[Wikimediaau-l] Melbourne Wikimania 2010

[Nick Jenkins]

A mini-conf at Linux.Conf.Au is certainly a possibility. E.g. Brianna gave a
talk called "Who’s behind Wikipedia?" in Melbourne's Linux.Conf.Au earlier
this year, and it was well-received, and people certainly knew of the
Wikipedia, liked it, the audience was receptive, interested, etc.

To outline the pros and cons:

Pros of having a mini-conf:
* There's much less to organise, so it's more likely to happen. E.g.:
  - time and date and place are largely determined for you
  - accommodation is handled by someone else
  - same for insurance
  - same for registration
  - same for entertainment events at night
  - same for tea/coffee/snacks/biscuits
  - same for organising the venue
* It's an open-source-friendly and free-culture-friendly environment, so
it's receptive, and there are good opportunities for getting in contact with
like-minded groups.
* There will be some overlap in people who will go to this conference as
would go to a local wiki conference, so less travelling for these folks.
* I don't know how much registration would be for the mini-conf only, but
the prices of this conference are pretty reasonable, so I'd guestimate
$80-$120 for the mini-conf only for an adult, and less for students (but
that's just a wild guess from me, and reality may differ)
* We may get participation/a few memberships from people that are attending
the conference anyway, and who are sympathetic to the Wikimedian cause, but
who would not travel to separate conference.
* It's during a common holiday time, which should hopefully give most people
a chance to attend.

Cons of having a mini-conf:
* We need to act _NOW_ and submit a mini-conf application. Closing dates for
applications for mini-conf is 8th August - that's like one week away:
http://linux.conf.au/media/news/15 , so application needs to go in *ASAP*.
* Our application may not successful. (I think we have a good shot though.)
We'd find out the result in September:
http://linux.conf.au/programme/presenter_faq
* It's a fairly technical crowd, and it (as the name suggests) the rest of
the conference has a bias towards Linux. So the rest of the conference may
not overlap with the interests of all Wikimedia Australia folks.
* You cannot directly organise sponsorship (from
http://linux.conf.au/programme/presenter_faq#Miniconfs : "Please also not
that mini-confs are not permitted to seek sponsorship for their mini-confs -
please direct any sponsorship enquiries to our Sponsor Contact")
* Less experience organising stuff (but conversely, more chance of it
happening).
* Hobart is less of a population centre than some other cities, so may
reduce turnout a bit from locals versus if held in a larger city.
* Travel costs getting there may be marginally higher than if held in a
larger city.
* We need to confirm that people can attend a mini-conf only (if they wish
to), and that the fees for this will be much less than for attending the
whole conference.
* It's on a Monday/Tuesday, rather than a weekend.


So given the imminent deadline for mini-conf applications, I'm going to call
for some kind of consensus on whether we should submit for an application,
or whether we should instead try to organise a separate event. (I'm not sure
if this should be done via email or on a wiki somewhere, so if you think
there's a better format for resolving this, please say so and send us a
link). We either need to make a decision, or one will be made for us when
the submissions deadline passes.

Me personally, I'm happy with either a mini-conf, or a separate one or two
day local conference elsewhere, I will try and attend either way, and don't
feel strongly either way.

-- All the best,
Nick.

  -----Original Message-----
  From: wikimediaau-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org
[mailto:wikimediaau-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org]On Behalf Of Daniel Bryant
  Sent: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 12:31 PM
  To: Wikimedia-au
  Subject: Re: [Wikimediaau-l] Melbourne Wikimania 2010


  Acting on the presumption that we would use this weekend (a big
presumption, I know, but it's handy given a lot of OS people are down that
way on this weekend in Hobart), we basically need to decide what is more
convenient:

  *Not having to arrange a venue and getting everyone to Hobart on a Monday
or a Tuesday
  *Arranging a venue in Melbourne and hoping that the Linux/WMAU people from
Hobart will duck up after the Saturday event

  If we're looking for a one-day conference either could work; a two day
conference (which may be overkill) will not with the first, unless we hold
it on the weekend before Linux. The downside of holding it at Linux is it's
a Mon/Tue, but that might not be so bad given it's January (ie. holidays for
many).


  On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 11:49 AM, Angela <beesley at gmail.com> wrote:

    On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 12:14 PM, Daniel Bryant <dbwiki at gmail.com>
wrote:
    > Is Linux one day, or both? if it's one, maybe we could hold it in
Melbourne
    > on the other day of the weekend. I'd certainly be happy to jump across
to
    > Melbourne for a weekend


    It's a whole week. They have "mini-confs" on Monday and Tuesday. Any
    open source project can apply to hold one. This is where WMAU could
    fit it. I'm not saying it's the best option for us - just an
    alternative to be considered.

    Then the main conference is Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and a
    closing event on Saturday (January 24th).


    Angela

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  --
  Cheers,

  Daniel Bryant
  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Daniel>

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