Wikimania 2015 bids/Mexico City

Wikimania 2015 candidate cities:

Mexico City (officially known in Spanish as México, D. F. or else México, D.F., or simply DF) is the Federal District (Distrito Federal), capital of Mexico, the country's largest city as well as its most important political, cultural, educational and financial center. Mexico City is among the world's largest cities and the most important financial centers in North America. It's also one of the most prominent cities in Latin America and the most visited destination of the country. Mexico City was traditionally known as La Ciudad de los Palacios ("the City of the Palaces"), a nickname attributed to Baron Alexander von Humboldt, who said Mexico City could rival any major city in Europe. Mexico is one of the most popular tourist countries on the planet and its capital is the heart of a country with strong cultural traditions as well as a contemporary and vibrant face, plenty of options to see, taste and visit. Our city has more than one hundred museums and micro-cities to see and visit in a variety of architectural styles: from Aztec zones to contemporary designs.

It lies at 2,200 meters above sea level. Mexico City proper has 9 million inhabitants, and Greater Mexico City has 22 million. For these reasons, Mexico City is the largest metropolitan area in the Western hemisphere and the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world. The city is very affordable in general terms for visitors, but has all the services found in any other global city.

This bid is presented by Wikimedia México, the local chapter of Wikimedia Foundation. Composed by a community of 40 people and 14 memberships, Wikimedia Mexico was recognized as a chapter in Wikimania 2011 in Haifa, Israel on August 3, 2011. It was formally established as a Nonprofit organization in February 2013. Is a highly dynamic Wikimedia chapter with steady growth and one of the most active chapters in the Spanish speaking world. For that reason, Mexico was recognized as a strategical country in the Global South by WMF in 2013. The organization made a successful Iberoconf 2013, the meeting of Iberocoop initiative and more than 120 Wikimedia activities only in 2013.

The bid of Wikimania 2015 in Mexico City has the support of the National Council for Culture and Arts and the main higher universities National Autonomous University of Mexico, National Polytechnic Institute and Ibero-American University. In addition, the Wikimedia Mexico team for the event have advanced talks for have official support by Federal government of Mexico and the Major of Mexico City and their respective Culture, Tourism and Education secretariats.

City proposed: Mexico City, Mexico.
Proposed dates: July 15–19, 2015
Number of participants: 1000
Venue: Biblioteca Vasconcelos
Contact person: Iván Martínez, Carmen Alcázar, Christian Cariño, Omar Sandoval and Andrés Cruz y Corro.
Twitter: @Wikimania2015

About our city

Mexico City (Spanish: México, Ciudad de México, or D.F. (pronounced deh eh-feh)) is the capital city of Mexico, and the largest city in North America. Mexico is one of the most visited countries in the world and its capital is a popular destination for tourism and business alike. Mexico City has more than ten centuries of history and has a unique and plentiful variety of experiences. Although the situation in some areas of the country, Mexico City is a full safe city to visit.

Mexico City has been a hospitable city for many decades for people of all the world. And possesses a spirit of global city that has allowed to host events of international scope, including the only Olympic Games in Latin America, two FIFA's World Cup and a high number of annual conferences, meetings and conventions.

See more about Mexico City >>

Conference venue: Biblioteca Vasconcelos

The venue will be provided for free to host Wikimania 2015

Biblioteca José Vasconcelos (Vasconcelos Library) is a large public library and one of the largest cultural centers in Mexico City, located at the north of their Historical Center. Planned by prominent architect Alberto Kalach, it's shaped like a 250m ship, made out of concrete, glass and steel, surrounded by vast gardens of endemic flora. Recently built, under its current leadership the library is aligned with the principles of sharing human knowledge, independently of Wikimedia. The José Vasconcelos Library is one of the largest public libraries in Latin America, committed to be host to several informational, educational and cultural events for the benefit of the Mexican people.

The main 38,000 square meters nave is a city of books. It has three floors of reading rooms equipped with contemporary designed furniture and good lighting. The collection of 580,000 books is placed in the middle in hundreds of mobile shelves.

Wikimedia Mexico identified the library as the ideal venue for Wikimania because it has all the necessary infrastructure to make the event: more than enough space, electric power and other services, flexibility for program meetings and their use will be donated specially for the event. The space is designed to be modular in terms of spaces for all kinds of activities. There is a large hall for plenary sessions where we can accommodate more than 1000 persons. There are also some rooms for conference tracks and extra room for press, the rooms are close to each other. The library has outdoor spaces and a garden for fresh air. Even though this is a public space, Wikimania will be the main event there.

See more about Biblioteca Vasconcelos and venue spaces for conference.>>

Schedule

Hackathon
	Wednesday 15, July 2015	Thursday 16, July 2015
8:00 – 8:45	Registration of participants of hackathon
09:00 – 09:30	Opening Hackathon	Hackathon
09:30 – 10:00	Coffee break	Coffee break
10:00 – 14:00	Hackathon	Hackathon
14:00 – 15:00	Lunch	Lunch
15:00 – 18:00	Hackathon	Hackathon
Wikimanía
	Friday 17 July 2015	Saturday 18 July 2015	Sunday 19 July 2015
8:00 – 8:45	Registration of participants	Morning break + snacks	Morning break + snacks
09:00 – 10:00	Opening ceremony	Conference sessions	Group photo
10:00 – 10:30	Morning break + snacks		Conference sessions
10:30 – 11:00	Conference sessions		Conference sessions
11:00 – 12:00		Coffee break	Coffee break
12:00 – 13:00		Conference sessions	Conference sessions
13:00 – 14:00		Conference sessions	Closing ceremony
14:00 – 15:00	Lunch	Lunch	Closing ceremony
15:00 – 17:00	Conference sessions	Conference sessions	Free time
17:00 – 17:30	Coffee break	Coffee break
17:30 – 19:00	Conference sessions	Conference sessions
19:00 – 19:30	shuttle to Hotels	shuttle to Hotels
20:00 – 21:00			Closing Party
21:00 – 22:00	Welcome Party

Speakers

Regarding the speaker program, we want to include prominent speakers about Wikimedia values, free culture and the future in the Spanish speaking context. Some ideas we think among with the WMF Conference Coordinator are:

Luis von Ahn: Guatemalan entrepreneur and an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University. He is known as one of the pioneers of crowdsourcing, creator of Duolingo. In 2011 Foreign Policy Magazine (in Spanish) named him the most influential intellectual of Latin America and Spain.
Antonio Lazcano: Scientist, studied the origin and early evolution of life for more than 35 years. UNAM researcher and teacher.
Daniel Goldin: head of Biblioteca Vasconcelos and long time editor. He can talk about the paper of Spanish speaking libraries' work with Wikimedia.
Ward Cunningham: creator of Wiki software
Nestor García Canclini: Argentine-born academic and anthropologist, known for his theories of the concept of "hybridity." He got a PhD in Philosophy at University of Paris X- Nanterre in the late 70s.
Agustín Peña: head of contents at Ibero 90.9 FM. He can talk about how the digital contents will became into the free culture.
Alejandro Piscitelli: Argentinean philosopher, specializing in new media and education.
Patricio Lorente: member of the Wikimedia Foundation and former president of Wikimedia Argentina.
Miguel de Icaza: Mexican free software programmer, best known for starting the GNOME and Mono projects.
Héctor García Molina: Mexican/American computer scientist and Professor in the Departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University.

Accommodation

Mexico City has a lot of options for accommodation. Unlike other cities where it has made Wikimania, we do not have a dorm ready for the event, or many hostels. For that reason, we have many hotels not far more than 5 kilometers from the exhibition at a reasonable rate and with a quality three star. We will work with the WMF Conference Coordinator in locating appropriate accommodations for all budgets.

Catering

Lunch: will be served in the northeast garden in a buffet style. Vegan and Kosher options are considered. Traditionally the Mexican food are spicy, but the catering will be light on seasoning.
Coffee-break: will include water, coffee (variety of preparations), tea, cookies, a plenty of fruits, traditional Mexican bread and juice.

Technical facilities

We will hire to one of the main ISP to provide full simetric connectivity to the event with 20 mb of download and 10 Mb of upload, in addition to the own network of the venue. Due to the relations of Wikimedia Mexico with ISP providers, surely will be sponsored the full connectivity. The video streaming and recording of the sessions is covered into the budget, too, with an independent 20 mb connection.

Wikimedia Mexico have some alliances with free software and tech devoted communities. We will work among with some of them to assure the infrastructure and quality of the technical facilities. In addition, we will make an open call to other volunteer groups for work in tech stuff.

Registration

We will hire a professional registration service for all guests. This service will operate in accordance with WMF, and also give attendees a badge with their data in a Help Desk on the venue at the arriving.

Conference materials

In the budget is considered a backpack, the traditional t-shirt, a notebook and printed comprehensive guide for the event.

Parties

We are considering an opening party and closing party. The opening party is planned in the Alcazar of Chapultepec Castle, and the closing party at a venue to be confirmed. In the budget is planned only the cocktail and the waitress service. We will get the sponsoring of drinks and artists of both parties.

Sponsorships

Our goal as Wikimania bid is achieve the most quantity of sponsors for all the items of the event. At the time of the bid, we get the sponsor of the venue, but we have other items as the technical facilities as a sponsoring.

Volunteer team

We will perform a broad calling for volunteer program, and we plan to recruit 100 volunteers for Wikimania, at least. On 2013 we have a positive experience recruiting volunteers and conforming main tracks and detailed tasks for everyone. Preferably seek volunteers who have an advanced level of English, but also know the values of Wikimedia mission. The volunteer program will be conducted by Wikimedia Mexico.

Support

The chapter has solid relations with federal and local government, prominent universities, relevant companies, cultural sector and NGO. In months preceding the application we have done extensive work of convincing and support to the realization of this event. Much of the development of Wikimedia Mexico has been possible thanks to the local willingness to support the Wikimedia mission.

Letters of support

Letter of support by Biblioteca Vasconcelos
Letter of support by Lab for the City, Mexico City Government
Letter of support of UNAM, the main university in Latin America
Letter of Support of ESCOM IPN, the most important public technological higher education center in Mexico.

Wikimedia community support

Chapters

Wikimedia Chile (see the letter of support)
Wikimedia Uruguay (agreement point in the March 29 Assembly)

Individuals

Sapphirewhirlwind (talk) 01:55, 17 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Budget

Note: All the prices are quoted in USD.

Category	Items	Description	Total	Notes
Venue	Hall, rooms and basic technical facilities pre/post conference		$0	Donated by Biblioteca Vasconcelos.
Technical Facilities	Wi-Fi, electric infrastructure and audio for all the tracks		$27,586
Video	CCTV for plenary and three meeting rooms. Streaming and recording		$24,828
Insurance			$2,000
Catering	All day coffee break and meals.	3 days Wikimanía + 2 days Hackathon	$79,440
Promotional materials	Backpack, t-shirts, notebook, stickers and pens		$60,407
Registration	Full service of registrations-in-place and badges		$9,311
Conference materials	Stationery for program tracks and sessions		$3,448
Stage design and furniture	Main stage at the ballroom for Plenary, three rooms for program and furniture for gardens		$63,104	Audio $18,276 / Furniture for library and gardens $34,483 / Display for main stage and two rooms $10,345
Tent for lunch area at the gardens			$1,883
Transportation			$10,345	Round trip from hotels to venue.
Organization team			$17,241	Project managing and expenditures of volunteers.
Printings			$7,793	Program kit for each participant, signals, banners, fabric for main stage.
Speakers			$9,000
Parties			$18,800	Cost for canape and waitress service. Drinks and show will be get for sponsoring.
Production stationery			$3,467	Electric staff: $2,070 Miscellaneous: $1,397
Incidentals			$5,517
Total			$ 344,170

ESTIMATED REVENUE:

Sponsorships: $100,000

Registration Fees (1,500 attendees): $40,000

WMF Grant: $300,000

Other Grants/Revenue: $9,000

Self evaluation

Strengths	Weaknesses
Mexico City has conference facilities, public transportation and internet connectivity as a city with high tourist activity Flights are cheaper compared with the other bids, most of them are direct flights, have one connecting flight but no more than two connections Mexico it is close to USA and this makes attendance more affordable for the huge community of american wikimedians Wikimedia Mexico has a good relationship with some key offices of multiple levels of government, cultural sector, companies and NGOs Good and verifiable antecedents for organization and development of international events Cost of living is really cheaper compared with other big cities in the world. Also has a huge offer of luxury brands and stores Chapter members have experience in logistics and production of events Unlike the rest of the country, Mexico City, guarantees political, sexual and religious freedom. It's a gay-friendly city, same-sex marriage is legal since 2009 Mexico D.F. is a multicultural city: it offers dance, music, theater, cinema and many more events. Most international events hosted in the country are held here The visa process for countries that require it, is simple and inexpensive. The chapter has a strong media strategy: only in 2013 we had more than 90 mentions in radio, newspapers and television Mexico has an impressive culinary offer. A huge variety of international restaurants, gourmet and regional food accessible to any budget Some members of the organization team have been working together efficiently for the last 3 years ago in WMMX There is a daily strong communication inside the organization team	Delay on bid There are no lodge or dorms that can host more than 500 persons at the same time and same place You can not arrive walking to the venue from the lodge Safety is like any big city, some areas are unsafe at night WMMX does not have any hired employee
Opportunities	Threats
Support of government agencies to help during the planning and development of the event Support of educative and cultural institutions to help during the planning and development of the event Some companies are interested in sponsoring items for the event At least two venue options could be donated in case of any contingency. We are talking about make the inauguration in another relevant public venue as the Palace of Fine Arts or the Theater of the City.	Sudden fee changes Slow response of institutions or procedures Summer peak season, prices could be higher that the rest of the year

How we can manage the risks?

Risk	Possible negative results	Mitigation
There are not a lodge or dorms that can host at the same place more than 500 persons	Have attendants into multiple and/or separated hotels	Book nearby hotels
You can not arrive walking to the venue from the lodge	Attendants might get lost or delayed to the event	Have a round trip shuttle between the hotel and the venue
Safety is like any big city, some areas are unsafe at night.	Suffer an incident with one of the attendants.	A team of volunteers will verify whether anybody stays at venue at the end of the activities.
Mexico City has daily transit troubles and numerous protests at their main streets	Delays on event schedule or attendants arriving late to Wikimania due to traffic.	Make efficient logistics coordinated with local transit police. Will ask the City's Major's Office for support and to make special arrangements with the transit police, trying to give priority to our buses. The venue can be reached easily in public transportation. We will make a comprehensive guide for the use of public transportation and we will have volunteers that could bring support in each hotel. There is no evidence of demonstrators attacking people or tourists.
WMMX does not have any hired employee		DE will be requested the next 2014 Grant
Sudden fee changes	A more expensive event.	Was listed a possible inflation and planned an amount for incidentals.
Slow response of institutions or procedures	Delay on confirmations.	We are proceeding with previous months in all the tasks as we have sure the bid.
Summer peak season, prices could be higher that the rest of the year		We are considering a rational increase in the prices submitted.
Previous issues with WMF Grants	WMMX had a delay in the report of use of Grants of WMF	Since 2014 Wikimedia Mexico has a person devoted to finances who will work among with the treasurer.

Wikimania 2015 bid is organized by:

And preliminarily sponsored by:
National Council for Culture and Arts
Biblioteca Vasconcelos