That's great Tom, thanks! The main things that we would need to know about any bid is whether there is a suitable venue (ie with a variety of big/small lecture theatres, collective spaces, organising rooms, etc). We would then need to see what the accommodation situation would be - is it close by, or would it require something like shuttle-buses, and how many people would be accommodated (and in what kinds of groupings - single rooms/dorms..)? Would catering be available adjacent to the conference space? And finally, what would all of this cost? :-) (See * below for more.)
I wouldn't say we need to restrain ourselves in terms of a single bid at this stage, or even by what has failed in the past. If this bid can be worked up with sufficient detail, we should submit it - if there's an option in London, we can submit both, or decide which one looks most viable and run with that one. But we would need more details first...
Thanks again, Cormac
* More details at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2009/Official_requirements_for_bidd...
On 12/19/07, Tom Holden thomas.holden@gmail.com wrote:
I have heard back from the director of the Oxford Internet Institute today and he seemed very positive about the idea, particularly if they could host a parallel more academic conference. (There's got to be an economy of scale since many speaker's would be appropriate for both.)
The OII have fairly limited facilities so may not be of that great a financial benefit to us on their own. The importance of their interest though is in the still close ties they maintain with Balliol college (Jimmy's talk for example was introduced by the master of Balliol at his recent talk) who may be able to properly help us out on accommodation and in the help their endorsement would provide in securing central university facilities. The master of Balliol expressed initial interest and said he would get back to me in the new year.
What do people think to this possibility? We've had several failed London bids in a row, if this came together would people be behind an Oxford one?
Tom _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
There's a small lecture theatre at the OII (around 40 people), a medium one at Balliol next door (currently around 100 due to rows of tables, could probably double this if they were taken out, health and safety regs permitting) and assorted large to gigantic university lecture halls in walking distance (no more than 15 mins). Other Balliol spaces we could use include the hall (larger than the lecture theatre, but not ideally suited to lectures due to benches and tables), assorted seminar rooms, the JCR (large and informal space with sofas and coffee tables) and we could potentially also have a marquee in the garden.
There are some details on the Balliol site here: http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/conference/index.asp
And some details about one of the largest central lecture theatres here: http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/schools/conference/
There's also a centralised conference info site here: http://www.conference-oxford.com/ (though given Balliol's close links to the OII I'd say our best bet for discounted rates is sticking with then rather than another college.)
If we can arrange a deal with Balliol (we won't know until the New Year) then most accommodation would be next door to the OII, right in the centre of Oxford, with perhaps some 10 mins walk away in another set of Balliol buildings. These are all single rooms, some of which are en suite. There's also a dining hall in Balliol which would potentially provide catering.
There are some costs quoted on those sites for external conferences, but potentially with the OII stamp we could reduce these rates. They are quoting £500 a day for the large lecture rooms in Examination Schools (seating around 500) and Balliol are quoting £315 a day for the Balliol lecture room mentioned previously. Balliol are quoting a 24 hour delegate rate of £125 a day, but this includes rather a lot of surplus luxury. For students accommodation is under £100 a week and food is around £3 a meal. With support from the college we could hope to get something closer to this.
Do we have any provisional dates btw?
Tom
-----Original Message----- From: wikimediauk-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimediauk-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Cormac Lawler Sent: 19 December 2007 13:40 To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Oxford Wikimania
That's great Tom, thanks! The main things that we would need to know about any bid is whether there is a suitable venue (ie with a variety of big/small lecture theatres, collective spaces, organising rooms, etc). We would then need to see what the accommodation situation would be - is it close by, or would it require something like shuttle-buses, and how many people would be accommodated (and in what kinds of groupings - single rooms/dorms..)? Would catering be available adjacent to the conference space? And finally, what would all of this cost? :-) (See * below for more.)
I wouldn't say we need to restrain ourselves in terms of a single bid at this stage, or even by what has failed in the past. If this bid can be worked up with sufficient detail, we should submit it - if there's an option in London, we can submit both, or decide which one looks most viable and run with that one. But we would need more details first...
Thanks again, Cormac
* More details at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2009/Official_requirements_for_bidd ing_cities
On 12/19/07, Tom Holden thomas.holden@gmail.com wrote:
I have heard back from the director of the Oxford Internet Institute today and he seemed very positive about the idea, particularly if they could
host
a parallel more academic conference. (There's got to be an economy of
scale
since many speaker's would be appropriate for both.)
The OII have fairly limited facilities so may not be of that great a financial benefit to us on their own. The importance of their interest though is in the still close ties they maintain with Balliol college (Jimmy's talk for example was introduced by the master of Balliol at his recent talk) who may be able to properly help us out on accommodation and
in
the help their endorsement would provide in securing central university facilities. The master of Balliol expressed initial interest and said he would get back to me in the new year.
What do people think to this possibility? We've had several failed London bids in a row, if this came together would people be behind an Oxford one?
Tom _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
_______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
At 16:30 +0000 19/12/07, Tom Holden wrote:
There's a small lecture theatre at the OII (around 40 people), a medium one at Balliol next door (currently around 100 due to rows of tables, could probably double this if they were taken out, health and safety regs permitting) and assorted large to gigantic university lecture halls in walking distance (no more than 15 mins).....
Sounds like a plan. I looked back at the basic requirements in terms of scale, to remind myself. Here are three:-
# Dates should be from the beginning of July to mid August and should include a weekend.
# The maximum number of participants should be 500 people, the minimum 300.
# The venue must provide accommodation within walking distance of the conference grounds, preferably with lots of hanging out spaces where Wikimaniacs can get together informally.
Found at:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2009/Official_requirements_for_bidd...
It is very hard to find venues that have the right amount of lecture space and break out space and allow everybody (who wishes) to stay in a room where they can walk to every session.
Oxford sounds ideal.
Gordo
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