Wikimedia Wikimeet India 2021/Request for Comments/Online engagement strategy

Shortcut:
GRFC

Requests for comment (RFC for short) are processes by which broader input can be requested. This is typically required for policy changes that are broad in scope. It may also be useful to gain wider input regarding conflicts or unresolved issues on other Wikimedia projects with the hopes of obtaining resolution. Add a link to the proposal page or disputed page or create a new subpage requesting comments here (please use {{Rfc subpage}}). Anyone is welcome to give his or her opinion on the requests listed below. See also: all RfC pages and more Wiki-wide elections and votings.

Request for Comments is a discussion place where we are starting a few discussions and inviting you to share comments/views.

Why RFC?: These are a few questions, where we do not know the exact answer, and we believe your comments/inputs will help in planning Wikimedia Wikimeet India 2021 or any other similar event. Let's learn from each other.

Every RFC will have these components–

Question: Narrates the RfC topic in brief, in 1–2 sentences.
Opening Remarks: Explains the question in detail, narrates the things we already know, provides links to resources, and helps to prepare for the discussion.
Discussion: Main part of the RFC, where you will participate and share their comment/opinion/view. Although English might be the common language, feel free to write in any language.
Conclusion/Closing remark: (optional) draws conclusion, if applicable, at the end of the discussion.

Guidelines
Here are the basic guidelines to follow.

Everyone is welcome: Everyone is welcome to comment, from all communities, and all Wikimedia projects.
Topic: All the topics will be directly related to WMWM or conducting the online events and remote participation in general.
In search of an answer: An RFC will ask those questions where there is no clear/perfect answer yet, and a collective or group discussion may help in finding a solution/answer.
Duration: An RFC will be open for at least 14 days (or more than that) unless a perfect answer is unanimously found and concluded before that.
Detailed comment: Please write in details, and avoid brief comments without explanations.
Friendly discussion: Keep the discussion friendly, avoid personal remarks and personal attacks.

Question

How can we engage the participants in an online event? How can we convince them to get involved or take part before/during the event? If you have any idea about the same, please share with us.

Opening remarks

Most of us have experience in conducting on-ground/in-person/mini online events and relatively less experience in conducting online events on a large-scale. Adding to these, areas like cost-effectiveness and the current pandemic situation led us to conduct the Wikimedia Wikimeet 2021. But, there's very little opportunity for the participants or the trainers to interact with each other. How do we make sure that there is enough audience engagement? What are the possible ways to make sure that participants stay interested in the event though they are not attending an in-person event?

If you have any approach to increasing engagement in an online event, please post it here!

Resources

Few ideas for virtual event engagement at markletic blog.

Discussion

If we could have some sort of series of events/activities(could be at individual/collective/sitewide level) which has online component, then it will attract more attention as isolated online events doesn't ensure anything but series of online/offline might ensure some attention of wikimedians, specially new wikimedians would go for some sort of targeted intervention with some tangible goals. thanks QueerEcofeminist [they/them/their] 17:54, 21 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
we can have online activities with proper guidelines, the online platform. Link of an online platform to download. Thanks Kavitha G. Kana (talk) 16:19, 6 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
For presentation type events: A recent online program I attended had a system where all presenters were asked in advance to make a pre-recorded video presentation of a fixed time-limit which was played following which there was a fixed time q & a session. This was very time-bound and productive. Shyamal (talk) 11:09, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Communication is key for online engagement and it is important to identify all viable communication channels from the beginning. Some examples include mailing lists, community groups on the social media and on-wiki pages. Considering that the event is planned to take place online and there are no costs associated with travel and accommodation, it's reasonable to consider global participation that will allow people from different parts of the world take part and enrich the event with their knowledge and experience. Similarly, the call for submission should also be open to people from other parts of the world. Speakers should be given the choice to pre-record their presentations and attend the session only for the discussion part. A useful way to gauge community interest for participation is to set up a page where interested participants can sign up and create a separate page on Eventbrite where those who signed up can confirmation their registration and get their tickets for free (see Wikimedia CEE Online Meeting 2020/Participants/List as an example). It's important to give people the freedom to attend only the sessions that they're particularly interested in. Finally, note that the friendly space policies do also apply for virtual events and the event's safety can be secured by introducing a passcode that will be shared only with the registered participants on Eventbrite in order to disallow intruders to get in.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 14:16, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]