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anthere at anthere

Jul 19, 2012, 2:57 AM

Post #1 of 20 (291 views)
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Feedback

https://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback

I dropped my comments over there.

There are three things on which I would like to specifically insist upon

The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference"
rather than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I
could see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German
chapter people hanging there. And in another corner the editing
community of the English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And
though there were naturally bridges between those groups, there was not
much mixing and bonding.
Seeing Wikimania as a conference is not really helping closing the gap.
We get 4 or 5 sessions in parallel. Glam group goes there in the session
related to Glam. Editing community goes there listening to the session
related to arbitration. Chapter group here goes to listen to legal
risks. And so on. The more sessions we have in parallel, the more chance
that each group stick to its habits.
Adding side events does not necessarily help. When wandering in the
street, we could meet with a group of iberocoop people sticking together
or a group of WMF staff members heading to that restaurant. Even the
wikichix meeting could have been done differently. Such as giving the
time to each women of ONE table to present to each other rather than all
of us to each other. And making sure that women do not sit by their
friends but with new women.
The side meeting probably helping the most are actually visits (such as
the visit to the Capitol) since these are smaller groups of various
origins.
But there is this tendency to group with people you already know because
it is always tough to get to new people you know little about.
In the past, I remember events that helped create more bonding. For
example, sleeping in one area rather than dozen. For example, breaking a
wikiball together. For example, hosting lightning talks in the main
lobby all along the conference.
I think we need to think of Wikimania more as a networking event than it
is right now. And give more chance to isolated people to connect and
more chance to groups to break and bridge with other groups.
I hope there can be discussions on how to achieve that (looking at how
networking groups do is a good direction) and that next year team will
have that at heart.

The second is that I was actually surprised to see the organizing team
put itself so much "in the background".
I did not feel very satisfied that the team was essentially listed on a
slide at the beginning and end of the conference and that we see a group
of people on stage during 1 mn at the closing. If only because I will
hardly remember any of the team member besides James, Aude and Danny.
James as the leader. Aude and Danny because I already know them. But
others ? Unfortunately not. Their names were plastered on an slide
(since I didnot know them, it did not help me to recognise their face
afterwards). In a regular conference, this is normal. We just thank the
organizers and give them a one minute fame.
But at Wikimania, the team should be special. It should be leader and at
the heart of the event. We should know who they are and at the end of
the conference, I feel we should feel like hugging them like mad for
what they did (or hate them :)). There are various ways to do that. Such
as at least presenting each of them at the beginning so that we have a
face in front of the name. Putting a big wall in the lobby with the face
and name, their role, and their favorite food (or whatever). Setting up
a 10 mn presentation at the beginning of the day. Having a contest with
them on stage. A banner to sign. A tower in lego to destroy. Anything.

The third is.... WMF board. The Q&A is a tradition; but I feel
traditions ought to change sometimes. It probably made more sense to
have a board Q&A when we had no staff at all. Now, the staff is
providing one keynote (Sue) plus many talks (not far from half of
Wikimania talks I think) and providing plenty of input during three
days. So the board Q&A is getting boring and not very useful anyway.
Plus, as I told Jay, the concept of having a WMF staff select and ask
the questions is setting up a barrier, thus increasing the distance
between board and wikimedians. To be fair, I find it odd that most
wikimedians have next to no idea of what the individual board members
think on a specific topic. And most answers to board does not succeed to
fix that. It should be clarified if the goal of this "event" is to help
members understand better what individual members think OR if it is to
understand better board strategy OR if it is to better understand
certain issues. But if these issues are operational in nature, the
questions should go to staff, not board.
I think it is time to have another format. I wonder if it might not make
sense to rather select one hot topic per year and have board give their
opinion on that very topic in details and with individual position
rather than having them give short, bland answers to 10 random questions.

Florence

_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l [at] lists
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l

fluffernutter.wiki at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 8:06 AM

Post #2 of 20 (276 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

I agree with Florence's comment about being sad that Wikimania is no longer
a giant meetup. For all that the talks and lectures are very informative, I
sort of wish that we had the GLAM track lecture, the Dev track, the
[whatever] track, *AND *the "I just want to hang out with people" track.
Give those of us who show up mostly because we want to meet and talk to
other Wikimanians a big room, and maybe a lot of beer or snacks, and see
what develops! We end up ad-hoc-ing this oftentimes by using the ballroom,
or the lobby, or whatever large space, but even those are often set up in a
way that makes me think it never occurred to anyone that some of us would
spend most of our time there if we could. Lack of seating or enough
outlets, the tendency Florence mentions for people to clump off at tables
by their affiliation, and lack of central location for the hang-out space
are some of the pitfalls I've noticed happening in the past two wikimaniae.
If I ran the world, every Wikimania would have a large room full of
abundant couches (not tables to sit around, and not rows of chairs) and
electrical outlets where people would be encouraged to just hang out and
meet new people.

-Fluffernutter

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 5:57 AM, Florence Devouard <anthere [at] anthere>wrote:

> https://wikimania2012.**wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback<https://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback>
>
> I dropped my comments over there.
>
> There are three things on which I would like to specifically insist upon
>
> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference"
> rather than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I
> could see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German
> chapter people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community
> of the English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there
> were naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and
> bonding.
> Seeing Wikimania as a conference is not really helping closing the gap. We
> get 4 or 5 sessions in parallel. Glam group goes there in the session
> related to Glam. Editing community goes there listening to the session
> related to arbitration. Chapter group here goes to listen to legal risks.
> And so on. The more sessions we have in parallel, the more chance that each
> group stick to its habits.
> Adding side events does not necessarily help. When wandering in the
> street, we could meet with a group of iberocoop people sticking together or
> a group of WMF staff members heading to that restaurant. Even the wikichix
> meeting could have been done differently. Such as giving the time to each
> women of ONE table to present to each other rather than all of us to each
> other. And making sure that women do not sit by their friends but with new
> women.
> The side meeting probably helping the most are actually visits (such as
> the visit to the Capitol) since these are smaller groups of various origins.
> But there is this tendency to group with people you already know because
> it is always tough to get to new people you know little about.
> In the past, I remember events that helped create more bonding. For
> example, sleeping in one area rather than dozen. For example, breaking a
> wikiball together. For example, hosting lightning talks in the main lobby
> all along the conference.
> I think we need to think of Wikimania more as a networking event than it
> is right now. And give more chance to isolated people to connect and more
> chance to groups to break and bridge with other groups.
> I hope there can be discussions on how to achieve that (looking at how
> networking groups do is a good direction) and that next year team will have
> that at heart.
>
>
> The second is that I was actually surprised to see the organizing team put
> itself so much "in the background".
> I did not feel very satisfied that the team was essentially listed on a
> slide at the beginning and end of the conference and that we see a group of
> people on stage during 1 mn at the closing. If only because I will hardly
> remember any of the team member besides James, Aude and Danny. James as the
> leader. Aude and Danny because I already know them. But others ?
> Unfortunately not. Their names were plastered on an slide (since I didnot
> know them, it did not help me to recognise their face afterwards). In a
> regular conference, this is normal. We just thank the organizers and give
> them a one minute fame.
> But at Wikimania, the team should be special. It should be leader and at
> the heart of the event. We should know who they are and at the end of the
> conference, I feel we should feel like hugging them like mad for what they
> did (or hate them :)). There are various ways to do that. Such as at least
> presenting each of them at the beginning so that we have a face in front of
> the name. Putting a big wall in the lobby with the face and name, their
> role, and their favorite food (or whatever). Setting up a 10 mn
> presentation at the beginning of the day. Having a contest with them on
> stage. A banner to sign. A tower in lego to destroy. Anything.
>
>
> The third is.... WMF board. The Q&A is a tradition; but I feel traditions
> ought to change sometimes. It probably made more sense to have a board Q&A
> when we had no staff at all. Now, the staff is providing one keynote (Sue)
> plus many talks (not far from half of Wikimania talks I think) and
> providing plenty of input during three days. So the board Q&A is getting
> boring and not very useful anyway. Plus, as I told Jay, the concept of
> having a WMF staff select and ask the questions is setting up a barrier,
> thus increasing the distance between board and wikimedians. To be fair, I
> find it odd that most wikimedians have next to no idea of what the
> individual board members think on a specific topic. And most answers to
> board does not succeed to fix that. It should be clarified if the goal of
> this "event" is to help members understand better what individual members
> think OR if it is to understand better board strategy OR if it is to better
> understand certain issues. But if these issues are operational in nature,
> the questions should go to staff, not board.
> I think it is time to have another format. I wonder if it might not make
> sense to rather select one hot topic per year and have board give their
> opinion on that very topic in details and with individual position rather
> than having them give short, bland answers to 10 random questions.
>
>
> Florence
>
> ______________________________**_________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l [at] lists**org <Wikimania-l [at] lists>
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/**mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l>
>

josephfoxwiki at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 8:18 AM

Post #3 of 20 (281 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

To be honest, I think I spent the majority of the time just sitting with a laptop in the big rooms and I felt that the conference's structure was well done (i.e. it allowed for this laziness rather than tutting at me for it).

I think what you're really looking for is one giant unconference - and, given that Sunday was clearly the least productive day of the whole weekend, I don't think Wikimania 2013 would really benefit from a complete overhaul of the "seminar" structure.

We need to somehow find a way to make Wikimania the best of both worlds - being able to meet and sit with others while also learning something from the experience.

I'm sure that the Hong Kong people will be able to improve on what was already a very good and informative conference next year, anyway. :)

Joe

On 19 Jul 2012, at 23:06, Katherine Casey wrote:

> I agree with Florence's comment about being sad that Wikimania is no longer a giant meetup. For all that the talks and lectures are very informative, I sort of wish that we had the GLAM track lecture, the Dev track, the [whatever] track, AND the "I just want to hang out with people" track. Give those of us who show up mostly because we want to meet and talk to other Wikimanians a big room, and maybe a lot of beer or snacks, and see what develops! We end up ad-hoc-ing this oftentimes by using the ballroom, or the lobby, or whatever large space, but even those are often set up in a way that makes me think it never occurred to anyone that some of us would spend most of our time there if we could. Lack of seating or enough outlets, the tendency Florence mentions for people to clump off at tables by their affiliation, and lack of central location for the hang-out space are some of the pitfalls I've noticed happening in the past two wikimaniae. If I ran the world, every Wikimania would have a large room full of abundant couches (not tables to sit around, and not rows of chairs) and electrical outlets where people would be encouraged to just hang out and meet new people.
>
> -Fluffernutter
>
> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 5:57 AM, Florence Devouard <anthere [at] anthere> wrote:
> https://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback
>
> I dropped my comments over there.
>
> There are three things on which I would like to specifically insist upon
>
> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference" rather than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I could see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German chapter people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community of the English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there were naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and bonding.
> Seeing Wikimania as a conference is not really helping closing the gap. We get 4 or 5 sessions in parallel. Glam group goes there in the session related to Glam. Editing community goes there listening to the session related to arbitration. Chapter group here goes to listen to legal risks. And so on. The more sessions we have in parallel, the more chance that each group stick to its habits.
> Adding side events does not necessarily help. When wandering in the street, we could meet with a group of iberocoop people sticking together or a group of WMF staff members heading to that restaurant. Even the wikichix meeting could have been done differently. Such as giving the time to each women of ONE table to present to each other rather than all of us to each other. And making sure that women do not sit by their friends but with new women.
> The side meeting probably helping the most are actually visits (such as the visit to the Capitol) since these are smaller groups of various origins.
> But there is this tendency to group with people you already know because it is always tough to get to new people you know little about.
> In the past, I remember events that helped create more bonding. For example, sleeping in one area rather than dozen. For example, breaking a wikiball together. For example, hosting lightning talks in the main lobby all along the conference.
> I think we need to think of Wikimania more as a networking event than it is right now. And give more chance to isolated people to connect and more chance to groups to break and bridge with other groups.
> I hope there can be discussions on how to achieve that (looking at how networking groups do is a good direction) and that next year team will have that at heart.
>
>
> The second is that I was actually surprised to see the organizing team put itself so much "in the background".
> I did not feel very satisfied that the team was essentially listed on a slide at the beginning and end of the conference and that we see a group of people on stage during 1 mn at the closing. If only because I will hardly remember any of the team member besides James, Aude and Danny. James as the leader. Aude and Danny because I already know them. But others ? Unfortunately not. Their names were plastered on an slide (since I didnot know them, it did not help me to recognise their face afterwards). In a regular conference, this is normal. We just thank the organizers and give them a one minute fame.
> But at Wikimania, the team should be special. It should be leader and at the heart of the event. We should know who they are and at the end of the conference, I feel we should feel like hugging them like mad for what they did (or hate them :)). There are various ways to do that. Such as at least presenting each of them at the beginning so that we have a face in front of the name. Putting a big wall in the lobby with the face and name, their role, and their favorite food (or whatever). Setting up a 10 mn presentation at the beginning of the day. Having a contest with them on stage. A banner to sign. A tower in lego to destroy. Anything.
>
>
> The third is.... WMF board. The Q&A is a tradition; but I feel traditions ought to change sometimes. It probably made more sense to have a board Q&A when we had no staff at all. Now, the staff is providing one keynote (Sue) plus many talks (not far from half of Wikimania talks I think) and providing plenty of input during three days. So the board Q&A is getting boring and not very useful anyway. Plus, as I told Jay, the concept of having a WMF staff select and ask the questions is setting up a barrier, thus increasing the distance between board and wikimedians. To be fair, I find it odd that most wikimedians have next to no idea of what the individual board members think on a specific topic. And most answers to board does not succeed to fix that. It should be clarified if the goal of this "event" is to help members understand better what individual members think OR if it is to understand better board strategy OR if it is to better understand certain issues. But if these issues are operational in nature, the questions should go to staff, not board.
> I think it is time to have another format. I wonder if it might not make sense to rather select one hot topic per year and have board give their opinion on that very topic in details and with individual position rather than having them give short, bland answers to 10 random questions.
>
>
> Florence
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l [at] lists
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l [at] lists
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l

lodewijk at effeietsanders

Jul 19, 2012, 8:22 AM

Post #4 of 20 (280 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

Something I would personally appreciate as an improvement, is a block of 2
hour around lunch with NO INTERNET! That ought to improve the mingling :)

Also speeddating seems to be an effective method (there are many ways to
accomplish that).

Lodewijk

2012/7/19 Katherine Casey <fluffernutter.wiki [at] gmail>

> I agree with Florence's comment about being sad that Wikimania is no
> longer a giant meetup. For all that the talks and lectures are very
> informative, I sort of wish that we had the GLAM track lecture, the Dev
> track, the [whatever] track, *AND *the "I just want to hang out with
> people" track. Give those of us who show up mostly because we want to meet
> and talk to other Wikimanians a big room, and maybe a lot of beer or
> snacks, and see what develops! We end up ad-hoc-ing this oftentimes by
> using the ballroom, or the lobby, or whatever large space, but even those
> are often set up in a way that makes me think it never occurred to anyone
> that some of us would spend most of our time there if we could. Lack of
> seating or enough outlets, the tendency Florence mentions for people to
> clump off at tables by their affiliation, and lack of central location for
> the hang-out space are some of the pitfalls I've noticed happening in the
> past two wikimaniae. If I ran the world, every Wikimania would have a large
> room full of abundant couches (not tables to sit around, and not rows of
> chairs) and electrical outlets where people would be encouraged to just
> hang out and meet new people.
>
> -Fluffernutter
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 5:57 AM, Florence Devouard <anthere [at] anthere>wrote:
>
>> https://wikimania2012.**wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback<https://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback>
>>
>> I dropped my comments over there.
>>
>> There are three things on which I would like to specifically insist upon
>>
>> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference"
>> rather than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
>> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I
>> could see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German
>> chapter people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community
>> of the English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there
>> were naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and
>> bonding.
>> Seeing Wikimania as a conference is not really helping closing the gap.
>> We get 4 or 5 sessions in parallel. Glam group goes there in the session
>> related to Glam. Editing community goes there listening to the session
>> related to arbitration. Chapter group here goes to listen to legal risks.
>> And so on. The more sessions we have in parallel, the more chance that each
>> group stick to its habits.
>> Adding side events does not necessarily help. When wandering in the
>> street, we could meet with a group of iberocoop people sticking together or
>> a group of WMF staff members heading to that restaurant. Even the wikichix
>> meeting could have been done differently. Such as giving the time to each
>> women of ONE table to present to each other rather than all of us to each
>> other. And making sure that women do not sit by their friends but with new
>> women.
>> The side meeting probably helping the most are actually visits (such as
>> the visit to the Capitol) since these are smaller groups of various origins.
>> But there is this tendency to group with people you already know because
>> it is always tough to get to new people you know little about.
>> In the past, I remember events that helped create more bonding. For
>> example, sleeping in one area rather than dozen. For example, breaking a
>> wikiball together. For example, hosting lightning talks in the main lobby
>> all along the conference.
>> I think we need to think of Wikimania more as a networking event than it
>> is right now. And give more chance to isolated people to connect and more
>> chance to groups to break and bridge with other groups.
>> I hope there can be discussions on how to achieve that (looking at how
>> networking groups do is a good direction) and that next year team will have
>> that at heart.
>>
>>
>> The second is that I was actually surprised to see the organizing team
>> put itself so much "in the background".
>> I did not feel very satisfied that the team was essentially listed on a
>> slide at the beginning and end of the conference and that we see a group of
>> people on stage during 1 mn at the closing. If only because I will hardly
>> remember any of the team member besides James, Aude and Danny. James as the
>> leader. Aude and Danny because I already know them. But others ?
>> Unfortunately not. Their names were plastered on an slide (since I didnot
>> know them, it did not help me to recognise their face afterwards). In a
>> regular conference, this is normal. We just thank the organizers and give
>> them a one minute fame.
>> But at Wikimania, the team should be special. It should be leader and at
>> the heart of the event. We should know who they are and at the end of the
>> conference, I feel we should feel like hugging them like mad for what they
>> did (or hate them :)). There are various ways to do that. Such as at least
>> presenting each of them at the beginning so that we have a face in front of
>> the name. Putting a big wall in the lobby with the face and name, their
>> role, and their favorite food (or whatever). Setting up a 10 mn
>> presentation at the beginning of the day. Having a contest with them on
>> stage. A banner to sign. A tower in lego to destroy. Anything.
>>
>>
>> The third is.... WMF board. The Q&A is a tradition; but I feel traditions
>> ought to change sometimes. It probably made more sense to have a board Q&A
>> when we had no staff at all. Now, the staff is providing one keynote (Sue)
>> plus many talks (not far from half of Wikimania talks I think) and
>> providing plenty of input during three days. So the board Q&A is getting
>> boring and not very useful anyway. Plus, as I told Jay, the concept of
>> having a WMF staff select and ask the questions is setting up a barrier,
>> thus increasing the distance between board and wikimedians. To be fair, I
>> find it odd that most wikimedians have next to no idea of what the
>> individual board members think on a specific topic. And most answers to
>> board does not succeed to fix that. It should be clarified if the goal of
>> this "event" is to help members understand better what individual members
>> think OR if it is to understand better board strategy OR if it is to better
>> understand certain issues. But if these issues are operational in nature,
>> the questions should go to staff, not board.
>> I think it is time to have another format. I wonder if it might not make
>> sense to rather select one hot topic per year and have board give their
>> opinion on that very topic in details and with individual position rather
>> than having them give short, bland answers to 10 random questions.
>>
>>
>> Florence
>>
>> ______________________________**_________________
>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>> Wikimania-l [at] lists**org <Wikimania-l [at] lists>
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/**mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l>
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l [at] lists
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>

tom at tommorris

Jul 19, 2012, 8:22 AM

Post #5 of 20 (278 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

On Thursday, 19 July 2012 at 16:18, Joseph Fox wrote:
> To be honest, I think I spent the majority of the time just sitting with a laptop in the big rooms and I felt that the conference's structure was well done (i.e. it allowed for this laziness rather than tutting at me for it).
>
> I think what you're really looking for is one giant unconference - and, given that Sunday was clearly the least productive day of the whole weekend, I don't think Wikimania 2013 would really benefit from a complete overhaul of the "seminar" structure.
>
> We need to somehow find a way to make Wikimania the best of both worlds - being able to meet and sit with others while also learning something from the experience.

I think Wikimania could do with having a small group tutorial track. There's lots we can teach each other in a small group structure. Article writing, writing for Wikinews, handling difficult OTRS responses (obviously, that's only for OTRSers), bot hacking, dispute resolution techniques, handling image copyrights, restoring images, reviewing Good Articles, whatever. There's lots of things we can teach each other, and having a slightly more formalised way of doing so in small groups seems like a really useful thing we could do at Wikimania.

--
Tom Morris
<http://tommorris.org/>

_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l [at] lists
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l

nicholasbashour at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 8:27 AM

Post #6 of 20 (277 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

2012/7/19 Lodewijk <lodewijk [at] effeietsanders>
Something I would personally appreciate as an improvement, is a block of 2
hour around lunch with NO INTERNET! That ought to improve the mingling :)

That's what we would call an "Analogue Hour," which I would be in favor of
having. I think encouraging people to put down cell phones, computers,
iPads, and other electronic devices for a defined period of time during the
day would encourage more personal interactions. Not everyone will
participate, but if a lot of people do it, it will be considered a success.

Sincerely,

Nicholas Michael Bashour
President
Wikimedia District of Columbia
Washington, DC, USA

josephfoxwiki at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 8:28 AM

Post #7 of 20 (276 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

That's not a bad idea actually! But I imagine people would be baying for blood quite quickly ;)

Joe

On 19 Jul 2012, at 23:22, Lodewijk wrote:

> Something I would personally appreciate as an improvement, is a block of 2 hour around lunch with NO INTERNET! That ought to improve the mingling :)
>
> Also speeddating seems to be an effective method (there are many ways to accomplish that).
>
> Lodewijk
>
> 2012/7/19 Katherine Casey <fluffernutter.wiki [at] gmail>
> I agree with Florence's comment about being sad that Wikimania is no longer a giant meetup. For all that the talks and lectures are very informative, I sort of wish that we had the GLAM track lecture, the Dev track, the [whatever] track, AND the "I just want to hang out with people" track. Give those of us who show up mostly because we want to meet and talk to other Wikimanians a big room, and maybe a lot of beer or snacks, and see what develops! We end up ad-hoc-ing this oftentimes by using the ballroom, or the lobby, or whatever large space, but even those are often set up in a way that makes me think it never occurred to anyone that some of us would spend most of our time there if we could. Lack of seating or enough outlets, the tendency Florence mentions for people to clump off at tables by their affiliation, and lack of central location for the hang-out space are some of the pitfalls I've noticed happening in the past two wikimaniae. If I ran the world, every Wikimania would have a large room full of abundant couches (not tables to sit around, and not rows of chairs) and electrical outlets where people would be encouraged to just hang out and meet new people.
>
> -Fluffernutter
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 5:57 AM, Florence Devouard <anthere [at] anthere> wrote:
> https://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback
>
> I dropped my comments over there.
>
> There are three things on which I would like to specifically insist upon
>
> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference" rather than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I could see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German chapter people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community of the English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there were naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and bonding.
> Seeing Wikimania as a conference is not really helping closing the gap. We get 4 or 5 sessions in parallel. Glam group goes there in the session related to Glam. Editing community goes there listening to the session related to arbitration. Chapter group here goes to listen to legal risks. And so on. The more sessions we have in parallel, the more chance that each group stick to its habits.
> Adding side events does not necessarily help. When wandering in the street, we could meet with a group of iberocoop people sticking together or a group of WMF staff members heading to that restaurant. Even the wikichix meeting could have been done differently. Such as giving the time to each women of ONE table to present to each other rather than all of us to each other. And making sure that women do not sit by their friends but with new women.
> The side meeting probably helping the most are actually visits (such as the visit to the Capitol) since these are smaller groups of various origins.
> But there is this tendency to group with people you already know because it is always tough to get to new people you know little about.
> In the past, I remember events that helped create more bonding. For example, sleeping in one area rather than dozen. For example, breaking a wikiball together. For example, hosting lightning talks in the main lobby all along the conference.
> I think we need to think of Wikimania more as a networking event than it is right now. And give more chance to isolated people to connect and more chance to groups to break and bridge with other groups.
> I hope there can be discussions on how to achieve that (looking at how networking groups do is a good direction) and that next year team will have that at heart.
>
>
> The second is that I was actually surprised to see the organizing team put itself so much "in the background".
> I did not feel very satisfied that the team was essentially listed on a slide at the beginning and end of the conference and that we see a group of people on stage during 1 mn at the closing. If only because I will hardly remember any of the team member besides James, Aude and Danny. James as the leader. Aude and Danny because I already know them. But others ? Unfortunately not. Their names were plastered on an slide (since I didnot know them, it did not help me to recognise their face afterwards). In a regular conference, this is normal. We just thank the organizers and give them a one minute fame.
> But at Wikimania, the team should be special. It should be leader and at the heart of the event. We should know who they are and at the end of the conference, I feel we should feel like hugging them like mad for what they did (or hate them :)). There are various ways to do that. Such as at least presenting each of them at the beginning so that we have a face in front of the name. Putting a big wall in the lobby with the face and name, their role, and their favorite food (or whatever). Setting up a 10 mn presentation at the beginning of the day. Having a contest with them on stage. A banner to sign. A tower in lego to destroy. Anything.
>
>
> The third is.... WMF board. The Q&A is a tradition; but I feel traditions ought to change sometimes. It probably made more sense to have a board Q&A when we had no staff at all. Now, the staff is providing one keynote (Sue) plus many talks (not far from half of Wikimania talks I think) and providing plenty of input during three days. So the board Q&A is getting boring and not very useful anyway. Plus, as I told Jay, the concept of having a WMF staff select and ask the questions is setting up a barrier, thus increasing the distance between board and wikimedians. To be fair, I find it odd that most wikimedians have next to no idea of what the individual board members think on a specific topic. And most answers to board does not succeed to fix that. It should be clarified if the goal of this "event" is to help members understand better what individual members think OR if it is to understand better board strategy OR if it is to better understand certain issues. But if these issues are operational in nature, the questions should go to staff, not board.
> I think it is time to have another format. I wonder if it might not make sense to rather select one hot topic per year and have board give their opinion on that very topic in details and with individual position rather than having them give short, bland answers to 10 random questions.
>
>
> Florence
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l [at] lists
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l [at] lists
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l

andy at pigsonthewing

Jul 19, 2012, 8:44 AM

Post #8 of 20 (280 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

On 19 July 2012 11:18, Joseph Fox <josephfoxwiki [at] gmail> wrote:

> I think what you're really looking for is one giant unconference - and,
> given that Sunday was clearly the least productive day of the whole weekend,
> I don't think Wikimania 2013 would really benefit from a complete overhaul
> of the "seminar" structure.

I agree that Sunday was unproductive (although I got a lot out of the
session I led, in which I invited others to suggest solutions to
issues I'd been experiencing). But I'm sure that was a result of the
unconference being tagged on "after" Wikimania, rather than being a
part of it, and being ill-explained and under-promoted before the day
(conversely, the facilitation on the day was good).

Indeed, every other unconference I've ever been to has been /highly/
productive, and I'd be in favour of replacing the formal sessions with
/just/ an unconference.

--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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tom at tommorris

Jul 19, 2012, 8:47 AM

Post #9 of 20 (282 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

On Thursday, 19 July 2012 at 16:44, Andy Mabbett wrote:

> I agree that Sunday was unproductive (although I got a lot out of the
> session I led, in which I invited others to suggest solutions to
> issues I'd been experiencing). But I'm sure that was a result of the
> unconference being tagged on "after" Wikimania, rather than being a
> part of it, and being ill-explained and under-promoted before the day
> (conversely, the facilitation on the day was good).
>
> Indeed, every other unconference I've ever been to has been /highly/
> productive, and I'd be in favour of replacing the formal sessions with
> /just/ an unconference.

That may just be because the Wikimedia crowd aren't familiar with how unconferences work. I'm tempted to suggest we ought to try having a one-day WikiCamp in London organised with the advice of people who have run a few unconferences before, so we can test the model independently. ;-)

--
Tom Morris
<http://tommorris.org/>

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thomas.dalton at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 8:59 AM

Post #10 of 20 (280 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

On 19 July 2012 05:57, Florence Devouard <anthere [at] anthere> wrote:
> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference" rather
> than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I could
> see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German chapter
> people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community of the
> English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there were
> naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and
> bonding.

I certainly found myself talking to people from the UK far too much. I
did make a point of leaving the UK group to go and speak to other
people a few times, but there is a strong tendency to drift back to
the people you know. I think it becomes more of a problem the larger
Wikimania gets.

Having been to quite a few international Wikimedia events, I know a
lot of non-UK people too, which helps. People at their first
international Wikimedia event must find it even harder. There
difficult part is always initialising conversation with someone new
(we're all Wikimedians, so finding something in common to discuss once
you've started talking is usually pretty easy). I have two ideas for
helping people initiate conversation:

* A speed-dating style event near the beginning of the conference.
Make sure it is the only thing happening at that time to maximise
participation. You won't be able to get everyone to talk to everyone
else within a reasonable amount of time (1000 people, 30 seconds each,
that's over 8 hours!) but you could speak to a large enough proportion
of attendees for there to be someone you've met in most groups so that
you can easily join the group.

* "Talk to me about..." lists on badges. Knowing that someone is
interested in a particular thing can give you an excuse to talk to
them.

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fluffernutter.wiki at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 9:03 AM

Post #11 of 20 (280 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

Thomas, I LOVE this idea. Can we please please please have this for our
badges next year, Hong Kong people? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

-Fluff

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton [at] gmail>wrote:
<snip>

>
> * "Talk to me about..." lists on badges. Knowing that someone is
> interested in a particular thing can give you an excuse to talk to
> them.

tom at tommorris

Jul 19, 2012, 9:04 AM

Post #12 of 20 (279 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

On Thursday, 19 July 2012 at 17:03, Katherine Casey wrote:

> Thomas, I LOVE this idea. Can we please please please have this for our badges next year, Hong Kong people? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

We need the conference badge anyone can edit. ;-)

--
Tom Morris
<http://tommorris.org/>

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gpaumier at wikimedia

Jul 19, 2012, 9:05 AM

Post #13 of 20 (279 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

Hi,

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 5:59 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton [at] gmail> wrote:
>
> * "Talk to me about..." lists on badges. Knowing that someone is
> interested in a particular thing can give you an excuse to talk to
> them.

I'd like to +1 this. It was done for the hackathon badges in 2011 iirc
and it was great. It makes it easier for introverts (of which there is
no shortage among Wikimedians) to start conversations.

It's probably not enough (meaning it needs to be supplemented with
other mechanisms to facilitate interaction, including in smaller
groups and/or more quiet venues) but it's a good start.

--
Guillaume Paumier

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josephfoxwiki at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 9:05 AM

Post #14 of 20 (277 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

I do hope the HK guys are reading ;)

Joe

On 19 Jul 2012, at 23:59, Thomas Dalton wrote:

> On 19 July 2012 05:57, Florence Devouard <anthere [at] anthere> wrote:
>> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference" rather
>> than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
>> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I could
>> see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German chapter
>> people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community of the
>> English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there were
>> naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and
>> bonding.
>
> I certainly found myself talking to people from the UK far too much. I
> did make a point of leaving the UK group to go and speak to other
> people a few times, but there is a strong tendency to drift back to
> the people you know. I think it becomes more of a problem the larger
> Wikimania gets.
>
> Having been to quite a few international Wikimedia events, I know a
> lot of non-UK people too, which helps. People at their first
> international Wikimedia event must find it even harder. There
> difficult part is always initialising conversation with someone new
> (we're all Wikimedians, so finding something in common to discuss once
> you've started talking is usually pretty easy). I have two ideas for
> helping people initiate conversation:
>
> * A speed-dating style event near the beginning of the conference.
> Make sure it is the only thing happening at that time to maximise
> participation. You won't be able to get everyone to talk to everyone
> else within a reasonable amount of time (1000 people, 30 seconds each,
> that's over 8 hours!) but you could speak to a large enough proportion
> of attendees for there to be someone you've met in most groups so that
> you can easily join the group.
>
> * "Talk to me about..." lists on badges. Knowing that someone is
> interested in a particular thing can give you an excuse to talk to
> them.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l [at] lists
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l

_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l [at] lists
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lori.byrd.phillips at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 9:24 AM

Post #15 of 20 (279 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

This has been a really interesting discussion so far, I think! A part of me
wants to say that the grouping off at this Wikimania isn't the fault of
anyone, but is a natural course of what happens at larger conferences.
Having had the chance to attend conferences of many sizes and of varied
topics, it's interesting to see how things play out socially and
logistically. There's much to be said for wanting to keep things as
Meet-Up-like as possible, but I feel that you'll never quite succeed in
what you're aiming for as long as Wikimania is so large. And the fact that
it's growing is a great thing, by the way!

Things will change through the years, and people can adapt. But the truth
of the matter is that this really was quite an overwhelming conference by
anyone's standards, and when you're in a mass of people it's only natural
to gravitate toward your comfort zone. It's a bit of a survival mechanism,
especially for those who aren't as outgoing! In contrast, when it's a
smaller conference (a couple hundred people) where everyone is able to
mingle freely, the environment is more conducive to being more
Meet-Up-style.

I'm not saying that a balance can't be reached, but I'll be really
interested to see how this challenge is addressed. There have already been
some great suggestions!

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 12:05 PM, Joseph Fox <josephfoxwiki [at] gmail>wrote:

> I do hope the HK guys are reading ;)
>
> Joe
>
> On 19 Jul 2012, at 23:59, Thomas Dalton wrote:
>
> > On 19 July 2012 05:57, Florence Devouard <anthere [at] anthere> wrote:
> >> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference"
> rather
> >> than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
> >> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I
> could
> >> see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German
> chapter
> >> people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community of the
> >> English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there
> were
> >> naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and
> >> bonding.
> >
> > I certainly found myself talking to people from the UK far too much. I
> > did make a point of leaving the UK group to go and speak to other
> > people a few times, but there is a strong tendency to drift back to
> > the people you know. I think it becomes more of a problem the larger
> > Wikimania gets.
> >
> > Having been to quite a few international Wikimedia events, I know a
> > lot of non-UK people too, which helps. People at their first
> > international Wikimedia event must find it even harder. There
> > difficult part is always initialising conversation with someone new
> > (we're all Wikimedians, so finding something in common to discuss once
> > you've started talking is usually pretty easy). I have two ideas for
> > helping people initiate conversation:
> >
> > * A speed-dating style event near the beginning of the conference.
> > Make sure it is the only thing happening at that time to maximise
> > participation. You won't be able to get everyone to talk to everyone
> > else within a reasonable amount of time (1000 people, 30 seconds each,
> > that's over 8 hours!) but you could speak to a large enough proportion
> > of attendees for there to be someone you've met in most groups so that
> > you can easily join the group.
> >
> > * "Talk to me about..." lists on badges. Knowing that someone is
> > interested in a particular thing can give you an excuse to talk to
> > them.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimania-l mailing list
> > Wikimania-l [at] lists
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l [at] lists
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>

--
Lori Phillips
Digital Marketing Content Coordinator
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

US Cultural Partnerships Coordinator
Wikimedia Foundation

703.489.6036 | http://loribyrdphillips.com/

andrew at andrewlih

Jul 19, 2012, 9:25 AM

Post #16 of 20 (281 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

Make sure to put everything here:

https://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback

I'll remind the HK folks about it too, as I love the idea of more
"wiki-like" mixing methods.

-Andrew

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Joseph Fox <josephfoxwiki [at] gmail> wrote:

> I do hope the HK guys are reading ;)
>
> Joe
>
> On 19 Jul 2012, at 23:59, Thomas Dalton wrote:
>
> > On 19 July 2012 05:57, Florence Devouard <anthere [at] anthere> wrote:
> >> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference"
> rather
> >> than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
> >> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I
> could
> >> see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German
> chapter
> >> people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community of the
> >> English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there
> were
> >> naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and
> >> bonding.
> >
> > I certainly found myself talking to people from the UK far too much. I
> > did make a point of leaving the UK group to go and speak to other
> > people a few times, but there is a strong tendency to drift back to
> > the people you know. I think it becomes more of a problem the larger
> > Wikimania gets.
> >
> > Having been to quite a few international Wikimedia events, I know a
> > lot of non-UK people too, which helps. People at their first
> > international Wikimedia event must find it even harder. There
> > difficult part is always initialising conversation with someone new
> > (we're all Wikimedians, so finding something in common to discuss once
> > you've started talking is usually pretty easy). I have two ideas for
> > helping people initiate conversation:
> >
> > * A speed-dating style event near the beginning of the conference.
> > Make sure it is the only thing happening at that time to maximise
> > participation. You won't be able to get everyone to talk to everyone
> > else within a reasonable amount of time (1000 people, 30 seconds each,
> > that's over 8 hours!) but you could speak to a large enough proportion
> > of attendees for there to be someone you've met in most groups so that
> > you can easily join the group.
> >
> > * "Talk to me about..." lists on badges. Knowing that someone is
> > interested in a particular thing can give you an excuse to talk to
> > them.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimania-l mailing list
> > Wikimania-l [at] lists
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l [at] lists
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>

--

nemowiki at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 9:56 AM

Post #17 of 20 (278 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

Thomas Dalton, 19/07/2012 17:59:
> I certainly found myself talking to people from the UK far too much. I
> did make a point of leaving the UK group to go and speak to other
> people a few times, but there is a strong tendency to drift back to
> the people you know. I think it becomes more of a problem the larger
> Wikimania gets.

I remember that in Wikimania 2010 there was someone constantly reminding
us to say hello to random people we didn't know, to meet new wikimedians.

> * A speed-dating style event near the beginning of the conference.
> Make sure it is the only thing happening at that time to maximise
> participation. You won't be able to get everyone to talk to everyone
> else within a reasonable amount of time (1000 people, 30 seconds each,
> that's over 8 hours!) but you could speak to a large enough proportion
> of attendees for there to be someone you've met in most groups so that
> you can easily join the group.

As already written by some on [[feedback]], the first problem is being
able to meet people you know already, but only by name; which can
already easily count in the hundreds, if one is mildly active on wiki
and on mailing lists (although not everyone attends). What I did in my
first Wikimania was reading all badges to find names I knew, not always
efficient (especially if badges turn around). This might be the easiest
issue to address.

Nemo

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thomas.dalton at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 10:06 AM

Post #18 of 20 (279 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

On 19 July 2012 12:56, Federico Leva (Nemo) <nemowiki [at] gmail> wrote:
> As already written by some on [[feedback]], the first problem is being able
> to meet people you know already, but only by name; which can already easily
> count in the hundreds, if one is mildly active on wiki and on mailing lists
> (although not everyone attends). What I did in my first Wikimania was
> reading all badges to find names I knew, not always efficient (especially if
> badges turn around). This might be the easiest issue to address.

It probably wouldn't be affordable (unless someone has already
invented it), but it would be cool if we had little RFID pagers that
you load with a list of names of people you want to meet and it beeps
when you are near them.

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svenmanguard at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 10:25 AM

Post #19 of 20 (281 views)
Permalink

Re: Feedback [In reply to]

I personally met quite a few new people, but I did so at the Hackathon (where no one I knew was there) and at random (i.e. the non-event/invite) dinners. During the conference proper, when I didn't have something I really wanted to see, I followed a pre-conference friend to what they were seeing.

Also, yes we need to do the "Ask me about..." thing. I saw a lot of custom messages written on people's badges, and those were more effective conversation starters than just project listings alone.

Sven

On Jul 19, 2012, at 12:25 PM, Andrew Lih <andrew [at] andrewlih> wrote:

> Make sure to put everything here:
>
> https://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback
>
> I'll remind the HK folks about it too, as I love the idea of more "wiki-like" mixing methods.
>
> -Andrew
>
> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Joseph Fox <josephfoxwiki [at] gmail> wrote:
> I do hope the HK guys are reading ;)
>
> Joe
>
> On 19 Jul 2012, at 23:59, Thomas Dalton wrote:
>
> > On 19 July 2012 05:57, Florence Devouard <anthere [at] anthere> wrote:
> >> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference" rather
> >> than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
> >> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I could
> >> see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German chapter
> >> people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community of the
> >> English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there were
> >> naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and
> >> bonding.
> >
> > I certainly found myself talking to people from the UK far too much. I
> > did make a point of leaving the UK group to go and speak to other
> > people a few times, but there is a strong tendency to drift back to
> > the people you know. I think it becomes more of a problem the larger
> > Wikimania gets.
> >
> > Having been to quite a few international Wikimedia events, I know a
> > lot of non-UK people too, which helps. People at their first
> > international Wikimedia event must find it even harder. There
> > difficult part is always initialising conversation with someone new
> > (we're all Wikimedians, so finding something in common to discuss once
> > you've started talking is usually pretty easy). I have two ideas for
> > helping people initiate conversation:
> >
> > * A speed-dating style event near the beginning of the conference.
> > Make sure it is the only thing happening at that time to maximise
> > participation. You won't be able to get everyone to talk to everyone
> > else within a reasonable amount of time (1000 people, 30 seconds each,
> > that's over 8 hours!) but you could speak to a large enough proportion
> > of attendees for there to be someone you've met in most groups so that
> > you can easily join the group.
> >
> > * "Talk to me about..." lists on badges. Knowing that someone is
> > interested in a particular thing can give you an excuse to talk to
> > them.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimania-l mailing list
> > Wikimania-l [at] lists
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l [at] lists
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
>
> --
> _______________________________________________
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alhen.wiki at gmail

Jul 19, 2012, 8:44 PM

Post #20 of 20 (278 views)
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Re: Feedback [In reply to]

I totally agree with Sven, the tag explaning about what you can talk about
can really make it easier for a person to just break the ice and start
talking.

Just like him, I also met quite a lot of different people. Although I
regret no having spent more time with the Iberocoop crowd, I had the
opportunity to talk about common problems with people from other Wikipedias
and different projects as well. The guys from wikiHow are great and
provided and interesting insight as to why women participate more on
wikiHow than on Wikipedia.

Also, the guys from Hong Kong can now be aware that the unconference model
is somehow working around the world, and given the experience in
Washington, it could be a great idea to include it as part of the
conference.

I have to thank Aude because she led the tour to the capitol, and also,
including (if privacy is not much of a concern) a mail with pictures of
them now so we can recognize them next time we see them. Thanks Wikimedia
DC.

Alhen

@alhen_
alhen at wikipedia, wikihow, wikispaces, and most places.
Promotor de Wikimedia Bolivia
00-591-79592235

2012/7/19 Sven <svenmanguard [at] gmail>

> I personally met quite a few new people, but I did so at the Hackathon
> (where no one I knew was there) and at random (i.e. the non-event/invite)
> dinners. During the conference proper, when I didn't have something I
> really wanted to see, I followed a pre-conference friend to what they were
> seeing.
>
> Also, yes we need to do the "Ask me about..." thing. I saw a lot of custom
> messages written on people's badges, and those were more effective
> conversation starters than just project listings alone.
>
> Sven
>
>
> On Jul 19, 2012, at 12:25 PM, Andrew Lih <andrew [at] andrewlih> wrote:
>
> Make sure to put everything here:
>
> <https://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback>
> https://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Feedback
>
> I'll remind the HK folks about it too, as I love the idea of more
> "wiki-like" mixing methods.
>
> -Andrew
>
> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Joseph Fox < <josephfoxwiki [at] gmail>
> josephfoxwiki [at] gmail> wrote:
>
>> I do hope the HK guys are reading ;)
>>
>> Joe
>>
>> On 19 Jul 2012, at 23:59, Thomas Dalton wrote:
>>
>> > On 19 July 2012 05:57, Florence Devouard < <anthere [at] anthere>
>> anthere [at] anthere> wrote:
>> >> The first is that I see a trend in seeing Wikimania as a "conference"
>> rather
>> >> than a sort of "giant meetup". I regret it.
>> >> I was particularly sensible this year to the fact we had "factions". I
>> could
>> >> see the French speaking guys hanging together here. And the German
>> chapter
>> >> people hanging there. And in another corner the editing community of
>> the
>> >> English Wikipedia. And over there, the Glam people. And though there
>> were
>> >> naturally bridges between those groups, there was not much mixing and
>> >> bonding.
>> >
>> > I certainly found myself talking to people from the UK far too much. I
>> > did make a point of leaving the UK group to go and speak to other
>> > people a few times, but there is a strong tendency to drift back to
>> > the people you know. I think it becomes more of a problem the larger
>> > Wikimania gets.
>> >
>> > Having been to quite a few international Wikimedia events, I know a
>> > lot of non-UK people too, which helps. People at their first
>> > international Wikimedia event must find it even harder. There
>> > difficult part is always initialising conversation with someone new
>> > (we're all Wikimedians, so finding something in common to discuss once
>> > you've started talking is usually pretty easy). I have two ideas for
>> > helping people initiate conversation:
>> >
>> > * A speed-dating style event near the beginning of the conference.
>> > Make sure it is the only thing happening at that time to maximise
>> > participation. You won't be able to get everyone to talk to everyone
>> > else within a reasonable amount of time (1000 people, 30 seconds each,
>> > that's over 8 hours!) but you could speak to a large enough proportion
>> > of attendees for there to be someone you've met in most groups so that
>> > you can easily join the group.
>> >
>> > * "Talk to me about..." lists on badges. Knowing that someone is
>> > interested in a particular thing can give you an excuse to talk to
>> > them.
>> >
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