Talk:Wikimania 2011/Bids/Montréal

Hey all.

I've begun discussion with the Montreal Mayor's office and the provincial governement for help and endorsement. Please contact me if you want to help. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 18:20, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

... also WMF Quebec to think of

Am willing to work and contribute resources for the incorporation of Fondation Wikimédia Québec. Contact me about that too— it's not required to organize Wikimania but it'll help greatly for gathering sponsorships. I already have legal and accounting expertise ready and free. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 18:58, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

See Wikimédia Québec (or Wikimedia Canada). Cbrown1023 talk 22:01, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

There are Francophones in the rest of Canada. Would be interested in helping get a Wikimedia Canada up and running.Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 11:15, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

Possible venue

Palais des congrès is a highly customizable place for Wikimedia. They can adapt the room size thus adapting the budget to our needs. --Mixwell 00:41, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

Also the National Library or BanQ is to be excluded, because of their strict rules about "conventions" and their rules on the usage of Internet access is tight and restricted. I found that their web proxy is Websenses and filters out HTTP and SSL port. I know a lot of wikipedia and wikimedia users use IRC or SSL so it can be blocked. --Mixwell 00:43, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

The Palais is actually a pretty terrible place for a small conference. I was at Worldcon there a month ago, with about 4000 people (about 3000-3500 at any one time), and it was awful. Conference rooms that were supposed to seat 5000 people *can* be customized to seat an audience of 50-100. You just feel like you're in the bottom of a well, and the acoustics become atrocious. A much larger conference than Wikimania felt lost and dwarfed in that space. It's made for a Macworld (40k attendees) or a PAX (60k attendees), not for a conference that can be decently housed in 2 well equipped hotels. --Thespian 13:00, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

Depends which part. The 500- rooms can be arranged for 500-1000 people with ease and do a good job. I'm already talking to them about it. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 13:24, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

I agree with Coren. The Palais des Congrès is quite large itself. They have 2 levels in wich both rooms can be adapted. The Convention level wich is on the 5th level can welcome more than 10 000 guests while the panorama wich is on the 7th room can welcome more than 1 300 people. There's also Place Bonaventure to consider wich is extremely large but it's more suited to expositions. We have to also think on lodging too. Bonaventure has a Hilton onsite, while Palais Des Congrès has plenty of hotels around including a couple hotel chains too. Floor plans--Mixwell 01:03, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

I've been talking to Place Bonaventure people, and the venue cannot be made suitable: they only have very large exposition halls and no appropriate rooms for talks/conferences on multiple parallel tracks. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 16:19, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

I've been in contact with the Palais des Congres people; they are extraordinarily helpful: not only are they confident that they are suitable for our tentative budget, but they are going to be using their contacts to help trawl for both government support and sponsorship. It turns out that Wikimania is very exactly the kind of event they like to increase their "international outlook"; and they will probably chip in themselves for promotional material and such. They even penciled us in for 2011, and will give us support for the actual bid with information and support. I'm having lunch this week with their director of international meetings to exchange further details, get better ballpark prices and bugetting info, etc. The upsides:

• They have onsite catering and venues for the welcome banquet, and are equipped for lunches throughout (large kitchens on site)
• They have suitable venues for the keynote and yearly everyone-in speeches, and the board Q&A
• They have configurable rooms for multiple tracks
• They have complete A/V infrastructure, WiFi throughout, facilities for simultaneous translations
• Plenty of hotels near; directly on a subway stop so easy access.

They are, possibly, a bit expensive but I'll know more this week about the fine print there. Ballpark figures as they are currently unofficially discussed would actually have us slightly cheaper than the Gdansk budget because there is the one supplier for venue, catering and meeting space and they discount. Apparently, the end of July is a downtime in conferences, which helps. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 23:59, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Visas

For North America, Canada requires a visa for those who comes from Mexico & Czech Republic (Even if it's a EU member). Those who wants to know need to contact the nearest Canadian consulate or Embassy and they will reply. (Or check online!) --Mixwell 01:10, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

As for Israeli nationals - only those who hold temporary travel documents need to apply for a visa. Therefore, most Israeli nationals do not need a pre-arranged visa to Canada [1]. Holders of temporary travel documents are: new immigrants on their first year of citizenship, permanent residents of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights who did not acquire Israeli citizenship and Israelis who lost their passport abroad and are on their way home ("emergency passport"). Dror_K 14:50, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

Project team

Unless there are objections, I'll lead the effort to get Wikimania to Montreal for 2011. I've taken a low-activity break from the enwp Arbitration committee to be able to concentrate on this, I speak French natively and English fluently, and I have the time and energy to devote to this. I've already contacted the Mayor's office for preliminary contact, and I've started discussion with possible venues for prices and budgeting information.

Things to do urgently:

• Found Wikimédia Québec; I've got the paperwork ready and two persons to make the original board. Needed: final bylaws, a third administrator, and about $1000 in fees to set the nonprofit up.
  • Having a legal entity will simplify negotiations and talk with governments and venues much, much easier.
• Finalize dates
  • I'm thinking July 22-24; it's during most vacations, has likely nice weather and fewer conventions (so more available venues). Do we want four days?
• Figure out venue.
  • UQaM seems reasonable, the Palais des Congrès seems most likely as it is configurable to our needs (if we have support from the City, we can get this inexpensively). Other possibilities?
• Budget
  • I have a volunteer accountant to help with this.
• Flesh out candidacy.

— Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 16:26, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Just don't forget to include the Québécois ! ;-) Cbrown1023 talk 20:12, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Ben, là! J'ai quand-même pas perdu ma citoyenneté!  :-) — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 20:17, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

other Québécois* ;-) Cbrown1023 talk 21:19, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

Je me suis inclus dans le projet. Je ne sais cependant pas si Wikimédia Québec deviendra officiel auprès de la Wikimedia Foundation bientôt.

Je suis prêt à participer à des rencontres à Montréal pour se coordonner. Khayman 02:17, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Je sais pas pour WM Québec, mais pour Wikimania Montréal, c'est en route. De mon coté, je supporte la création de WM Québec à 100% et je donnerai un coup de main au besoin, mais je vais me concentrer sur Wikimania pour le moment. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 02:16, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

(English version follow) J'ai mis à jour la page anglophone de Wikimédia Québec afin d'inviter tout contributeur québécois de cette langue.

Je crois qu'une rencontre physique des intéressés à participer à la réalisation de Wikimania et/ou Wikimédia Québec pourrait se faire bientôt. Et quoi de mieux, pour tester le pouls du potentiel de la ville, que de se réunir à Montréal ? Khayman 02:55, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

I updated Wikimédia Québec/en. It is very minimal (I'm not good in english :o( ), but I try to do my best.

I think that we may try to physicaly encounter in Montreal soonly to see the city potential. Khayman 02:59, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

On a related note, i want to organize the final party at Six Flags La Ronde and they're very grateful, they can sell tickets at a low price if we're more than 20. Maybe access to the fireworks could be granted if we planned the date around a fireworks show... Fail 04:26, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Wiki

I have registered wikimania.qc.ca (I didn't put a year in the name just in case we miss 2011), it'll be up soonish; I'll set up a MediaWiki install. This is in my personal name, but I'll transfer everything to WM Quebec once it exists. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 16:48, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Il ya des gens dans le reste du Canada qui parlent le Français. Some of use are currently trying to get Wikimedia Canada running. Should these two groups not be combined?--Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 18:58, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

Other points of discussion

1) Given the success of the dual use of Spanish and English in Buenos Aires, we probably want to do the same ourselves with both French and English supported officially. Simultaneous translations? Language tracks?

2) Outreach to the First Nations? It would be _incredible_ if we could get some Cree, Algonquin and Inuit participation.

3) Keynote speakers? Ideas?

• Don't forget the Iroquois since this is taking place in their traditional territory. Eclecticology 11:11, 16 January 2010 (UTC)
  • I had, but one of the advantages of a collective project is that what one forgets another soon notices.  :-) — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 13:56, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

• Possible speaker: Michael Geist. He has been very active lately in copyright reform. Eclecticology 22:59, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

anglais et français?

Will the conference be dual-language, since this is taking place in Québec province? MarieO 03:01, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

That's the intent. I think that Buenos Aires has shown that this is both viable and desirable, and the Palais des Congres (the planned venue) has the technological support to make this practical and easy. The opportunity to let the French speaking members of the community participate is too good to pass up; both the Québecois and the French would would visit — frwp has had a meager showing at past Wikimanias, and it's clear that language was a factor. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 00:05, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

Il faudrait donc au minimum traduire la présente page. Khayman 01:08, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Pourquoi ? Le jury parle anglais. :-) Cbrown1023 talk 01:22, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Pour inclure les francophones dans le projet que diable ! Khayman 02:18, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Ah, oui. ;-) Cbrown1023 talk 14:59, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Pour les francophones, il faudrait un service d'interprétation simultanée. Je propose aussi d'inviter des Sourds avec un service d'interprétation visuelle en même temps. Fail 18:54, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Nous aurons, a notre disposition, l'infrastructure requise; in ne manque que les interpretes eux-meme; je pensait aller voir les Universités pour ca. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 22:06, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Les organisateur du deuxième Forum social québécois avaient à leur disposition quelques bénévoles pour ce faire (j'y ai participé en partie pour me rendre compte que je n'ai définitivement pas les compétences nécessaires). Je vais leur écrire un courriel et tenter de trouver en même temps des gens qui pourraient être intéressés à s'investir dans un éventuel Wikimania (les mondes du libre et des forums sociaux me semblent fortement compatibles). Khayman 01:57, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

New news

Tourisme Montreal has pledged support for the bid and Wikimania itself; they have a generic financial contribution for which we qualify (coming to roughly 2% of our overall budget), will give logistics support for organization, and have the ears of hotels. They will be requesting quotes from them shortly for blocs of rooms.

Also, there was talk that using the (walking distance) Université du Québec student residences would allow us to have trivially affordable accomodations. They will also be requesting a proposal from them. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 15:46, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

More new news: I just received a letter of invitation and encouragement from the Premier of Quebec; I'll try to have it scanned and uploaded tomorrow. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 03:06, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

Niiiiiiiiiiiiice! Fail 04:22, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

• Preliminary discussion with the AV team that works the Palais des Congres gives us full AV recording (with proper lighting and provided cameramen and audio techs), simultaneous translation, double projection (slides and live video) on all tracks, as well as a "wall of video" and live webcast for both plenary meetings at a price matching our budget.

• Food news: the welcome banquet and warm lunches will be provided; the current pricing is a bit more expensive than I would have liked, but that's a good "sponsorhip item" to hunt for. News later. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 01:20, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Great work !

Do you have a french version of the Premier's letter ? Khayman 16:18, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Err, no, I do not. Much to my surprise, as well. I suppose that the Premier's office figured that since the jury (and bid process) was officially in English only they didn't need to have both versions. It was still more than a little surprising to find the letter from the Premier of Québec was English-only. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 17:50, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Surprising, when we know the french is the only official language in Québec! For that, we would expect at least a bilingual version... Incredible John Charest...:) Jeff de St-Germain

It is natural that they replied to you in the same language you used when you wrote to them, unless you specifically requested a reply in a different language. I suppose you wrote to them in English, right ? -- Asclepias 22:58, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

No, I haven't, actually. And the others gave replies in both languages (owing, I expect, to the language of the jury). — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 11:32, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

Je pensais la même chose qu'Asclepias. Je suis surpris de ta réponse. Khayman 13:49, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

C'est, après tout, notre très cher John James Charest. — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 14:11, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

Sampling of food

Why not also include a sampling of local foods by inviting the fr:Union Des Producteurs Agricoles for a tasting demo in our best cheeses? Fail 23:56, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

That's a very good idea. Would you like to contact them to see what they think? — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 15:52, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

I have sent a email, no reply yet. Fail 18:04, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Catering

I have talked to a few users and we need to provide many kinds of catering if possible. Here's the concerns that i feel.

1. Vegetarian / Vegan food
2. Kosher food
3. Halal food

So we could put it in the registration form if they have a specific diet. Fail 18:07, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

The caterer can provide vegetarian and Kosher on demand, as long as it knows in advance, with capacity for 5% of variation at no fee (so if 100 people request vegetarian, they will be able to serve 95-105). — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 18:13, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Ending party

Six Flags La Ronde can welcome the attendees and it can host them and provide catering and reduced tickets. Plus, they can even VIP it up for better seats for the fireworks show. Leaving montréal after seeing those fireworks is a great idea... --Fail 23:53, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it is. I was hoping we could close things with the fireworks; have you discussed overall budget with them yet? — Coren ^{(talk) / (en-wiki)} 02:01, 13 March 2010 (UTC)