I don’t think that’s an option. Just look at the distribution of bids: with 4+ pages from Europe (France are also considering multiple cities), 1 from the Americas (Rio, which hasn’t got a chance in hell after Buenos Aries) and one from Asia/Pacific (Melbourne).

There’s a pretty strong impression that this is Europe’s year. If we lose then to Amsterdam or Stockholm (the most advanced bids by the look of it) we will be out of contention for at least another 3 years. Melbourne also has a shot on the continental rotation (which I presume is why Al has decided to support them... hmm...) but even if they won we probably wouldn’t have a shot the next year as I imagine they wouldn’t want to give it to two English speaking countries in a row. (And if they were prepared to do this I would imagine there would be some pretty tough competition from the US.)

So let’s act as if this is our one shot. If by some miracle Rio wins then at that point we can think about going again, until then if you want to see Wikimania in the UK in the next few years I’d recommend you to do all you can to help our 2010 bid win.

Tom

From: wikimediauk-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimediauk-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of joseph seddon
Sent: 29 July 2008 12:06
To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Oxford: new venue?

There is one option which to be honest i don't think many will agree but thought id throw it into the pot. At this moment in
time we have around 3 months to get everything sorted as i believe and although we have got alot of momentum, Im
wondering whether its worth perhaps thinking about a 2011 bid and giving ourselves more time to thoroughly think this
through and get ourselves organised. What we could do is to continue what we are doing but to use 2010 more as a proof
of concept as i doubt that with WMUK not having charity status we are going to struggle to get the vast amounts of
sponsorship we need. I know this is a little defeatist but I just think that id rather wait a year to put in a bid that is solid
and well thought through than trying to rush to get one in. Please feel free to use the clue stick :)

> Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:30:46 +0100
> From: martinp23@googlemail.com
> To: peterc@cix.compulink.co.uk; wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Oxford: new venue?
>
> 2008/7/28 Peter Cohen <peterc@cix.compulink.co.uk>:
> > In-Reply-To: <a4359dff0807281452y4c39a617ua92a135098ffc775@mail.gmail.com>
> >> > Is there a reason that people are going for university facilities
> >> > and not
> >> > hotels? Science Fiction Conventions tend to be hotel based.
> >>
> >> Do Sci Fi conventions generally have talks aimed at groups of 500
> >> people? I don't think hotels can accommodate such large
> >> conferences.
> >
> > This year's Easter Science Fiction convention was at the Radisson
> > Edwardian Heathrow which has two conference suites that could be built to
> > that size.
> > http://www.radissonedwardian.com/rad/edw/PDFs/c&bbrochure08.pdf
> >
> > Next years is at the Cedar Court Bradford
> > http://www.cedarcourthotels.co.uk/page.asp?pageID=46. Then it's back to
> > the Radisson.
> >
> > Recent Easter SF cons have been at hotels in Chester, Hinckley, Glasgow,
> > Liverpool (but shall I say that I was not surprised that one of the MOD
> > missing computers was stolen from a room in the Liverpool Adelphi). The
> > Brighton Metropole had a big conferencing area in the rear, but the
> > management and the SF community fell out in the late 80s and we haven't
> > been back since.
> >
> > There's an association of conferencing facilities (or there was in the
> > 1980s who you could write to with your specs and they would put your
> > details in a circular to members.)
>
>
> Cheap dig at Liverpool there :(.
>
> But back to the point, I think there could be some merit in
> investigating non-University approaches. During the Summer Hols, they
> really are out to make as much money as they can with conferencing.
> We may be able to find something a little cheaper by thinking outside
> this box - I'm slightly amazed that the Alexandria team got all that
> they did for free, though I do suspect that with some effort we may be
> able to get close...
>
> That said, I personally lack ideas at the moment... It is worth
> keeping our eyes and minds open though.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia UK mailing list
> wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK
> http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l

Win £3000 to spend on whatever you want at Uni! Click here to WIN!