Wikimedia chapters/Statements/Chapter chairs statement: Wikimania needs to be arranged every year

Chapter chairs statement: Wikimania needs to be arranged every year

The chairpersons of the Wikimedia chapters state that Wikimania needs to be arranged every year.

Our key arguments for this are:

• Wikimania is a major channel for bringing feedback from volunteers to the WMF face to face. Using only digital channels, communication often leads to misunderstandings that could be solved by people talking to each other.
• The volunteers are the most valuable asset of Wikimedia, Wikimania is a resource. The chapters can empower important volunteers with a Wikimania scholarship or ticket. While the annual Wikimedia Conference in Berlin is the place for conversations around strategy and capacity building, Wikimania is the main venue for the chapters to present their projects. This is important to inspire other chapters and volunteers and to receive feedback to adjust and improve the projects.
• Wikimania is the main analog global meeting place for volunteers and this inspires major contributers to continue and improve their work in Wikimedia. Wikimania is a community event. We share a broad understanding of "community" and consider board and staff representatives of movement organisations as community, too.
• A press release from the WMF at Wikimania attracts positive press on the WMF, Wikimania and the Wikimedia movement. When changes are needed in the community or policies, Wikimania is the best venue to present the changes and get feedback before the changes are performed.

As chairs we believe that the presentations at Wikimania should be broadcasted online, both to increase the importance and the influence of Wikimania, without increasing the costs very much.

We are aware of the costs involved with holding Wikimania, and we agree that the event should be more cost-effective. To increase cost efficiency, we strongly advocate for putting more time and energy into high quality programmes and into a more sustainable programme design process. The chairs emphasizes, that the quality and the outreach of a Wikimania should be more important than the frequency. However, for the reasons stated above, we strongly disagree with the proposal of holding Wikimania every other year.

Wikimania needs to be arranged every year.

• Frans Grijzenhout, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia Nederland
• Hogne Neteland, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia Norway
• Tim Moritz Hector, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia Deutschland
• Tomasz Ganicz, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia Polska
• Filip Maljković, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia Serbia
• Michael Maggs, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia UK
• Geert Van Pamel, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia Belgium
• Galileo Vidoni, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia Argentina
• Kurt Kulac Chair of the Board, Wikimedia Österreich
• Santiago Navarro Sanz, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia España
• Iván Martínez, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia Mexico
• Lorenzo Losa, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia Italia
• Dorian Credé, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia CH
• Emeric Vallespi, Chair of the Board, Wikimedia France
• Gideon Digby, President, Wikimedia Australia

Notes

• This document was presented at Wikimania 2016, at "The Future of Wikimania" session [1]