[Wikimania-l] Announcement: Wikimania 2008

[Majorly]

On 28/03/2008, phoebe ayers <phoebe.wiki at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> All,
>
> We are pleased to announce that Buenos Aires has been selected as the
> location for Wikimania 2009.
>
> The jury was particularly excited by a few parts of the Buenos Aires bid:
> * A strong, organized team, with division of labor already underway
> and support from Wikimedia Argentina. Many people contributed to the
> bid, with obvious enthusiasm for organizing the conference and quick
> responses to inquiries.
> * A detailed budget proposal and planning schedule.  Many major
> expenses are being covered by the provider. The total budget is
> similar to Wikimania 2007's, including a larger travel scholarship
> fund, and they have provided detailed charts ahead of time.
> * A significant number of sponsors already lined up, with some already
> confirmed.  They hope to cover half the accommodation and $60k in
> travel scholarships, which will help to ease travel costs for
> participants from far away.
> * A solid venue : as with Toronto, this was situated within a
> well-maintained cultural center in a major international city, near an
> airline hub; culturally open, and an international melting pot.
> * Relaxed visa rules, and easy entry from South American countries.
> * Good Spanish-language media contacts, with the promise of outreach
> to and the opportunity to work with the Spanish-language Wikimedia
> communities.
>
> Toronto, the runner up, also provided a great bid. The jury was
> especially excited by:
> * Strong English-language press in the area, and media experience
> among the bid team
> * A very accessible venue, especially for US/European attendees.
> * An excellent venue : a university campus, with dorms directly at the
> venue.  As with Buenos Aires, it was situated within a well-maintained
> cultural center in a major international city, near an airline hub;
> culturally open, and an international melting pot.
> * Extensive budget accommodation in the dorms; with many options for
> casual social space.
> * A dedicated bid team, with the hope of Wikimedia Canada being formed
> in time to help coordinate.
>
> However, the jury felt that Buenos Aires' bid showed stronger
> organization overall. Additionally, much of the information in the
> Toronto bid was carried over from previous bids, and it was unclear
> how much of a commitment for the University of Toronto facilities
> there was specifically for 2009.
>
> Brisbane and Karlsruhe also provided good bids. Brisbane in particular
> had an enthusiastic bid team and a strong proposal, with particularly
> good local sponsorship opportunities; though this was offset by the
> high travel costs for out-of-country attendees. The jury felt both
> bids needed more detail (including specifics about accommodation
> options, and more detailed budget information) to be compelling.
>
> As in previous years, the relative accessibility of locations was
> extensively discussed. The jury believes that it's important for
> Wikimania to be accessible to as wide an audience as possible,
> particularly to members of the Wikimedia community; the relatively
> high cost of travel to South America from Europe and North America was
> one of the most significant drawbacks we identified in the Buenos
> Aires bid—especially coming on the heels of Taipei and Alexandria.
> Having said that, the jury believes that the Buenos Aires bid overcame
> this drawback with its numerous advantages, among those the
> opportunity to hold the conference in a Spanish-speaking locale, on a
> new continent.  We hope to receive strong bids from easily accessible
> locations for 2010.
>
> Congratulations to the Buenos Aires team!  Wikimania 2009 promises to
> be an exciting and successful conference.
>
> -- Phoebe Ayers, Cary Bass, James Forrester (non-voting jury
> moderators), on behalf of the Wikimania 2009 Jury
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2009/Jury
>
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Congrats to Buenos Aires! And thanks to all the other teams for their hard
work.

-- 
Alex (Majorly)

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Majorly
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