Just a note to say thank you to everyone who came along to the board interest day on Saturday.
We had an excellent turnout - fourteen people in total including seven people who were interested in standing for the board for the first time. Thanks to the people who presented, including Gemma Griffiths who talked about our PR plan and 10th anniversary coverage, Joseph Seddon who explained the proposed board changes and Sebastien Molenski, President of Wikimedia Deutschland, who talked to us about the kind of strategic planning we could be thinking about for our current stage of development.
Thanks also to Mike Peel, who spoke about his experiences as board member and James Forrester who gave us a longer view, sharing his experiences as director of Wikimedia UK "version 1".
The next stage is the "invitation for candidates", which will be sent out in five weeks' time on 13th March. Nominations will then close on 2nd April. If anyone has any further questions about standing for election next year and would like to discuss it further, please do not hesitate to get in touch either on email - andrewrturvey<at>googlemail.com - or by phone on 07403 216 991 or speak to another one of the existing board members.
Regards,
Andrew Turvey Chair, Wikimedia UK Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited. Wiki UK Ltd is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. The Registered Office is at 23 Cartwright Way, Nottingham, NG9 1RL
On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 12:24 AM, Andrew Turvey andrewrturvey@googlemail.com wrote:
From our blog, http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/:
Could you lead Wikimedia UK to success?
Next year is set to be another big year of growth for Wikimedia UK: we have just raised over £500,000 in the Wikimedia Annual Fundraiser. Most of this money will support the technical side of Wikimedia through donations to the Foundation and the Toolserver. However, we also plan to use the funds to recruit four more members of staff. These staff will mean we can scale up our activities, enable more activity by volunteers and professionalise the chapter. Our own developer, events organiser, a full time office manager and a chapter manager pulling everything together will no doubt transform Wikimedia UK.
However, a key factor in our success will still be the board, which will continue to lead the chapter and be made up of unpaid volunteers. It will continue to be elected by our members, ordinary Wikimedians who support our mission and want to make Wikipedia and free knowledge even more successful.
Can you help lead the chapter to success in 2011 by standing for election as a board member? If so, you’re warmly invited to join us on Saturday 5th February from 5pm where you can find out more about what is involved in being a board member and have an opportunity to ask any questions and meet other interested people.
This “board interest day” will take place in central London (venue to be confirmed). If you are interested please drop me a line to chair @ wikimedia.org.uk to reserve your place. You can also give me a ring on 07403 216 991 if you would like to discuss further.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Andrew Turvey Chair, Wikimedia UK