
newsmarkie at googlemail
Mar 28, 2008, 8:54 AM
Post #3 of 8
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congrats Buenos Aires!! thanks to jury for the hard work and decision (finally :-p). just a minor point, but please read the subject "Announcement: Wikimania 2008" as 200*9* :-p many thanks mark On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 3:44 PM, phoebe ayers <phoebe.wiki[at]gmail.com> wrote: > All, > > We are pleased to announce that Buenos Aires has been selected as the > location for Wikimania 2009. > > The jury was particularly excited by a few parts of the Buenos Aires bid: > * A strong, organized team, with division of labor already underway > and support from Wikimedia Argentina. Many people contributed to the > bid, with obvious enthusiasm for organizing the conference and quick > responses to inquiries. > * A detailed budget proposal and planning schedule. Many major > expenses are being covered by the provider. The total budget is > similar to Wikimania 2007's, including a larger travel scholarship > fund, and they have provided detailed charts ahead of time. > * A significant number of sponsors already lined up, with some already > confirmed. They hope to cover half the accommodation and $60k in > travel scholarships, which will help to ease travel costs for > participants from far away. > * A solid venue : as with Toronto, this was situated within a > well-maintained cultural center in a major international city, near an > airline hub; culturally open, and an international melting pot. > * Relaxed visa rules, and easy entry from South American countries. > * Good Spanish-language media contacts, with the promise of outreach > to and the opportunity to work with the Spanish-language Wikimedia > communities. > > Toronto, the runner up, also provided a great bid. The jury was > especially excited by: > * Strong English-language press in the area, and media experience > among the bid team > * A very accessible venue, especially for US/European attendees. > * An excellent venue : a university campus, with dorms directly at the > venue. As with Buenos Aires, it was situated within a well-maintained > cultural center in a major international city, near an airline hub; > culturally open, and an international melting pot. > * Extensive budget accommodation in the dorms; with many options for > casual social space. > * A dedicated bid team, with the hope of Wikimedia Canada being formed > in time to help coordinate. > > However, the jury felt that Buenos Aires' bid showed stronger > organization overall. Additionally, much of the information in the > Toronto bid was carried over from previous bids, and it was unclear > how much of a commitment for the University of Toronto facilities > there was specifically for 2009. > > Brisbane and Karlsruhe also provided good bids. Brisbane in particular > had an enthusiastic bid team and a strong proposal, with particularly > good local sponsorship opportunities; though this was offset by the > high travel costs for out-of-country attendees. The jury felt both > bids needed more detail (including specifics about accommodation > options, and more detailed budget information) to be compelling. > > As in previous years, the relative accessibility of locations was > extensively discussed. The jury believes that it's important for > Wikimania to be accessible to as wide an audience as possible, > particularly to members of the Wikimedia community; the relatively > high cost of travel to South America from Europe and North America was > one of the most significant drawbacks we identified in the Buenos > Aires bid—especially coming on the heels of Taipei and Alexandria. > Having said that, the jury believes that the Buenos Aires bid overcame > this drawback with its numerous advantages, among those the > opportunity to hold the conference in a Spanish-speaking locale, on a > new continent. We hope to receive strong bids from easily accessible > locations for 2010. > > Congratulations to the Buenos Aires team! Wikimania 2009 promises to > be an exciting and successful conference. > > -- Phoebe Ayers, Cary Bass, James Forrester (non-voting jury > moderators), on behalf of the Wikimania 2009 Jury > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2009/Jury > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > Wikimania-l[at]lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >
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