Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2018/Bids/Serbia

This is an original proposal, it might have changed as the result of the discussion. Please read the talk page for additional information and clarification: Talk:Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2018/Bids/Serbia

Belgrade, Serbia

Wikimedia affiliate: Wikimedia Serbia

Summary

The initial wish of Wikimedia Serbia is to organize the CEE conference 2018 in order to continue community building activities for Wikipedians and Wikimedians from the CEE region. The first CEE conference was held in Belgrade in 2012. Since then, the CEE community has had a lot of success in the implementation of projects and has strengthened in terms of volunteer capacity. In 2018 we want to go back to the place where it all started, share experience and knowledge we have gained so far, look at the impact we have made and work on future plans. Apart from sharing experience from various chapters, results of the conference would be ideas for new projects (such as CEE Spring) which would enable networking and strengthening volunteers’ connection from different countries in order to spread free knowledge.

Wikimedia Serbia has a stable structure in terms of employees and Board members which would ensure good organization, implementation and monitoring of the conference.

Primary contact person

Bojan Cvetanović, Wikimedia Serbia Office Manager

Proposed event venue

Logistically, it’s much easier to organize and hold a conference when the accommodation and the venue are at the same place. For this reason, we are planning a hotel reservation, which can also offer suitable conference rooms. So far, the best offer was given by Hotel Queen’s Astoria in Belgrade.

Proposed accommodation venue

It is planned for participants to stay in the Hotel Queen’s Astoria, which has two conference rooms. The location of the hotel is very good, close to the main railway and bus station, and downtown. We think that participants will have benefits and an easy access if they stay in a hotel where the venue is.

Near Hotel Astoria there are cultural and tourist sights, which participants can visit and feel the true spirit of Serbia.

Note: This choice may be subject to change. We’ve already contacted the hotel, but accommodation depends on approved grant and hotel’s capacity at the moment of reservation.

Expected total budget

Total budget	40,710.00	48,742.08
	EUR	USD
Total cost	41,760.00	49,999.25
Donations	1,050.00	1,257.17

1 EUR = 1.1973 USD (exchange rate on 30/08/2017).

Proposed event dates

Second half of October 2018 (19 - 21 or 26 - 28)

Description

What will the event be like if you were awarded the right to host it? Please describe your plan including the proposed duration, scale and any points of interest (such as social activities or innovations to the event format). Include any multimedia, external links, or description that you would like.

The event would be held in the second half of October 2018 and would last for three days. Proposed dates are 19-21 or 26-28. As stated above, it is planned that accommodation and venue would be in the same hotel. This would make it easier for participants in terms of their moving during the conference.

Participants will be provided with meals during the conference (from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon).

Every session and social event will be documented with photo and video materials. For this occasion, Wikimedia Serbia will hire a professional cameraman.

Thursday - arrival of participants and welcoming

This day is reserved for participants’ arrival and welcoming new and experienced Wikipedians and Wikimedians from the CEE region. Dinner at the hotel will be provided for conference participants.

Friday - the first conference day

This will be the first day of the official conference program. It will last from 9am to 5pm and will consist of parallel sessions. The event would start with an official opening with a few words from the representatives of the WMF, the program team and the organizational team from Wikimedia Serbia.

Wikimedia Serbia will provide a room that can serve for smaller meetings and workshops. Also, the WMRS office can be available.

Saturday - the second conference day

It is planned that program consists of parallel sessions from 9am to 5pm.

During the afternoon there will be a tour for sightseeing some of the most famous Belgrade sights: Kalemegdan Fortress, St. Sava Temple, House of the Serbian Parliament, Knez Mihailova Street, History Museum etc. A group photo of all participants will be taken at Kalemegdan Fortress if the weather’s fine.

Saturday night is reserved for dinner in Skadarlija, a famous Bohemian district in Belgrade. It is famous because in the late 19th century and early 20th century many actors lived there, due to its close proximity to the National Theatre. It is also known as the hub of artists, poets, painters and many others.

Sunday - the third conference day

Bearing in mind that this is the third conference day, the program will be somewhat shorter - from 9am to 2pm or 3pm followed by closing ceremony.

Logistics

Team

Which Wikimedia affiliate staff, local partner organisation staff and/or volunteers will be actively supporting (aka working on any of its part) this event.

Name	Role	Estimated time allocation	Experiences in organizing of events
Bojan Cvetanović - Office Manager	overall project coordination Budget planning WMF grant issues all issues to do with the venue, hotel and meals local transport coordinator in Belgrade travel arrangements for participants purchase of conference merchandise payment processing	≈240 hours	2 WikiLive conferences, various meetups and events
Ivana Madžarević - Project and Community Manager	coordination with the Program Committee coomunication with grant and self-funded participants management and coordination of paid staff helping with the travel arrangements for participants	≈200 hours	3 WikiLive conferences, various meetups and events
Ivana Guslarević - Communications Manager	outreach to the Serbian and international news media social media output	≈70 hours	2 WikiLive conferences, various meetups and events
Nebojša Ratković - Education Program Manager	management and coordination of volunteers registration desk organizing and maintaining support to participants during the conference days	≈70 hours	1 WikiLive conference, various meetups and events
Filip Maljković - Board chair	chief project liason for WMF and affiliates supervision of all project finances payment processing (for payments in foreign currency) logistical help during the conference	≈70 hours	First CEE conference, 3 WikiLive conferences, Edu Wiki conference of Serbia, Open Wiki GLAM conference of Serbia, 5 international Wiki conferences in Belgrade, hundreds of meetups and several smaller events
Đorđe Stakić - Board member	helping with the coordination with the Program Committee payment processing (for payments in foreign currency)	≈30 hours	Several international Wiki conferences in Belgrade, several meetups and smaller events, several non-Wikimedia conferences and symposiums
Miljan Simonović - Board member	coordination of the conference records helping with the local transport coordination logistical help during the conference	≈40 hours	2 WikiLive conferences, various meetups and events
Miroslav Loci - Board member	social event and city tour support to participants during the conference days	≈30 hours	3 WikiLive conferences, Edu Wiki conference of Serbia, various meetups and events

Experience

Which event(s) of 50+ participants did you, your team, or affiliate previously organise? Wikimedia Serbia has a huge experience in organizing conferences and events of different types. Since 2015 we organized 3 WikiLive conferences - local conferences of Wikipedians and several WLE and WLM exhibits.

In addition to local conferences, we organized international conferences attended by representatives from other countries:

First CEE conference in 2012
GLAM conference in 2012
EduWiki conference in 2014
Five international conferences in Belgrade

Accessibility

How accessible will this event be? This includes visa conditions for likely attendee nationalities; disability access at the venue(s); ease of travel to nearest international airport/train hub.

Visa regime can be seen and checked on this link. Visa is required for citizens from four countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan) from the CEE chapters and user groups.

Unfortunately, Astoria Hotel doesn't have access for people with disabilities, but we would provide logistical support if needed.

The hotel is located in a very good location (please check Google maps), bearing in mind that the main bus and train stations are close to the hotel, as well as the bus stops that go directly to the airport (lines 72 and Ada 1).

Please provide a link to the English website of your country’s visa conditions (or list CEE and other relevant countries needing visa), and indicate if you have previous experience in securing visas for attendees.

Visa regime can been seen and checked on this link. Visa is required for citizens from four countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan) from CEE chapters and user groups. We already had experience in securing visas for participants for GLAM and CEE conferences.

Please provide some kind of verification / assurance of enough WiFi capacity and speed.

We have confirmation from the hotel that Internet speed is 30 Mbps. The capacity of the Internet is 250 devices.

Budget

How much do you expect this event will cost? Please either fill-out the tables below, or provide a separate spreadsheet if this table is not applicable to your budget format (e.g if Accommodation and Venue are a grouped budget item). Please provide links or documents which show how costs have been estimated.

Note: each participating organisation is expected to send two delegates

Travel

Nr.	Item description	Unit	Quantity	Cost per unit	Total cost	USD	Comments
1.	Travel costs				16,980.00	20,330.15
1.1.	International travel	participant	62	266.13	16,500.00	19,755.45	Based on estimates from travel sites and known travel origins
1.2.	Domestic travel	participant	62	0	0	0	Local transport costs will not be covered.
1.3.	Visa fees	participant	8	60.00	480.00	574.70	Visa regime

Accommodation

Nr.	Item description	Unit	Quantity	Cost per unit	Total cost	USD	Comments
2.	Accommodation costs				15,360.00	18,390.53
2.1.	Lodging	night	3	3,320.00	9,960.00	11,925.11	Estimated number of people in need of accommodation in Belgrade: 80 (40 double rooms). Breakfast and dinner included.
2.2.	Catering	participant	300	18	5,400.00	6,465.42	Lunch at the conference venue for 3 days.

Venue

Nr.	Item description	Unit	Quantity	Cost per unit	Total cost	USD	Comments
3.	Venue costs				4,950.00	5,926.63
3.1.	Rent	days	3	150.00	450.00	538.78	Subject to negotiations which might seriously start after we know we will organize the meeting.
3.2.	Coffee breaks	breaks	300	12	3,600.00	4,310.28	Coffee, drinks and snacks for 3 days.
3.3.	Technical support	estimated	3	300.00	900.00	1,077.57	This includes all the support from the venue, including audio/video support, but also logistics in terms of setting the rooms

Please list at least the major items (if not all) of the technical support.

Other income / expenses

If applicable: Are there any other expected sources of revenue for this event other than a WMF Event grant, e.g. sponsorship (monetary/in-kind) or local Chapter fundraising?

Nr.	Item description	Unit	Quantity	Cost per unit	Total cost	USD	Comments
4.	Income (inc. in-kind)				1,050.00	1,257.16
4.1.	Local team operational costs		1	500.00	500.00	598.65	Rough estimate - to be donated by WMRS
4.2.	Downtown city tour	tour	1	100.00	100.00	119.73
4.3.	Rent of venue	days	3	150.00	450.00	538.78	Subject to negotiations which might seriously start after we know we will organize the meeting.
4.4.	Coffee breaks		N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	We will try to arrange a donation from domestic manufacturers of refreshing beverages.

If applicable: Are there are any other expected costs which might be applicable, e.g. a party, sightseeing tour, culture event, local transport shuttle/ticket...?

Nr.	Item description	Unit	Quantity	Cost per unit	Total cost	USD	Comments
5.	Other expense				4,470.00	5,351.93
5.1.	Video camera hiring for video recording	2 cameras per day	3	150.00	450.00	538.78
5.2.	Professional photographer	1 person per day	3	40.00	120.00	143.68
5.3.	Promo package for participants	person	100	5.00	500.00	598.65	Bags, folders, pens, name tags.
5.4.	Saturday dinner	person	100	18	1,800.00	2,155.14	Dinner in Bohemian district of the city - meal + drinks
5.5.	Downtown city tour	tour	1	100.00	100.00	119.73	Donation of Wikimedia Serbia
5.6.	Local team operational costs		1	500.00	500.00	598.65	Rough estimate - to be donated by WMRS
5.7.	Unforeseen expenses				1,000.00	1,197.30

Other

If dinner is not provided, please provide typical average meal price including common beverages and typical average prices for common basic food.

Confirmation

Primary contact person for the proposal, and chairperson/director of the supporting affiliate, please sign below to indicate your proposal is complete and accurate.

Primary contact: --Bojan Cvetanović (talk) 10:09, 4 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Affiliate chair/director: --FiliP ██ 18:50, 5 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]