[Foundation-l] A question for the Wikimania jury

[Robert Rohde]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 12:57 PM, Jason Safoutin <
jason.safoutin at wikinewsie.org> wrote:

>
>
> foundation-l-request at lists.wikimedia.org wrote:
> > If you're interested in establishing a more regular North American or
> > Europe-wide conference the for years when we don't have Wikimania in the
> > area, then great! We can certainly use more local organization of this
> > sort in the US, and at the Europe-wide level in addition to the numerous
> > country-wide groups there.
> >
> > - -- brion vibber
> >
> Well that would be nice but would WMF pay for all these conferences? Who
> would organize them other than one person? This isn't a task for one or
> two people much less someone with no experience in doing so.
>
> Last I heard the "Conference of The America's" is not happening. Why?
> Not too sure why but if I cannot afford a trip to Buenos Aires or Egypt
> I certainly cannot afford to make my own conference.
>

Jason, you seem to be under a misconception.  Wikimanias are primarily
organized by teams of local volunteers and primarily funded by a combination
of attendee fees and corporate donors, so they take in about as much money
as they spend.  Yes, the Foundation does have a role in planning,
organization, and financing, but in many ways not the dominant role.

So the first step in organizing a conference is assembling a team of
semi-local Wikimedians who are committed to making it happen.  In most cases
that builds off organization at the Chapter level, in places where chapters
exist.  The bid process exists, in part, to ensure that the necessary local
support team has been put in place.

So if you would like a conference to happen near you, perhaps the thing to
do is figure out how you can gather a group of dedicated Wikimedians in your
area to rally around the idea.

-Robert Rohde