation with WMKE (e.g. free software enthusiasts, educational non-profits, charities such as MSF) through a presentation or joint meeting with me and WMKE members, I'd love to help. Again, let me know what opportunities you see, and we can go on planning.
==Updates== I'm also checking with other contacts in Kenya beside this group if they know of any other opportunities to maximize the value of my visit, and I'll keep you posted about what I learn.
I look forward to meeting you soon!
Asaf