Wikimedia Conference/Program and Engagement Coordination/Wikimania 2017 report

As a part of the engagement process of the Wikimedia Conference 2017 and the goal to make it more sustainable, the Program and Engagement Coordinator (PEC) for the Wikimedia Conference (Cornelius Kibelka), took also part in the Wikimania 2017 in Montréal. Cornelius and Anne organised a WMCON Follow-Up Day as a pre-conference day before Wikimania (August 10^th) and took part in other meetups to follow up major topics of the Wikimedia Conference.

WMCON Follow-Up Day!

The WMCON Follow-Up Day was hosted by Wikimedia Deutschland. It was designed to be a space not only for the participants of the Wikimedia Conference but also for other interested people to discuss topics of the Wikimedia Conference and develop them.

Session during the WMCON Follow-Up Day

In close coordination with interested speakers of the previous Wikimedia Conference, the PEC organised the space for six different thematic sessions at the Follow-Up Day, each 90 min long, in two parallel tracks.

Conferences in the Wikimedia movement

Summary of the session: /Conferences in the Wikimedia Movement

Kacie Harold (WMF), Program Officer for the Conference Grants Program, hosted a session on how the Wikimedia movement should prioritize the grant funds available for conferences and events. Participants started the session by looking at the way that demand for conferences has grown in the past few years without growth in the conference grant budget. The purpose of the discussion was to learn what priorities the movement should consider when choosing conferences to fund, what budget guidelines might be adopted to help minimize event costs. Conversations about why people attend conferences and how individuals, communities and the movement benefit from them were helpful for understanding the needs that are important to individuals and communities that are currently mostly fulfilled by attending conferences. This information is helpful both for planning future events, but also could help the movement think about new ways to meet those needs (i.e. inspiration, motivation, networking, building trust, meeting peers) outside of conferences and events.

Communications Committee Update

Summary of the session: /Communications Committee

Gregory Varnum (WMF) hosted a session giving an update about the future of the Communications Committee.

Participants discussing in the Volunteer Support session, led by Veronika Krämer (WMDE) & Raimund Liebert (WMAT)

Volunteer Support: What makes the difference?

Summary of the session: /Volunteer Support

Veronika Krämer (WMDE) and Raimund Liebert (WMAT) hosted a session to discussion the necessity and impact of Volunteer Support done by Wikimedia organizations and groups.

EU Advocacy: Next steps in the process

No specific summary available

Dimitar Dimitrov (FKAGEU): The Wikimedia public policy group received an in camera update about the state of the EU copyright reform. Information about our tactics and planned action was shared that is too sensitive for public mailing lists. An assessment of the chances of success for our individual issues was made. The Slovak group joined the discussion and agreed to reach out to their government as well. A lot of attention was given to the Council and possible ways through which to improve on our lack of engagement with this body of EU legislation. 

Board member support

Participants discussing in the Board Member Support session, led by Frans Grijsenhout (WMNL)

Summary of the session: /Board Member Support

Frans Grijsenhout (WMNL) hosted a session on how to support (better) board members of Wikimedia organizations/groups, discussing topics and future ways of doing so.

Partnerships in the Wikimedia movement

Summary of the session: /Partnerships

Nikki Zeuner (WMDE) and the Partnerships & Global Reach team (WMF) discussed future tasks and work of the "Partnerships group".