Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Conference Fund/WikiConference North America 2025

Feedback on your proposal

Dear Pacita, dear Pharos, dear organizers,

Thank you very much for submitting your proposal for the "Wikiconference North America 2025."

Overall, the proposal is very thorough, and I appreciate the effort you’ve invested in preparing it. I’ve consulted with a few WMF colleagues—namely Giovanna, Elena, Alex, and Erin—and have incorporated their feedback into this response.

The proposal appears substantial overall. The main objectives, focus, and target group outlined for the event are fairly "general," which makes sense given the size and scope of the event. We believe that Wikimedia NYC is well-positioned to organize an event of this scale, especially as the chapter has recently undergone professionalization, including hiring its first Executive Director. You seem to have a clear understanding of what organizing this conference entails, including the costs, particularly considering that New York City is likely to be more expensive than most other US locations. That said, we do have some concerns about having only one Event Support staff member budgeted. It would be helpful to know how much time and effort this person can dedicate to the event.

We also appreciate that you’ve taken the time to analyze the preliminary results, lessons learned, and budget considerations from the ongoing organization of the upcoming WikiConference North America. This clearly shows that you're not starting from scratch, but are learning, evaluating, and collaborating with Wikimedians in Indiana. That’s great!

In terms of the program, it’s worth noting that the last few cycles of WikiCon North America have followed a somewhat familiar format, often focused on various “how something works” sessions. It would be great if the program organizers could think more intentionally about the design: What capacities or community-strengthening outcomes could be cultivated within the community through the conference? One possible approach could be to highlight the contributions of newcomers or to include perspectives from Mexico and the Caribbean.

Your approach to partners (especially universities, museums, and public libraries, as mentioned in the proposal) is a standout feature, aligning with your goal of attracting younger participants and newcomers.

However, one area where the proposal falls short is in addressing diversity in regional attendance. It’s well-known that WikiConference North America has historically struggled to connect with and attract attendees from Mexico and the Caribbean. Holding the conference once again in the United States might repeat this, as participants from these regions may face visa challenges or feel unwelcome at an event predominantly conducted in English. How do you plan to ensure that more people from outside the US, including Canadians, Mexicans, and Caribbean attendees, can participate? What measures are you taking to provide better visa assistance for participants?

Additionally, it would be helpful to get more clarity on your statement, "We will plan to have more translation/interpretation services than in the past to make sure our spaces are inclusive." Have you obtained a quote for the 6,000 USD budgeted for interpretation services?

As for the budget, your proposal appears solid overall. My colleague Erin from the Travel team shared the following feedback with me. Please note that travel and accommodation will be booked by WMF Travel.

• “Hotel: 40 double rooms @ 75% 3 nights + 25% 4 nights (scholarships):” Based on conversations with this year’s organizer about how they need to budget for more people coming early for the cultural day, we would suggest changing this to 75% 4 nights, 25% 3 nights. Some people may even need to stay 5 nights (depending on whether they can get a flight home on Sunday evening).
• Do you have a quote for your hotel room rate of 190 USD/night? Does it include tax? This seems very low, we would recommend increasing to 225 USD/night
• Flights/transit: 385 USD/flights is very low, this should be at least 500 USD, probably 550 USD.
• Please increase the travel agency fees to 50 USD/person.
• There are no visa fees budgeted. Reimbursing participants that need to apply for a visa is part of the conference budget.

Once again, thank you for submitting such a strong proposal! We’d appreciate it if you could provide further details on the points mentioned above and resubmit your proposal with these adjustments on Fluxx (the proposal is now open for editing).

The deadline for submission is September 30, after which the proposal will be reviewed by the volunteer Conference Fund Committee. A final decision is expected by mid-to-late October.

Best regards, --Cornelius Kibelka (WMF) (talk to me) 20:47, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

Hi Cornelius,

Thanks to you, Giovanna, Elena, Alex, and Erin for the thorough feedback! Will review these notes with the rest of the team and work on amending the proposal before the deadline. I definitely hear you on addressing diversity and we are being very intentional in making sure that there's more representation from Mexico and the Caribbean at this conference, as well as actively engaging the Mexican and Caribbean diaspora that exists here in New York City. We have some ideas but would love to continue to have dialogue with you around this and welcome any other thoughts. We understand that visas may be an issue which is part of our reasoning behind getting started with planning this conference early and launching the scholarship process as soon as we can. The great thing is that there's precedence for this conference and so we'll really be looking at lessons learned from previous conferences to help mitigate some of these issues.

Thanks,

Pacita Pacita (WikiNYC) (talk) 22:03, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

@Pacita (WikiNYC): Wonderful! If you have any questions before September 30, please let me know (best via e-mail). Cheers, --Cornelius Kibelka (WMF) (talk to me) 23:27, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

@Pacita (WikiNYC): Another meaningful budget-related comment from my colleague Erin: "I imagine the organizers would want to check in earlier and check out later than anyone else. If so, then they need to estimate 4-5 nights." Maybe you add that to your budget. Cheers, --Cornelius Kibelka (WMF) (talk to me) 22:07, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

Noted, thank you! Pacita (WikiNYC) (talk) 13:55, 27 September 2024 (UTC)