[Foundation-l] Wikimania 2006 : please, hold on

[Anthere]

Hi dear all,

So....

I would like to remind anyone that Wikimania is an
event organised primarily by the Wikimedia Foundation.

This year, Wikimania will occur in Boston, more
precisely we will be hosted by Harward University.
However, the event is still an event organised by the
Foundation, by a core team of wikipedians, and
primarily for the community. It engages our whole
organisation... and can improve or damage our image as
well.

In the light of the past Wikimania, I think the event
needs to be organised in a rather professional way.
Experience showed the last core organisation team that
while some issues needed to be discussed and fixed
very quickly, other issues did not need to be taking
care of before one or two months before the actual
event taking place.
Experience also showed it was extremely important that
certain responsabilities be clearly given to "named"
persons, rather than being loosely taking care of by
anyone feeling an interest at some point, that
organisational tools be used rather than wikis etc...

In short, any event involving rather big amounts of
money, external communication and so, had to be
organised in a *professional* way, rather than the
(great but not all fitting) wiki way.

For this reason, we are thinking (though it is not yet
a final decision), to have officially an Event
coordinator.
Other roles to be held in the organisation are
typically
* technical support
* sponsor/grant coordinator 
* logistic assistant
* press coordinator and other outside communication
* internal communication (webmastering and translation
mostly)
* programm coordinator

All this, with a certain degree of control from the
Foundation. And a strict degree of control by the
Event coordinator. And the agreement of the core team
for all issues which involve the whole team.


The Foundation is currently discussing this
organisation, and it is my belief no major move should
be done until this is all agreed, with the board and
with the current core team.

Which mean things like :
* no sponsorship deal should be start up without a
grant/sponsor coordinator
* no logistic involving Harward university should be
discussed without having set who would be the event
coordinator and logistic assistant
* no major communication should be made without the
agreement of the whole team... 
* and incidently, no logo derivative should be
published and distributed without the prior agreement
of ... the logo copyright holder (the Foundation).

We have time. Wikimania will happen next summer. Let's
do things step by step, even though the whole idea is
very exciting. As Danny says, tasks must not be
replicated, efforts not be wasted, spirits must stay
cool and we MUST appear coordinated in front of
partners.

Thanks 

Anthere


--------
These are all very valid points. However, before we
have a meeting, it 
would seem rather sensible for the board to decide who
the organizing 
committee is. In that way, tasks will not be
replicated, and efforts 
will not be wasted. Do we know who the coordinators
for this event are?

Danny

-----Original Message-----
From: SJ <2.718281828 at gmail.com>
To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l at
wikimedia.org>; 
Wikimedia Translators <translators-l at wikimedia.org>
Sent: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 08:11:38 -0400
Subject: [Foundation-l] Wikimania 2006 : general
meeting & getting 
involved

  Dear all,

Wikimania this past August was a joyous and wonderful
event.  It was
remarkable above all for the geographic diversity of
its attendees.

Help make the next Wikimania just as wonderful, and
even more
international and multilingual.  Please translate this
message and
pass it on to your respective mailing lists and wikis.

How to get involved :
1. Come to an IRC meeting next week.  We will be
discussing conference
dates, among other things.  Note what times you can
make it, or add to
the agenda, here:
   
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2006:Planning#Meetings

2. Volunteer your time, language skills, and
enthusiasm:
   
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2006:Planning#Volunteering

3.  Sign up for yet another mailing list
(wikimania-l).  It is
currently low-traffic and primarily English-language;
two things you
can help change.
   
http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l

4. Plan carpools or offer crash space for the event. 
(harder to do
before the date is fixed, of course)
   
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2006:Venue#Attendees


Organizing Wikimania is at once demanding and
rewarding; and a chance
to learn about the inner workings of a large
conference.  Please join
us on IRC, or on the wiki, to find out more.

++SJ
_______________________________________________


		
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