Wikimania 2016 bids/Esino Lario/Organization/Tasks

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Cute and cuddly, boys. Cute and cuddly! Skipper, Madagascar, 2005.

Guidelines Wikimania

Coordination team

The coordination team has being formed during the bidding stage and it will stay involved throughout the process of the Wikimania Esino Lario and it will coordinate the entire operation. The people involved are almost all located near the site of the conference.

Image	Name	Role	Description of the role	Experience	Contacts
		Lead Coordinator	Makes sure the different parts of the planning team are working together and that the conference as a whole is making progress.
		Deputy Lead Coordinator	Works with the Lead Coordinator in making sure the different parts of the planning team are working together and that the conference as a whole is making progress.
		Budget Manager	Budget plan and control. Works with the hosting organization's treasurer or financial controller.
		Press Contact	Answers emails that come through OTRS, including press inquiries.
		International Coordinator	Writes invitation letters and to help guide people through the visa process and making sure they know all the necessary laws.
		Sponsor Coordinator	A dedicated team member who specializes in arranging sponsorship.
		Volunteer Coordinator	Plans for staffing needs, supports the human resources needs of the planning team. Coordinates the on-site team, she/he is experienced in handling and managing people. He/she will be focused but also friendly, and he or she will know how to diligently and strategically assign volunteer roles during the conference.
		Program Committee Chair	Heads the program committee while coordinating with the planning team. Coordinates with the speakers, especially keynote speakers.
		Special Events Coordinator	Plans the opening and closing parties for Wikimania, as well as other outings that happen during the conference.
		Technical Coordinator	Oversees the server setup, registration software, e-commerce, calendaring, and on-site technical requirements.
		Registration Coordinator	Runs the registration process and answers any questions that may arise.
		Scholarships Coordinator	Serves on the scholarship committee, helps to determine scholarship criteria and arranges accommodations for scholarship awardees during the conference.

Hiring

Conference planner

• It is highly recommended to hire a professional conference planner.
• your conference planner may be able to guide you through the process of insurance.

Registration management company

• Give consideration to hiring a registration management company to handle the printing of name badges and purchase of conference bags, as well as the management of the on-site registration desk. This is a tremendous amount of work best left to experts in conference logistics.
• they will guide you through setting up the registration table.
• If you hire a registration company, registration on-site is what they will specialize in. People will fill out a short form and then have a name badge generated on demand. You will need a cash box to handle cash transactions as well as a system to handle credit card payments. Wikimania 2012 used Square payment processing to great satisfaction.

PR agency or PR person

• Consider enlisting outside help to manage press relations, such as a local PR agency or a PR person.
• you can also have a dedicated person working closely with a public relations firm to plan the press kits for the conference as well as the press conference.

Video production company

• Given the amount of people and expertise it takes to record simultaneous Wikimania sessions, your best bet is to go with a video production company that will handle all the video work.
• If possible you should avoid handling recording and streaming, since it is an extensive operation that risks distracting you from all the other work of organizing Wikimania. However, if you have the capacity or if you have no other choice, this is how to do it yourself.
• Make sure when selecting and negotiating with the company:
  • Streams can be watched with open source tools (i.e., no proprietary software plugins like Adobe Flash)
  • Raw recordings will be provided to the team; optionally, with encoded versions alongside
  • A timeline is established for providing the videos to the team, along with a designated recipient for the videos
  • That the recordings will be released under an appropriate license (i.e., the production company will not try to claim copyright)
• A contractor should be able to provide all the equipment and staff necessary. Ask for references and look up reviews to ensure that you are getting the best for your money, since it is a very expensive investment.
• If your Wikimania will stream videos, make sure the production company is equipped to handle all necessary streaming. If not, make sure they work closely with whoever is handling streaming.
• Other OpenScource-conference are able to publish there videos 1-3 days after the presentation. This increase the impact of the whole conference.

Professional catering service

• For meals, use a professional catering service.
• Your venue may require you to use their on-site catering service. However, since off-site caterers are almost always cheaper, try to find a way out of using on-site catering, even if it means paying a penalty.
• Negotiate everything beforehand.
• Around two weeks before the conference, you will need final numbers for your caterers—you are guaranteeing that you will buy that much food.
• You will need to account for various dietary preferences. Be sure to provide vegetarian and vegan options, and avoid pork if you can. Always have Kosher and Halal options.
• Note that the catering staff will not necessarily speak good English, so food labels that include ingredients and allergens would be very helpful.
• take the opportunity to provide food that's creative and unique to your region/city.
• Wikimania 2011 in Israel provided an excellent array of light Mediterranean food. Wikimania 2012 had decent catered lunches during the pre-conference, but unfortunately needed to shift to uninspired boxed lunches during the main conference to save money.

Online team

• Online base of volunteers can help give your conference an international perspective while also expanding the pool of available volunteers beyond those who happen to live where the conference will be.
• OTRS (customer support). You should have at least one dedicated team member whose job is to keep up with inquiries on OTRS. Consider someone who is already familiar with OTRS. If language differences are not an issue, consider asking remote volunteers to help. It's important to be diligent about responding in a timely manner and keep the backlog low, so multiple volunteers for OTRS is good. Some of the queues involve private information, such as scholarships, so OTRS volunteers need to be willing to identify to the foundation.
• email
• design-related tasks
• Program committee. Feel free to announce on the mailing lists and on the Village Pump.
• Editors of the Wikimania wiki
• Customer support volunteers that is available to answer questions from potential attendees, speakers and volunteers, both in public forums (like the mailing lists) and private ones (like email through OTRS). While this is something that is ongoing throughout the conference planning process, it will become a full-time job shortly before and during the conference.
• scholarships committee
• Appoint one or two people on the conference team to serve as site Bureaucrats. Appoint admins as necessary to delete spam, etc.