User:KHarold (WMF)/Sandbox/Photo Contests and Events/Plan

Planning your program	This section will help you identify and clarify your goals, decide what programs, events and other strategies will help meet those goals and determine how to measure progress towards goals. • Choose the best program for your community Content coming soon! • Set program goals and key measures of success The best programs focus on one or two realistic goals and have clear measures of success. It is important to establish these in the program planning process, both to write a strong grant proposal and to keep the team of organizers focused on key activities. Define program goals and measures of success: Look at sample goals from similar programs, identify community priorities and decide what you are able to measure. Set achievable goals: Realistic goals will can help volunteers remain engaged and have a rewarding experience. Refer to reports on Wiki Loves Monuments and other photo events: On average, individual WLM contests generate 4,000 images, 13% images in use, 153 participants of which 68% were new users. New user retention and quality image rates are both below 1%. • Include strategies to achieve goals Increase number of photos in use Improve quality of images by hosting photo workshops Keep volunteers motivated

People and Logistics	What kind of resources you need to be successful? This an important step, whether you are planning a contest for the first time or have planned a contest before. In this section you will find guidance on how to build a team of volunteers, and links to research on budgets and timelines used in successful contests. • Determine how much help you need and find volunteers to support you Taking part in an international competition such as Wiki Loves Monuments or Wiki Loves Earth can require significant volunteer time. That said, the structure and excitement around participating in what has been the largest photography contest in the world makes participating in the international contest a great first-project for volunteers to organize together. Project roles for volunteers: Important roles include creating lists and maps of locations to be photographed, securing partnerships, planning events, promoting the contest and managing judging processes. Find volunteers to support a program: Learn how to find project volunteers in your Wikimedia community. • Identify organizations that will benefit from your contest and ask for their support Partners or sponsors can support your event by donating prizes and event space, promote contests to new audiences, provide planning and judging support from subject experts and more. It is important to begin speaking to existing and potential partners many months before a photo event to secure sufficient support. Examples of photo event partners: Create a list of potential partners in your area. Partnerships for contests: Learn about how to build and maintain effective partnerships. • Plan the program budget and find resources to pay for it Plan and manage project budget. Budget guidelines: Tips and guidelines for creating a great budget. Budget templates: This page will help you with the technical task of creating a budget for a grant proposal. Expense Tracker: Blog post on a tool WM Czech Republic developed for easy processing of volunteer expenses. Can be modified for any group and makes photo expeditions/walks much easier to organize! WMF Grants can be used to pay for photo contest prizes and other expenses as well as programs supporting photography communities. In any grant proposal, it is important to demonstrate that your community supports the project, and that the project is necessary to reach community goals. Wikimedia organizations with annual grants: Ask the community to nominate contests and other programs for inclusion in your Annual Plan Grant (APG) proposal. Learn how to involve the community in your annual planning process. Wikimedia organizations or individuals: Apply for a Project and Event Grant (PEG) from WMF to pay for prizes and prize delivery. Do this a few months before the contest begins to ensure the funding arrives in time.

Prizes and Awards	People who participate in contests are often driven by a desire to win a prize or gain recognition from the community. This section will help you determine what kind of prizes may motivate contest participants, and will provide guidance on how to pay for and deliver those prizes. • Choose a prize that participants will value, and that you can deliver Pick the right prize to motivate contest participants. Offer several prize categories to incentivize participants to focus on achieving contest goals. Plan for prize delivery, sometimes delivery can cost more than the prize itself. • Find judges, determine scoring systems and choose tools to simplify the process Recruit judges: Ideas for who to invite and how to manage judging processes. Selecting winners of a large photo event: includes criteria for judging quality and links to judging tools. Use a pre-jury as a tool for community engagement: this strategy has been used to increase new-editor retention after photo contests, and makes judging high-volume contests more manageable. • Plan award ceremonies and follow up events Content coming soon!