Wikimedia monthly activities meetings/Process

The Wikimedia Foundation Communications department coordinates the monthly Wikimedia activities meetings. The department utilizes the process and materials shared on this page.

Roles

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  • Meeting lead: Gregory Varnum
  • Meeting backup lead: Samantha Lien
  • Meeting driver: Sasha Redkina
  • Meeting backup driver:
  • Design reviewer: Blanca Flores
  • IRC moderator: James Forrester

Timeline

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Individuals within Communications department working on meeting meet biweekly to help maintain this timeline.

Four weeks out from meeting
  • Potential topics identified
    • Meeting group
  • Contact speakers for interest
    • Meeting lead
  • Identify facilitator
    • Meeting group
  • Contact facilitator for interest
    • Meeting lead
  • Create Google Slides deck and share with meeting group
    • Meeting driver
Three weeks out from meeting
  • Tentative agenda set
    • Meeting group
    • Meeting lead sign off
  • As soon as speakers confirm, share slide deck and instructions
    • Meeting lead
  • Designated teams within Wikimedia Foundation contacted for suggestions for content for meeting presentation slides providing highlights from past month and upcoming month
    • Meeting backup lead
Two weeks out from meeting
  • Contact facilitator to confirm
    • Meeting lead
  • Contact speakers to confirm
    • Meeting lead
  • Contact IRC moderator to confirm
    • Meeting driver
  • Coordinate with Office IT to setup video streaming
    • Meeting driver
  • Invitation draft begins
    • Meeting driver
    • Meeting lead
One week out from meeting
  • Reminder to presenters about slide deck
    • Meeting lead
  • Deadline for slides from presenters to be added to presentation slide deck
    • Presenters
  • Review and make notes on slide deck
    • Meeting team - primarily Meeting lead, Meeting backup lead, and Design reviewer
  • Meeting prep meeting scheduled
    • Meeting driver
  • Agenda posted on Meta-Wiki
    • Meeting driver
  • Invitation sent to community
    • Meeting driver
Three days out from meeting
  • Reminder to presenters and facilitator
    • Meeting lead
  • Review and finalize slide deck
    • Meeting lead, Meeting backup lead, and Design reviewer
  • Share technical specifics with Office IT (How many remote and any technical needs such as videos)
    • Meeting driver
One day out from meeting
  • Final reminder to presenters and facilitator
    • Meeting lead
  • Lock the presentation slide deck
    • Meeting lead and Meeting backup lead
Day of meeting
  • Reminder invitation sent to community
    • Meeting driver
Week following meeting
  • Meeting presentation slides posted on Meta-Wiki
    • Meeting driver

Materials

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  • Invitation template
  • Meeting presentation slides developed monthly and shared privately - posted publicly following meeting

Guidelines for presenters

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Informational content:

  • Data (what do the numbers tell us about whether what we're doing is working?)
  • Key milestones (are we on track with what we said we'd do?)
  • Mistakes and lessons learned (be honest about what went wrong)

Presentation guidelines:

  • Don't assume your audience knows your domain – clarity is more important than density
  • Introduce yourself and your colleagues by full name and role – new folks are joining all the time, and you'll be watched on video
  • Stick to the time limit
  • Keep the mic close enough that you can hear it working; nobody will hold it against you if you do a quick sound check
  • If people ask questions without speaking into the mic, repeat the question for remote participants and video audience
  • Engage the audience (questions, etc.)
  • If possible, work with a co-presenter to flip slides or demo stuff so you don't have to juggle
  • Keep it light-hearted :-)
  • Slides:
    • If you have screenshots, make sure the words are very large
    • Share them beforehand (e.g. as Google Docs), but in read only mode!
    • Link them from the meeting agenda
    • Upload them to Commons in PDF form (in the category "Presentation slides from the Wikimedia monthly activities meetings"), so that they are archived in our own repository under a free license, and can be embedded directly in other documentation on the wikis.
    • For remote presenters: If you will be sharing your screen, do a test run beforehand to make sure your slide deck (audio & video) behaves in all the expected ways when presented via a shared screen.

Please review the best practices in giving a presentation at the Wikimedia Foundation page for additional presentation guidelines.