On 08/18/2013 06:55 PM, Lodewijk wrote: > Another very different model that has been suggested many times but nobody > has worked it out: wikimania wide speed dating. Set one plenary session > aside, and allocate people table numbers. Yes, this includes the keynote > speakers, Wikimania volunteers/organizers, board members and /all/ staff > members that are in town! And connect them semi-randomly (ideally avoiding > similar people somewhat). If we do that at the beginning of the conference, > I'm sure that the rest will be so much more vivid and effective! Because > after one hour of 8 x 5 min you know at least 8 people you never spoke > before and probably would not have talked with otherwise!
I can play "extrovert" when necessary, and this sounds fun to me, as one option to help people understand my work and to better understand the contributions others are making. Another option: a "science fair" room (like the posters section of an academic conference) where individuals set up and stand near posters and demonstrations of their recent work. I went to an "open source science fair" recently http://opensourcesciencefair.com/events.html and loved it. This is a nice format. Quieter people can drift around the room looking and listening without having to speak up. It's like lightning talks, but simultaneous instead of sequential, and allowing for more ad hoc conversations. -- Sumana Harihareswara Engineering Community Manager Wikimedia Foundation _______________________________________________ Wikimania-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
