Wikimania 2015 bids/Esino Lario/2015-2016
We decided to apply in 2014 to host Wikimania in Esino Lario in 2016. We are aware that this is an unusual request and below we present the reasons and the implications of eventually supporting this proposal.
- Proposed dates: Wikimania Esino Lario takes place in the last week of June 2016.
- Pre-conference: Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd June 2016
- Conference: Friday 24th, Saturday 25th, Sunday 26th June 2016.
- Post-conference: Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th June 2016 .
In case the proposal Wikimania Esino Lario is considered relevant and valuable, we ask until December 2014 to fundraise and confirm our financial obligations.
Risk mitigation
editInternal risks
editArea (internal) | Risk | Result | Impact | Likelihood in 2015 | Mitigation strategy 2015 | Likelihood 2016 | Mitigation strategy 2016 |
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Location/Accommodation | Limited accommodation, accommodation does not respond to the expected quality. | Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. | High | Medium |
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Medium |
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Location/Food | Disorganized lunch and dinner, waiting time, not sufficient quantity and variety of food. | Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. | High | Medium |
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Medium | 2 years to manage the food. More time also allows us to browse and implement solutions which can enrich the variety (es. street food, chefs in accomodation with kitchen). |
Location/Transport | Disorganized transport, waiting time, difficulty to reach Esino Lario. | Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. | High | Medium |
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Medium | 2 years to manage transport. |
Location/Venues | Not enough venues, equipment does not respond to the expected needs. | The event is a failure. | High | High |
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Low |
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Location/Connectivity | Connectivity does not respond to the conference requirements. | The event is a failure. | High | Medium |
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Low |
2 years to manage the connectivity. More time to implement and test the system, to manage problems, and to define the best solutions also for future uses. |
Program / Sessions | he program does not introduce any new element. Sessions are poorly selected and they do not respond to expectations and needs of the attendees. | The event is a failure. | High | Medium |
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Low | 12 months to prepare the program. |
Program / Special events and excursions | The location does not offer any enjoyable activity, it is boring, it does not respond to the expectation of the attendees of enjoying their time together. | Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. | High | Medium |
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Low | 2 years to manage the special events and excursions. More time can also allow to enrich the program with more events and a better calendar before and after Wikimania. This can allow to take full advantage of the communication and visibility of Wikimania. |
Organization/Financial plan | Incapacity of responding to the financial obligations. | The promoters are incapable of responding to the financial obligations. | High | High |
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Low | Fundraising structured in two phases:
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Organization/Stakeholders | Stakeholders do not support the event or they withdraw from their support. | The event demonstrates to have a very limited capacity of collaborating with people and institutions. | Medium | High | Preparation of the bid: contacts with stakeholders, presentation of the proposal (concept) to stakeholders, asking for letters of support or resolutions and collecting them. | Medium | Time until December 2014 to test the proposal and to see if it can get the necessary financial support to be implemented. The implementation in 2016 also provides a start-up phase of the project in which not only the concept of the proposal is supported but stakeholders can have the time to see, discuss and verify the plan. The time also allows stakeholders to consider their eventual in-kind and financial commitment. |
Organization/Stakeholders | Wikimania Esino Lario produces a disproportionate increase of work for Wikimedia Italia. | Wikimedia Italia staff is overcharged, volunteers are overcharged, regular activities are postponed or treasured. The general atmosphere and the workflow of the association is challenged. It is important to mention that applications and request to donors need to be signed by Wikimedia Italia; Wikimedia Italia is the registered association which can make requests (an individual or informal group can not); Wikimedia Italia is not the only institution which can endorse the project and sign grant requests, but for some donors it is the most suitable institution. | High | Medium |
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Low |
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Organization | The complexity of the logistics and the implementation of the financial plan are considered so challenging and such a priority, that all other aspects of the conference are underestimated and not followed properly. | The conference only provides the necessary. Other important elements such as the structure and content of the program, the quality and variety of food, the quality of the special events and excursions is managed in the last minute. Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. | High | High |
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Low |
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External risks
editArea (external) | Risk | Result | Impact | Likelihood in 2015 | Mitigation strategy 2015 | Likelihood 2016 | Mitigation strategy 2016 |
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Stakeholders | Lack of support from the local hotels, dorms and apartment owners. Hotel or dorms in Esino Lario close and they can not be used. | Limited accommodation, accommodation does not respond to the expected quality. | High | Medium | Request of support during the bidding process. We didn’t count the available accommodation: we specifically checked the support of people. We consider that the number of available accommodation can increase and decrease. We set 700 beds in Esino Lario as a reasonable goal and we planed the management of transport from Varenna and Perledo. We also set the number of participants accordingly. | Medium | During the process of requesting support we noticed that time is an important element to allow people to take the decision and to commit to the event. Time until December 2014 to double check the accommodation. |
Stakeholders | Lack of support from the local restaurants and bars. Restaurants and bars in Esino Lario close or they can not be used. | Disorganized lunch and dinner, waiting time, not sufficient quantity and variety of food. | High | Medium | Contacts with restaurants and bars in Esino Lario. We set 1’000 people as the number of participants. We considered the number of seats in local restaurants, we planned the tensile structure and we didn’t consider the option of sandwiches. | Medium | Time until December 2014 to double check bars, restaurants and catering. |
Stakeholders | People can not believe it is possibile to organize a conference in a small village and they are unsure if the information provided is true and correct. | The discussion is influenced by a negative bias and it concentrates on evaluating the idea rather than getting things done. Negative atmosphere or the bid is not selected. | High | High | Detailed executive plan. Clear and transparent overview of current status, plan, budget and risks. Full access to further data and documents, possibility to talk directly to all the people involved in the planning. Review of the Jury, possibility for the community to contribute to review the bid, possibility to involve other people in reviewing the bid, possibility to visit Esino Lario.
It is important to mention that it is in the interest of everybody to produce a successful event. Wikimania Esino Lario had required and will require a lot of work. Winning the bid and being incapable of properly implement the event will only produce a failure and a bad reputation. |
Low | Time until December 2014 to double check the executive plan and to allow the organizers to demonstrate that they can cover their financial obligations. |
2015-2016 | The Jury and the Steering Committee do not want to change the timing of Wikimania and to approve a project for 2016. | The bid is not selected. | High | High | We present the reasons and implications of proposing in 2014 to host Wikimania Esino Lario in 2016. | Medium | The arguments we present can be relevant in the future for other Wikimanias. |
Organization/Financial plan | Wikimedia Foundation is worried to have to cover the financial obligations of the promoters. | The bid is not selected. | High | High |
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Low | Request of time until December 2014 to allow the organizers to demonstrate that they can cover their financial obligations. |
Organization/Financial plan | The financial support collected by potential sponsors and grant-makers is insufficient to cover the event. | The event is cancelled. | High | Medium |
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Low | In case of no other financial support is confirmed by December 2014, the event can be cancelled and relocated. |
Organization/Expenses | The expenses planned are less than the actual expenses necessary to organize Wikimania Esino Lario. | The event produces a financial loss. | High | Medium | Bidding process: detailed executive project, detailed budget, involvement of Giulia Sepe in asking estimated costs to companies, double check of the budget, review of the budget with Wikimania coordinator for Wikimedia Foundation, including in the budget 20'000 € of contingencies. Request to Wikimedia Foundation of 250'000 $ which is less than the total budget Wikimedia Foundation can use to support Wikimania. | Low | Time until December 2014 to double check the budget, ask for further estimated costs to other companies and start the fundraising. |
Stakeholders | The Esino Lario city council will change in May 2014 and at the moment we do not know who will be the candidates. | This change can in particular produce delays in resetting procedures, complete existing infrastructural projects, and providing the necessary authorizations to implement the infrastructural upgrades planned in the project | High | Medium | Preparation of the bid: definition of priorities for upgrades. The upgrades selected are not complex infrastructural interventions: they include setting the connectivity, buying and installing two stairs in the Sport Hall and preparing the collaborative space (repurposing the building which includes electricity-wired, painting and forniture). None of those interventions require authorizations of the Sovrintendenza ai beni ambientali (regional authority), they focus on two Esino Lario city council buildings, and they do not require complex yards. | Low | Time allows to properly implement the upgrades in collaboration with the newly elected Esino Lario city council and eventually to implement larger upgrades if the fundraising allows it. |
Participants | Attendees arrive to Esino Lario thinking the conference is just as the others they attended. They expect to find the underground, millions of bars and nightclubs and public night transport guarantee until 4am. | Clash between expectations and reality. Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. | High | Medium | Clear and transparent overview of what we and Esino Lario can offer. | Low | After two year of talking about it and the event is more likely to be properly understood for what it is. |
Safety | The venues and the location do not respond to the Italian safety regulations. | The event is cancelled. | High | Medium | Preparation of the bid: involvement of a person in charge of safety (Pietro Pensa is an engineer specialized in building and working also on safety for Milan Expo sites; he has been involved in the definition of the upgrades and the number of people who can use the Esino Lario city council venues according to the Italian safety regulation). In the bid the number of people who can use the venues has been set not according to the maximum number of people who can fit the rooms but according to the number of exists and the distance to the exists. | Low | Time until December 2014 to double check the venues and the regulations. |
Medical necessities | Attendees have simple medical necessities; medical products, common illness, small injuries. | Medical necessities need to be managed. | High | High |
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High | Time until December 2014 to double check the management of simple medical necessities. |
Medical necessities | A medical emergency occurs. | The medical emergency need to be managed. | High | Medium |
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Medium | Time until December 2014 to double check the management of medical emergencies. |
Weather | It rains for the entire week. | Difficulty in enjoying the week by taking advantage of the outdoor activities and the location. Not particularly pleasant walking distances. | Medium | Medium |
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Medium | Same strategy as in 2015. |
Expectation | Wikimedians want to have the biggest Wikimania ever. | The bid is not selected. | High | Medium | The proposal explicitly defines the number of people who can participate in Wikimania Esino Lario, it presents an hypothesis of participants and it highlights the positive implications of an event which is smaller compared to the number of attendees of Wikimania Washington DC and those planned for Wikimania London. The number of participants is comparable with Wikimania Hong Kong (and other previous events) and the request of funds to Wikimedia Foundation is defined accordingly. The limited number of participants is not a bug of Wikimania Esino Lario, it is a feature. The jury can decide if this specific approach is relevant or not. | Medium | Same strategy as in 2015. |
Implications of providing 2 years to prepare Wikimania
editDisadvantages - 2 years to prepare Wikimania | Advantages - 2 years to prepare Wikimania |
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