Talk:Wikimania 2009/Bids/Brisbane

Carbon neutral?

Will the conference and the flights to it be carbon neutral?

Resources: Australian carbon traders, Cabon planet, Climate friendly, Climate positive, Origin energy, Easy being green, Elementree/Beyond carbon, Greenfleet. -- Jeandré, 2007-12-30t17:29z

This is a difficult question, because we certainly understand the importance of minimising damage to the environment, particularly in Australia where the damaging effects of climate change can clearly be seen. On the other hand, it would likely drive the cost of the conference up significantly were we to go completely carbon neutral. Therefore, while we will endeavour to minimise wastage, it would be up to each attendee to decide whether they wanted to make their individual flights to Brisbane carbon-neutral. Australia's national airway, Qantas, has a carbon credits programme ([1]), and we would certainly be happy to provide information on this to prospective attendees who wanted that information.

Other possibilities we have considered to keep the conference environmentally friendly is to encourage attendees to use Brisbane's public transport net, our talks with the relevant organisations have indicated that we might be able to get subsidised and Wikimania-branded transit cards for interested parties. Lankiveil 11:13, 8 January 2008 (UTC).

Branding the new GO cards would definitely be an interesting idea. Ansell 00:28, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo?

Hmm...given the fact that he died over a year ago, is it still appropriate to be naming it as such? Last time I was there, they were slowing trying to remove the Irwin paraphernalia, and I really don't think we should be going against that. By the way, great idea - I sure hope I can make it if successful :) Giggy\^Talk 02:38, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

There's that big statue of him still out the front. There's quite a lot of (tacky, in my opinion) Irwinalia that you can still get from there, as far as I know. Their site still describes it as the "home of the Crocodile Hunter", and has pictures of him on it. Lankiveil 11:32, 7 January 2008 (UTC).

Agreed - my major concern is if tourists come here expecting to see...well...him. The last thing we want is to turn Wikimania Brisbane into a "This is why you should read Wikinews more" sermon, if you get my drift... Giggy\^Talk 21:16, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Images

To those interested in adding images to the bid page, I have created a category at the Commons about the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre. --Agüeybaná (hábleme) 04:00, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Minor food point

Re food section - what cheap alternatives to fast food exist? e.g. in Sydney one can get borek/pide, sushi etc cheaply and very readily almost anywhere. Might be worth noting. Orderinchaos 08:21, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Southbank has 100million fast food places - something for everyone. Giggy\^Talk 13:45, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

I admit that I had to look up what borek was (no big Turkish community in Brisbane), but there is a wide variety of choice at Southbank as to foods, and an even wider choice if you want to walk over the Victoria Bridge or catch the w:CityCat over to Brisbane proper.

Note that our quote from the venue includes catering for morning and afternoon teas, as well as two full meals for attendees, so if anyone is feeling hungry between presentations they can probably chow down without having to actually leave the centre. Lankiveil 13:39, 17 January 2008 (UTC).

PS: Regardless of this, I will pop over to South Bank at the next opportunity and inventory what is actually available within 500m of the venue. Lankiveil 13:39, 17 January 2008 (UTC).

I don't eat fast food at all, hence my question. :) Thanks Lankiveil for providing the answer. Orderinchaos 13:19, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Q&A

The questions have been copied over to Wikimania 2009/Bids/Brisbane/Q&A. - Zero1328 _en:Talk? 21:09, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Analogy

I'm not sure on how this could be used, but Lankiveil mentioned that something I said to him was pretty poetic, and might be able to go into the bid page somewhere: The "Aussie BBQ" might be a decent analogy to Wikipedia's structuring.. Everyone mingles with everyone, the dividing lines of social status become blurred and aren't as significant. Everyone brings in some beers or something and it becomes this great gathering. - Zero1328 _en:Talk? 01:10, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

And there's beer, so you know it's good. I think this would've been good for the IRC Q&A though... Giggy\^Talk 07:34, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Support

Hello. I am a Wikipedian from Australia and I'd like to give my full support for this event. I would probably not be able to be present at the event (there is a slight possibility since it is being held in 2009) but I'd like to help in any way I can. Littleteddy 13:07, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your kind support on behalf of the Wikimania 2009 Brisbane team :) — E ^talk 12:07, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Supporters list?

Should we not be editing the main bid page? I just thought a list in the following format would be useful in the supporters section. Ansell 23:32, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Username	Wikimedia participation	Real name (optional)	Residence (city/state)
Ansell	English Wikipedia	Peter Ansell	Brisbane, Queensland

Sorry, didn't look closely enough, List is at User:Lankiveil/Wikimania/List. Ansell 23:41, 23 February 2008 (UTC)