Grants:Conference/GMG/Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2022
statusFunded
GMG/Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2022
CEE Meeting is an annual regional conference for Wikimedia Central and Eastern Europe. Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2022 will be held in Ohrid, N. Macedonia, as determined in October 2019 at CEE Meeting in Belgrade
targetWikimedia projects in all CEE languages (Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Georgian, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish, Ukrainian plus Esperanto, Kashubian, Crimean Tatar etc. and potentially Montenegrin), Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata
strategic priorityIncreasing Participation
event dates14 October 2022 - 16 October 2022
amount-local74,922.00 EUR
amountplease add the amount you are requesting (USD)
typeorganization
nonprofitYes
creator• Violetova
contact• 777.zana
gmail.com• nikolau.mkgmail.com (Nikola Stojanoski)
gmail.com• nikolau.mkgmail.com (Nikola Stojanoski)organization• GLAM Macedonia
website• http://glammacedonia.mk/
Event overview edit
Purpose and vision
Please give a brief description of the event you are planning. What do you hope to accomplish during the event? Why is this event important for your community?
Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2022 is the tenth gathering of the Wikimedia Movement members from Central and Eastern Europe. The idea of having a meeting of these two geographical and cultural regions of Europe is to strengthen the cooperation between Wikimedia Movement groups and organizations, promote the ideas of the Wikimedia Movement and provide an opportunity for knowledge and experience exchange. The meeting is made of user groups and organizations of different size and field of operation, united under the same idea - promotion of free knowledge and resources through Wikimedia Projects and related activities.
The history of the Wikimedia CEE Meetings is ten years long, having started in Belgrade in 2012. That was the first meeting of the Central and Eastern Europeans. The following meetings are: Modra (2013), Kyiv (2014), Voreu (2015), Dilijan (2016), Warsaw (2017), Lviv (2018) and again Belgrade (2019), and also two online meetings in pandemic. Ohrid was proposed as a host city for the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2022 by GLAM Macedonia. Initially, the Meeting was scheduled for 2020, however, due to Covid-19 pandemics, the Meeting was rescheduled for 2022.
Goals
Generally speaking, the goals of the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2022 are:
- promotion of free knowledge and free access of knowledge for the wider population and audience in the countries where the organizations operate,
- strengthening the cooperation capacities and improving the collaboration between different user groups/ organizations no matter the geographical or cultural distances,
- proving help and support for small-size user groups and organizations, encouraging them to expand their scope of work and international collaboration,
- exchanging knowledge and experience in terms of Wikimedia Projects and activities concerning those projects and GLAM-oriented activities,
- promotion of the idea of establishing collaboration and mutual projects or activities between groups that have no such experience,
- improving problem solving skills and techniques for avoiding non-friendly behaviour on Wikimedia Projects and actual activities related to those projects,
- share of ideas and experience about team building capacities, communication and social skills, as well as organizational and logistic skills.
Objectives and Outcomes
The Conference will be successful if we achieve these objectives:
- to have at least one participant from the expected countries
- to have prepared speakers/ presenters, who will cover the topics from which the participants can benefit
- to have shared ideas and motivated participants to apply what has been learned, and start the presented projects as new projects in their communities
- to initiate new collaboration and strengthen existing work between the Wikimedia affiliations from CEE region
- to connect Macedonian Wikimedians to other CEE communities in order to develop the Macedonian community
Important details
Please add key information to the table below. The dates, location and number of participants can be estimates and do not need to be finalized at this time.
| Proposed date(s) | 14-16 October 2022 |
| Proposed location | Ohrid, N. Macedonia |
| Number of participants | 120 |
| Event page | Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2022 |
| Primary contact person | Žana Štrkovska |
Background edit
Community input edit
Use the results from the community engagement survey to fill in the table below. Since you cannot cover all topics or meet all needs at one event, prioritisation is important. Please rank the priority of each topic, skill, project or problem as high, medium or low. Finally, please answer the questions below the table.
| Description | |
|---|---|
| Strategic discussions:
Are there important topics that your community needs to discuss in person? |
Top issues affecting the community that need to be discussed in person are:
|
| Capacity development:
Are there important skills that many people in your community need to learn? |
Important skills that people need to learn are:
|
| Working groups:
Are there projects that your community needs to work on in-person? For each project you name, please share tasks that are difficult to do online which should be done in-person. |
Some of the projects or activities that need to be, partially or fully, planned in person are:
|
| Community building:
What is the most important goal, problem, or obstacle you think this community should focus on in the next 12 months? |
Some of the participants noted the following:
|
| Community building:
Why is this goal, problem or obstacle most important? |
Some of the participants noted the following:
|
| Working groups:
What does your community need to do at an in-person gathering to achieve that goal? |
|
Survey analysis:
- How many people did you send the survey to? How many people responded to the survey?
- The survey has been sent via CEE mailing list, Telegram group, Facebook group and individual calls. We’ve received 18 responses.
- Over the last year we have learned through the CEE Hub Research that mass emails and surveys do not get many responses and that interviews yield more valuable and specific information on the current situation of affiliates and communities in the CEE region alike. The CEE Hub research will therefore also factor into the design of the next CEE Meeting.
- Did you see consensus around shared goals that this community wants to focus on in the next 12 months? What were the top 2 goals?
- The community consensus can be seen through these two goals: capacity building, especially regarding resources and gathering new volunteers, and building strategy.
- Based on survey responses, what are the most important things your community should do at the conference to achieve those goals?
- Besides ensuring that all participants are truly informed about the crucial things that have been discussed during the conference (through summaries, briefs and overviews), having concrete proposals and ideas that need to be worked on is also quite important. Moreover, sessions and small-scale workshops for discussing and implementing new ideas is important and desirable. Planning and brainstorming strategy for gathering new volunteers and spreading the ideas of the Wikimedia Movement, as well as, sharing ideas and experience for the community's strength and health. Providing help for small Wiki communities and support their efforts for strengthening capacities and achieving outcomes through small round-table discussions and exchange of ideas.
- What social activities or sessions do you think are important to include at in-person events?
- The top two most important activities selected by the survey participants were Project presentations or panels and Thematic or bird of feather.
- How would you prioritize the time we spend together at the conference?
- The survey resulted as follows: Strategic conversations resulted as a concept with the highest importance, followed by community building. Next were Capacity building and lowest priority was given to the Working groups.
Context edit
It is helpful to get an understanding of why this event is important to your community, and what experiences you have had in the past. Please answer the applicable questions below.
- 1. What inspired your community to begin planning this event?
- Since 2016, the founding year of GLAM Macedonia, the user group has grown into an organization with serious future plans and well-thought development path. During these years, GLAM Macedonia has organised events of similar size (in terms of participants) as the Wikimedia CEE Meeting, but the nature of those events was different. One of the principal topics of discussion during the last two GLAM Macedonia members' annual meetings was enriching the organization and logistic experience of GLAM Macedonia and expanding it on international level. Additionally, the idea of GLAM Macedonia members was working on involving the organization into international events and strengthening of the collaboration and links with members of different countries and regions of Europe. Having organized this event GLAM Macedonia will improve its capacities, as well as excellent opportunity for sharing knowledge and ideas with members of organizations from Central and Eastern Europe.
- 2. How does this event relate to other activities that your community is working on?
- GLAM Macedonia has been organizer of a number of events that have included various different participants with different spheres of interest. The coordinated activities are increasing since the last conference. Many project ideas have been exchanged during the CEEM 2019, and during two Online Meetings, and some of the launched ideas are in progress of implementation.
- 3. Please list the priorities identified in the report from the last conference organized by this community. What progress have you made in those areas?
- Тhere are new projects and collaboration. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemics, GLAM Macedonia successfully organized several Wiki Camps with 50+ participants. There are several other projects, but according to answers of CEEM 2019 participants at the e-mail of 2019 year organizers, there are a lot of implementation of what participants learned at the conference. One other example is collaboration between Wikimedia Austria and Wikimedia Slovakia, which will work together on the WikiGap project.
- 4. If your community has hosted a similar conference in the past, what key lessons were learned, and what would you like to improve on?
- GLAM Macedonia has been organizer of a number of events that have included various different participants with different spheres of interest. Since 2016, GLAM Macedonia has organized at least 2 conferences for teachers annually with more than 60 participants each and at least one Wiki Camp per year with more than 60 participants. Additionally, GLAM Macedonia has been organizer for several medium-size workshops for teachers and GLAM-related professionals. After pandemic, when the COVID-19 restrictions went off in North Macedonia, GLAM Macedonia organized one Wiki Team Building for adults members in October 2021, and one Wiki Camp for students and Wiki Club members in May 2022.
Plan edit
Venue and Logistics edit
- 1. If the venue is more than 1 hour away from a major airport or transportation hub, how will participants travel to the event venue?
- The nearest airport in relations to the venue is some 30 minutes drive. The nearest St. Paul The Apostle Airport is 9 km north-west of Ohrid, while the venue, that is Hotel Metropol, is some 5 km south of Ohrid. The main Macedonian airport is located in Skopje and for those participants who will be arriving to Macedonia via Skopje Airport, buses will be available in order to reach Ohrid on time.
- 2. Is the event venue within walking distance from the hotel? If not, how will people travel between the two locations?
- The accommodation, the main events and the catering services will be provided by the hotel.
- 3. Is the event venue and hotel accessible for people with physical disabilities?
- Metropol is a 4 star hotel that fulfils all standards for accommodation of people with different types of needs. There are rooms adapted to the needs of the physically disables people, the hotel is easily accessible, in terms of the main entrance, rooms, conference halls and other facilities.
- 4. Do you anticipate any challenges with using the space for the event you are planning?
- At the moment of planning we are not expecting any major changes. However, the staff of the hotel assured us that their help will be available for all guests no matter the nature of their needs (technical, physical/ personal, catering or accommodation)
- Additional information about the hotel
- Hotel Metropol is located in the Metropol Lake Resort, near Dolno Konjsko, Ohrid. The hotel was originally built in 1975, but renovated in 2018, including the hotel's exterior and interior. The clear water of the lake, the surrounding nature and the mesmerising sunsets are the key factors for visiting the resort. The hotel has 110 double rooms, 4 standard suites, 1 resident suit and 1 deluxe suit. The accommodation covers some 6.610 m2. Besides all entertaining/ catering and recreational facilities (these can be checked on the hotel's website), Metropol has the following (conference) halls:
- Hall 'Biljana, 360 seats
- Hall 'Samuil', 80 seats
- Hall 'Kaneo', 40 seats,
- Hall 'Ohrid', 50 seats, and
- Hall 'Labino', 280 seats,
More information about the hotel can be obtained on the following link.
Friendly space policy edit
GLAM Macedonia, since the moment of foundation as an user group, strives to avoid and minimise the bad behaviour occurrences and their effects over the active members, volunteers and supporters. The board members have decided so come up with a statement regarding such undesirable instances during GLAM Macedonia events. The policy can be read on GLAM Macedonia meta page.
COVID-19 policy edit
- As of May 2022, there are no restrictions/ limitations/ strict policies imposed by the Macedonian government regarding Covid-19.
Participation edit
It is crucial that most participants have a minimum level of Wikimedia experience so that they can engage actively in workshops and discussions. Please answer all applicable questions below.
- 1. Please describe the target audience for this conference or event.
- The target audience of this year's conference are Wikimedians/ Wikipedians from Central and Eastern Europe that are actively involved in the Wikimedia movements and its projects. Having in mind the nature of the conference, the participants should have a fairly good English working skills (written and spoken), as well as good knowledge of the Wikimedia projects and the movement itself. Since participants' contribution to the conference's outcomes is expected, they should be well informed of the basic principles of the movement, the strategy and the future development of the Wiki community.
- 2. If your conference has an outreach component, how will you ensure engagement with these participants after the conference, and what impact do you see them having on the projects?
- The outreach component is not in the main focus of the conference since most, if not all, of the participants are active members of the Wikimedia projects and (well)-established Wikimedia movement contributors.
- 3. Are you thinking about inviting WMF staff to attend or participate in the event? If yes, please list individuals or teams who you may want to invite, or describe how you would like WMF staff to be involved in the event.
- In the early stage of the planning of the conference, GLAM Macedonia cannot announce the names of the WMF staff that will be invited. However, what the board members are sure of is that there will be invitations to WMF staff and their participation in the conference is more than welcome. For example, we would like to have people from Community Development, from Board of Trustees, from WikiCite, from Education and GLAM-wiki team, and of course, Executive Director, Maryana Iskander.
Scholarships edit
- 1. How many scholarships would you like to offer?
- GLAM Macedonia, as an organizer of the conference, would like to offer 90 scholarships, of which 77 participants, 13 local volunteers, or 73 international and the rest are domestic. The figures may slightly change depending on the needs.
- 2. What expenses will the scholarship cover?
- The scholarship includes costs for travelling, accommodation, social events, travel insurance, tests against COVID-19, as well as food and drink during this year's conference.
- 3. How will scholarship recipients be selected?
- The selection of the recipients will be done in two manners or selection groups. The first one is recipients who are active members of already established Wikimedia chapters or affiliations (user groups). The board members of the affiliations will be responsible to decide who will represent them during the conference (they will be informed on the number of participants they can send). The second one is groups of active Wikimedians who are not members of any Wikimedia chapters of affiliations. They will be selected by reviewing their editing history, their contribution to the Wikimedia movement and projects and their submitted self-evaluation and Wikimedia experience.
Resources and risks edit
Describe the resource potential for successfully executing this project and the key risks/threats.
Resources edit
- Organizing team
| Photo | Name | Role |
|---|---|---|
 |
Žana Štrkovska | * creating and submitting grant proposal |
| * budget planning | ||
| * WMF liaison | ||
| * overall project coordinator | ||
 |
Nikolče Stojanoski | * creating and submitting grant proposal |
| * WMF liaison | ||
 |
Delphine Ménard | * Helping with the budget |
 |
Frosina Dimitrova | * Administration and logistic manager |
| * coordinator of volunteers | ||
 |
Nataša Nedanoska | * event logistics |
| * social events | ||
 |
Gordana Jović Stojkovska | * event PR |
| * conference merchandise | ||
 |
Nataša Stardelova | * logistical help during the conference |
 |
Lili Arsova | * help with coordination of volunteers |
 |
Boyan Velkovski | * logistical help during the conference |
 |
Igor Kuzmanovski | * technical support |
 |
Miomir Magdevski | * photographer |
 |
Tatjana Gogoska | * media outreach |
 |
Stojna Arsovska-Donevska | * logistical help during the conference |
 |
Valentina Trajkoska | * logistical help during the conference |
 |
Nikola Štrkovski | * logistical help during the conference |
 |
Irena Trajkovska | * logistical help during the conference |
 |
Jovan Tasevski | * logistical help during the conference |
 |
Simona Trajkovska | * logistical help during the conference |
 |
Lena Sterjovska | * logistical help during the conference |
Risks edit
Examples of risks, along with how you would minimize or overcome them, are:
- Skill gaps in project leadership team (e.g. no financial management experience)
- Components of the measurement process that are hard to quantify
Examples of how to minimize these risks include:
- Recruiting volunteers with desired skills to project leadership team.
- Working with the WMF Learning & Evaluation Team to develop an appropriate measurement and evaluation plan.
Risk assessment table:
| Potential risk | Solution | Responsible person |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation and volunteers |
This type of risk includes possible deficiency in the number of volunteers that will be needed for successful organisation of the conference. Having that in mind, GLAM Macedonia in the initial phase of the conference planning and organising has created a base of volunteers and collaborators in order to estimate the capacity for such organisation. The core organisation members are already known, as well as most of the important supporting volunteers. Furthermore, contacts have been established with other volunteers that are willing to help the conference, mostly outside collaborators. |
Nataša Nedanoska |
| Finances |
Financial risks, according to the estimates, may include budget overrunning, changes in the prices (from any type, accommodation, travel, documentation, etc) and exchange rates. In order to avoid such risks and unwilling obstacles, we have planned unforeseen expenses (which may be used in such unwanted cases) and we have added some 8% increase to the ticket expenses (since these are the most vulnerable to changes). |
Snеžana Štrkovska |
| Communication | Risks of having speakers and participants with low level of English language proficiency is something which we try to solve prior the beginning of the conference. Having individual consultations with the affiliations and the persons they plan to send to the conference will help us avoid having speakers that lack good or sufficient English language skills. | Nikolče Stojanoski |
| Attendance | The risk of having insufficient number of attendees is also taken into consideration. Therefore, GLAM Macedonia starts on-time activities for contacting affiliations and informing them about the conference. The mailing lists and the social media are being constantly used to reach different Wikimedia affiliations and their most active members in order to make sure this risk is not a threat to the conference success. | Frosina Dimitrova |
Budget edit
Please provide a detailed breakdown of project expenses according to the instructions here. See Budget Guidelines.
- Event budget table
Please find the most up to date budget in the spreadsheet:
| Category | Item description | Unit | Number of units | Cost per unit | Total cost | Currency | Notes |
| Travel | |||||||
| International travel plus agency fee | Quote | 25731,00 | EUR | This is a quote from a travel agency based on number of participants and place of departure | |||
| International Travel for additional communities | 6 flights @ 900€/person | 5400,00 | EUR | uzbek, kyrgyz and tadjik language community representative (2 per community) | |||
| Local travel | mini bus | 7 | 400,00 | 2800,00 | EUR | Transport from Skopje airport to hotel in Ohrid and back, for organizers, volunteers and participants who will arrive in Skopje | |
| Visa fees | Per person | 6 | 100,00 | 600,00 | EUR | We expect 6 participants to need a visa | |
| Accommodation costs | |||||||
| Hotel rooms (single) | Night per room | 450 | 55,00 | 24750,00 | EUR | 55€ per person, one person in a room, breakfast is included - 3 nights*30 people, 4 nights * 90 people For COVID reasons, we would like to be able to offer single rooms for all, but we can amend to offer a certain number of double rooms | |
| Catering | 600 | 10,00 | 6000,00 | EUR | Lunch and dinner (except Saturday dinner): 120 PAX * 5 meals | ||
| Venue costs | |||||||
| Conference venue | Days | 3 | 400,00 | 1200,00 | EUR | Venues rent for 3 days / 2 rooms @ 400 € per room | |
| Coffee breaks | Number of coffee breaks | 1080 | 2,00 | 2160,00 | EUR | 2 breaks a day for 3 days | |
| Technical support | 3 | 300,00 | 900,00 | EUR | 3 days in 3 venues | ||
| Video recording | 1 | 500,00 | 500,00 | EUR | Recording in 2 venues for 3 days | ||
| Internet Connection | 1 | 450 | 450,00 | EUR | Internet at the hotel | ||
| Conference Room | 3 | 300 | 900,00 | EUR | 3 days for one additional conference room | ||
| Other costs | |||||||
| Participant packet and local information | 150 | 8,00 | 1200,00 | EUR | Participant packet for all participants + volunteers | ||
| Signeage, name tags etc. | 1 | 500,00 | 500,00 | EUR | Name tags, banner, T-shirts for volunteers, etc. | ||
| Saturday night dinner | 120 | 20,00 | 2400,00 | EUR | Dinner in the city | ||
| City tour | 1 | 150,00 | 150,00 | EUR | Cost for a tour guide | ||
| Translator plus equipment | 1 | 1640,00 | 1640,00 | EUR | Costs for 3 days simultaneous translator plus equipment needed for that purpose | ||
| Miscellaneous expenses | 1 | 1000,00 | 1000,00 | EUR | Unforeseen costs | ||
| Learning Days | |||||||
| 1 day for 20 people | 1 | 1500,00 | 1500,00 | EUR | Package for targeted workshops for participants on the Thursday (25 people) | ||
| Transportation for one day prior | 1 | 400,00 | 400,00 | EUR | Bus for a day | ||
| COVID-19 related expenses | |||||||
| Travel insurance | 90 | 30,00 | 2700,00 | EUR | 90 participants, some are included in their travel already, or don't need it because they travel with their own means | ||
| Masks | 360 | 0,50 | 180,00 | EUR | 1 mask per person / day | ||
| Tests antigen | 120 | 4,00 | 480,00 | EUR | 1 test per person on demand | ||
| Tests PCR | 30 | 22,70 | 681,00 | EUR | 30 tests if positive antigen tests | ||
| TOTAL EXPENSES | 84222,00 | EUR | |||||
| Revenue | |||||||
| Participation from Ohrid municipality to promo packet | 1 | 500 | 500,00 | ||||
| Sponsored by hotel: Internet Connection | 1 | 450 | 450,00 | Internet at the hotel | |||
| Sponsored by hotel: Conference Room | 3 | 300 | 900,00 | 3 days for one additional conference room | |||
| External participants | 10 | 85 | 850,00 | Conference fees for external participants | |||
| Hotel rooms subsidy from participant chapters/UG | Night per room | 120 | 55,00 | 6600,00 | EUR | 30 people for 4 nights: this includes WMF staff, other CEE staff & representatives | |
| TOTAL REVENUE | 9300,00 | ||||||
| TOTAL GENERAL | 74922,00 | ||||||
____________
- Total cost of event
- 84,222.00 EUR
- Total amount requested from the Conference and Event Grants program
- 74,922.00 EUR
- Additional sources of revenue that may fund part of this event, and amounts funded
- See table
- Total additional sources
- 9,300 EUR
NOTE: Due to COVID regulations and health concerns, we have exceptionally budgeted only single rooms (subject to validation of availability by the hotel). We usually have people sharing rooms, and have also worked out a budget with a certain number of double rooms. This would lower the total by around 9,000 EUR. you can see the exact calculation on the budget spreadsheet.
- Please confirm that you are aware that changes to the approved budget beyond 10% in any category must be approved in advance.
YES
Discussion edit
Endorsements edit
Do you think this project should be selected for a Conference Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. Other feedback, questions or concerns from community members are also highly valued, but please post them on the talk page of this proposal.
- Tar Lócesilion (talk) 11:51, 29 January 2020 (UTC) CEE Meeting is of immense importance. Differences between the capacities of CEE affiliates are considerable. Until better tools have been developed (which is a global challenge), this conference will be the most effective way to strengthen knowledge management and collaboration between affiliates in the region.
Strong support--Liridon (talk) 13:10, 29 January 2020 (UTC)- --Gereon K. (talk) 21:13, 29 January 2020 (UTC) I have seen the GLAM Macedonia User Group in action in an weekend long edit-a-thon conference with more than 50 participants. This was well organized in all aspects. I trust them to organize a successful conference of this size. I attended the CEE Meeting of 2016 and I understand how important these annual meetings are for community members of Central and Eastern Europe. I can fully endorse this application.
- Strong support--Rajeeb
(talk!) 20:38 2nd February 2020 (UTC) GLAM Macedonia User Group had past records of organizing conferences with successes and they will continue doing the same this time with CEE Meeting 2020, a conference of immense importance. - Strong support I wholeheartedly support this application, considering that the CEE and local team meetings have been one of the most successful conferences on Wikiverse Mardetanha (talk) 13:03, 24 May 2022 (UTC)
- Bojana Wiki PG (talk) 20:12, 3 February 2020 (UTC)
- Strong support--Saintfevrier (talk) 22:48, 10 February 2020 (UTC) I have met several members of the N. Macedonian community and I know how passionate and hard-working they are. Zana as the main person behind organisation of the event is a guarantee for success. I wish them the best of luck :)
