Yes, London was big, and the two Wikimaniae since have been on a smaller scale, but I'm not sure a ~1,000-person conference is significantly less of a headache than a ~2,000-person conference, and actually I'd wager that Esino was more logistically complicated due to the location - for example having to arrange buses to Varenna and the airports (which were around 50 miles away). Not that that should be taken as a criticism of the Esino team - they did a fantastic job in a beautiful location and I'd love to have another 'scenic Wikimania'.
I'll let Ed tell you about what he did. I know I saw him spend a lot of time dealing with the venue and the programme and discussing finance and logistics, but I'm sure there are lots of other things. Speaking for myself: those volunteers in red shirts? That was my contribution. The volunteers on the helpdesks, running sessions, meeting and greeting, tweeting, photographing, doing odd jobs and generally making things run smoothly ... I recruited most of them*, got to know them, trained them, split them into teams, did a lot of the scheduling (easier said than done - lots of moving parts!). During the conference, they looked after the attendees, and I looked after them. And I've never worked with such an amazing group of people. It was a truly humbling experience, but it was a lot of work. At one point I was receiving something like 200 emails a day just relating to Wikimania and was having to set aside time at the start and end of the day to answer the ones that didn't require an immediate response. I also devised the scheme of reporting and emergency/contingency planning for volunteers (thankfully this wasn't necessary, but the death of a Wikimedian at that year's Wikimedia Conference was painfully fresh in our memories), and spent a lot of time trying to drum up and channel interest within the UK Wikimedian community. I'm sure there were other things, but those roles alone took up a significant amount of time - certainly in excess of 40 hours a week in the final few weeks before the conference. *(Not wishing to take credit from anyone else; I worked closely with lots of other people on all these things, particularly Hera Hussain, and Fabian Tompsett and Chris McKenna who were at the time employed by Wikimedia UK.) Harry Mitchell http://enwp.org/User:HJ +44 (0) 7507 536 971 Skype: harry_j_mitchell On Sun, Jul 10, 2016 at 7:40 PM, Lodewijk <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Harry, Ed, > > Of course London was a bit of an exceptionally big Wikimania - but did you > evaluate your effort somewhere, and note what you spent your time on > somewhere? Just to get an impression which components take most effort (as > Dariusz suggested)? > > Best, > Lodewijk > > 2016-07-10 20:25 GMT+02:00 Harry Mitchell <[email protected]>: > >> I agree with Ed here. Organising a conference of this size is a huge >> undertaking to ask of volunteers. I wouldn't want to see Wikimania go down >> the road of being organised by a team of professional conference organisers >> because then it would lose the organic community feel that makes it so >> special, but we shouldn't rule out stipends for the local team. Otherwise >> we end up with the slightly odd situation of the WMF or local chapter >> bringing in paid staff to fill gaps left by volunteers but the volunteers >> still effectively working full-time unpaid. I had a much smaller role in >> 2014 than Ed and others and was fortunate to be in a position to dedicate a >> lot of time to it; I certainly wouldn't be in a position now to devote as >> much time as I did for free and without wishing to speak for Ed, I doubt he >> would be either even if he was willing. >> >> If that's a problem in major developed economies, I'd imagine it would be >> even more of a problem in places where people have less disposable income. >> >> Harry Mitchell >> http://enwp.org/User:HJ >> +44 (0) 7507 536 971 >> Skype: harry_j_mitchell >> >> On Sun, Jul 10, 2016 at 4:22 PM, Edward Saperia <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Thanks for that comment, Dariusz; >>> >>> Wikimania London took over two years of preparation, and occupied me >>> full time for six months in the run up to the event. It's a massive >>> undertaking, and in retrospect it seems deeply unfair to expect volunteers >>> to do this. >>> >>> There was a bidding process, so there was heavy pressure to >>> minimise/understate the budget - which mostly comes at the cost of the >>> volunteers. I think the community just has to be more realistic about what >>> it costs to put on a 1000+ person event. >>> >>> Were I to do it again I would absolutely include subsistence for the >>> organising team in the budget. It needs professional commitment and >>> professional skills, even with WMF staff support. >>> >>> I do think that the movement deserves an annual event, and particularly >>> that the WMF should capitalise on it more from a comms perspective. >>> Wiki*edia is a significant entity and we should be presenting ourselves as >>> such. >>> >>> *Edward Saperia* >>> Conference Director Wikimania London <http://www.wikimanialondon.org> >>> email <[email protected]> • facebook >>> <http://www.facebook.com/edsaperia> • twitter >>> <http://www.twitter.com/edsaperia> • 07796955572 >>> 133-135 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG >>> >>> >>>> In the same time, I've seen the following problems over the years, not >>>> directly linked to the financial cost (which in the face of our relative >>>> financial stability can be justified by the benefits, depending on how we >>>> define them): >>>> - huge WMF staff involvement (most Wikimanias run smoothly also thanks >>>> to countless hours put in by the staff), >>>> - huge volunteer local organizers involvement (in fact, my observation >>>> is that many chapters organizing WIkimanias suffer from a motivation crisis >>>> afterward). >>>> >>>> [...] >>>> >>>> While we can get the money (at least for now), the human involvement >>>> cost is something I would not dare to dismiss just by emphasizing the >>>> benefits of Wikimania for the movement. >>>> >>>> [...] >>>> >>>> Instead of discussing whether we should have a Wikimania every year or >>>> not, perhaps we should try to list and discuss the reasons why it is such a >>>> big strain? If it is clear that we can't afford it every year (because of >>>> the human cost, probably more importantly than the finances), the decision >>>> to break with the annual format will be a natural consequence of such an >>>> analysis. >>>> >>>> [...] >>>> >>>> Dariusz Jemielniak ("pundit", a current Trustee). >>>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wikimania-l mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > >
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