[Wikimania-l] Comments

[Ray Saintonge]

Florence Devouard wrote:
> However, it seems a fair point to say that in the future, we should 
> choose a city where there is an international airport.
>   
I would not treat this as an absolute requirement, but if we must travel 
a significant distance from the city with the primary international 
airport, the difficulties of getting people to the other city need to be 
addressed.

> In terms of "inside" complaints, my biggest one would go to the rather 
> unsufficient "community space" and "food/drinks".
> People were delocalized on several levels so it was very difficult to 
> find each other. Unsufficient room to sit down for lunch. Worse for me: 
> lunch separated for "vip" and "regular". That was a killer for social 
> interactions, and vips could not go to "lunch meeting" with their lunch 
> box since they had no lunch box.
> I naturally know why this was done this way. But I still find that a bad 
> idea. I do not think we should artificially separate "vips" and 
> "regulars". Or at least, we should be able to mix.
> In previous years, the press conf was followed by a lunch in the room. 
> Not this year. Very unfortunate, because for me, it meant... no lunch at 
> all. By the time I got out of interviews, the lunch upstairs was closed. 
> I would suggest sticking to a very light and easy buffet after the press 
> conference.
>   
Having a hot noon meal is probably important too because of the 
nourishment stability that it adds to our personal daily schedules.  
While we would still be free to fend for ourselves for the evening 
meals, there can still be an adventure in finding appropriate restaurants.

> Last, in Taipei light snacks and drinks were available all day long. 
> This year, only tea and coffee and a few cookies, at fixed times. Often, 
> sessions were late, so by the time one got out of the room, coffee break 
> was over. Only once did I succeed to get an out-of-schedule coffee (the 
> day I missed the coffee in morning, then missed the lunch, then missed 
> the coffee break in the afternoon), but it was really tough. Until I 
> found the source of softdrink for money, I had to drink most of my 
> liquid input during the day from the tap. A miracle I was not sick.
> Still, the coffee guys were here all the time, but most of the time 
> simply not serving. It escapes me entirely why coffee, tea and bottle 
> water were not served freely during the entire event. Next year, we 
> should try to be sponsored by Starbucks, as we were by CocaCola in 
> Boston (I am SUPER serious here. We'll save huge amount of time not 
> running to the local starbuck...).
>   
This is especially important when Wikimania is in a hot climate.

> Every Wikimania has its "very cool" and "not so good" sides. As far as I 
> am concerned, the "very cool" have always outweighted the "not so good".
>
> What made me the saddest this year were all the people being sick during 
> the event. I think more warning regarding food and water could have been 
> helpful. What made me the happiest was to see that the outreach was a 
> success.
>   
I think that the only way to avoid this is complete control of food 
services, and I can't imagine that being possible.  Since I got back 
home my doctor has prescribed an antibiotic; I should have known better 
and been more careful, but I have only myself to blame.

> A question for the future though will be as to whether Wikimania will 
> focus on the "outreach" or on the "community gathering".

I think we need to continue doing both.  The programme probably needs to 
be adjusted to better accommodate this, but both paths are vital to 
keeping the mission alive.

Ec