Talk:Wikimedia Conference 2014/Programme

State of the Movement

I, personally, liked the idea of the posters of the Milan Conference in 2013. We could elaborate that a little bit more, adding some (more emotional :-) questions. My suggestions:

• What made you the biggest headache in the last year?
• What you're really proud of?
• What's your most challenging goal for this year?
• Describe the relationship between your organisation and your community in three words
• If your organisation were an animal in the Wikimedia world, which would it be?
• ...

What do you think? --Jcornelius (talk) 11:28, 23 January 2014 (UTC)

I was also thinking that Posters can really efficiently replace the three minutes talk. In Science Conferences, we always have poster session, it can be a social event, with wine and cheese. But for that we need a room where we can display something like 50 Posters, 80cm*120cm. In a perfect world, each WMF department should also present their own posters, it can be really useful to present them individually. --Charles Andrès (WMCH) 16:51, 23 January 2014 (UTC)

I also think creating a template for the posters will help organisations with presenting themselves and guarantee a nice form of visual consistency. This template is not a "must", if an org comes up with a very special poster themselves, that's perfectly fine. There is a similar discussion going on for Wikimania, btw. Can we continue to collect more questions here? Just some more ideas:

• What do you consider your very special asset for the movement? (like inventor of WLM, Stroopwafels etc.)
• Draw your organisation's position in the Wikimedia universe.
• What support by others would be (have been) helpful for you in order to develop your organisation? (not sure if a poster can cover this)
• ...

--Nicole Ebber (WMDE) (talk) 10:28, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Programmatic Evaluation

The foundation's Program Evaluation and Design Team are planning to be present at the conference and would like to present:

1. Two brief sessions on program evaluation tracking and reporting tools (Requesting conference schedule placement)
2. A pre-conference, one-day Introductory workshop on program evaluation (Wednesday pre-conference: Program leaders should express interest via survey (Open through Feb 17, 2014))
3. A half-day set of sessions during the afternoon of Open Thursday

1. Two program evaluation conference sessions. These sessions would be brief, 30-40 minutes each, with the first 15-20 minutes for overview and demonstration followed by 10-15 minutes of practical application by participants. Topics would include those evaluation tools and resources program leaders in attendance have reported most interested in:

• Reporting and tracking tools
• Wikimetrics

Topics have been chosen based on program leader feedback on which topics would be most useful for those attending the conference. Session goals would include that participants will:

• Learn about a specific tool or resource they can use for program evaluation (Overview)
• Learn how to use the tool within the context of programmatic use case(s) (Demonstration)
• Receive technical support in trying out the tool or resource (Practical application)

2. A pre-conference, one day introductory workshop on evaluation. As we have received many inquiries about, and requests for, another workshop since our pilot in Budapest, we also see the conference as an opportunity to invite a new set of program leaders to participate in an introductory workshop on program evaluation. If there is enough interest, we will prepare and facilitate an abbreviated version of the Budapest pilot workshop. The abbreviated workshop would include an introduction to program evaluation and design and overview of tools and strategies for evaluation planning, program monitoring, and outcomes assessment, but it would not include program-specific logic model break-out sessions. This workshop would also be complemented by the proposed sessions during the conference meeting days.

Workshop goals would include that participants will:

• Gain a basic shared understanding of program evaluation
• Gain increased fluency in a common language of evaluation
• Learn about different sources for data
• Enjoy time networking with other program leaders

3. Afternoon pre-conference workshop sessions as part of Open Thursday

JAnstee (WMF) (talk) 01:01, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Hi Jaime, in the light of the outcomes of your survey, would you mind adding your plans to the Open Thursday page already? This helps people plan their travel bookings accordingly. Thanks! --Nicole Ebber (WMDE) (talk) 11:45, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Ideas session

I'm super interested to hear more about what the programme team has in mind for the Ideas session! We're planning to do another improvements sprint (in terms of features, etc) on IdeaLab around this time of year, and I'd love to understand if there are organizational use-cases that we could build in to make spaces like this useful to chapters and other groups...Siko (WMF) (talk) 18:54, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, Siko, this session proposal is coming from the collection of input, from Jessie acutally: "Innovation and experimentation -> how to improve the cycle of ideas to design to experiments". We would love to see you coming up with a more detailed session goal and design. Please also feel free to suggest one or two additional speakers for the session, either here or via email to the programme team. --Nicole Ebber (WMDE) (talk) 19:01, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

Session on grants/funding available for movement stakeholders

Hi there: I'd like to propose a session where WMF grantmaking staff and committee members present the various funding options that are available to support different movement stakeholders. We did something like this in Milan last year, and it was a popular session. It would be great to have the space to share more with movement stakeholders so that we can all spread the news about what kinds of options are available to support individuals, teams, and organizations doing movement-related work to advance the mission. It's always nice, too, to have time in person to answer questions and provide clarifications. KLove (WMF) (talk) 19:01, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Hi Katy, yes, indeed a good idea. We will add one more session on grantmaking to the next version of the programme outline. Do you already have Affiliations in mind that could present their programmes? I can imagine WMPL, WMUK and WMDE of course, but there might be others, too. --Nicole Ebber (WMDE) (talk) 19:02, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

The future of capacity building

Something I would like to see (and would be happy to help facilitate) is a session around the future of capacity-building, experience-sharing, and training in the Wikimedia movement. It is clear from the "hot topics" that have come up in the programme that there is a need for this, as it's a much-requested topic. I think we need to collectively think about what the needs different people/organisations have are, and how best to fill them. It would be good if there was some kind of tangible, documented outcome to this that formed the basis for future initiatives - whether at the Wikimedia Conference, Wikimania, or other events, or standalone events - and whether led by individual chapters, the WMF, AffCom, or a mixture of the above. Chris Keating (The Land) (talk) 18:31, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Right, this should be covered. Chris, do you think it would make sense to cover this topic in the Sharing is caring session? If so, please feel free to edit the session description. --Nicole Ebber (WMDE) (talk) 10:33, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Strategy and Impact session

Board representatives of WMUK would be keen to share their experience, and solicit feedback on, the writing of the WMUK strategy. This would fit under theme 1.4 Strategy processes, or generally within Theme 2 on success and impact. We're particularly interested in talking about joint impact measurement strategies and their alignment with strategic goals (or outcomes).

In the meantime if anyone has any feedback on the strategy, we're keen to invite comment from the wider community https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Engine_room#Community_consultation_-_Strategic_Plan_2014-2019 Sjgknight (talk) 11:51, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Perfect, thanks! This experience is exactly what we (the programme team) are looking for here. We will be in touch with you after our next hangout, by the end of next week the latest. --Nicole Ebber (WMDE) (talk) 10:56, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Schedule

Hi. Is there any day-by-day schedule? Thanks. --Ganímedes (talk) 01:01, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi, please see front page: "Please note that this still work in progress, a more detailed schedule will evolve within the coming weeks, thanks to your input!" Do you have specific questions? Cheers, --Nicole Ebber (WMDE) (talk) 11:03, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

I read that, yes, but It's my firts WMConf and I've seen "30 min, 1h", etc and a lot of issues and I'm not sure if there is more than one at the time, or first one and then the rest, etc. Just to have an idea, but if there´s no schedule, no problem. Thank you. --Ganímedes (talk) 19:45, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Ganímedes, did you see that we, the Programme Team, already published a draft version of schedule? Best, --Jcornelius (talk) 14:14, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Meet the WMF Board of Trustees session

I understand the idea to split it groups and to have small discussion, having the ability to raise more subjects - but I still think part of this session should be a panel - as their are enough issues which will be raised by many people to be discussed again and again by each group - and that the board, together, should face them. The last resolutions by the BOT are a good example to question and concern that should be raised (and answered) with all the participation involve - board members and affiliations representatives. --Itzike (talk) 13:13, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Hi Itzik, as one of the idea givers for a different format like this, I can only say that I find a panel situation as we know it from Wikimanias or other meetings quite strange. There is an unneccessary formalism and far too few opportunities to really exchange ideas, thoughts and feelings. I would like us to have more open and insightful discussions, with more benefit for those who have questions as well as for those who usually only give more or less intelligent answers. The idea of the world cafe is to change the tables (so you don't only talk to one Board member) and to have a summarizing panel at the end. The latter is important to share views and conclusions with all participants. Do you worry that questions you have in mind would not be covered enough with such a format? Alice Wiegand (talk) 13:47, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

In consultation with the Board, the programme team has updated the session format. The session will be split into a world café and a panel discussion. Thanks for the input! --Nicole Ebber (WMDE) (talk) 12:06, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Thank you Nicole & Alice. This is what I hoped for. --Itzike (talk) 22:10, 7 April 2014 (UTC)