Grants talk:Conference/GMG/Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2022

Learning day prior to the conference

Hi! Just because this isn't mentioned in the grant, just as a line in the budget: Why isn't the learning day financed by the WMF team that wants to hold it? What exactly will improve by adding a day instead of integrating those aspects into the main conference? Best, Philip Kopetzky (talk) 13:00, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

Hi Philip Kopetzky, and thank you for the question, we should probably add this in the application also. The answer is that we had a call with Simona Ramkisson, Manager of Community Development, about learning day. She informed us that they are going to pay costs for speakers, one or two of them who will be send, and dinner for participants on learning day. Learning days become part of every bigger conference in the last years, so will be good to have one learning day in CEEM 2020, as it was case for SEEM 2018 and CEEM 2019. Regards, - Violetova (talk) 16:41, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

Hi! Yeah, I agree that learning days are almost a given factor of the event now, but it is odd that the event grants are cross-financing community development. I hope this will change when the strategy recommendations are implemented to make it clearer what the actual costs are for the conference itself and additional events before or after the meeting :-) Philip Kopetzky (talk) 18:44, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

WMF comments (2020)

Dear @Violetova:, Thank you for submitting this informative proposal! We are happy to explore the opportunity to support you in hosting the CEE Meeting 2020.

Your proposal has many strengths to highlight and the work and efforts put into it are clear.

I reviewed your proposal, and have some follow up questions and comments to offer as a part of staff review:

Community input

• What kind of objectives/metrics can you offer to evaluate your success in ‘connecting Macedonian Wikimedians to other CEE communities’ and to develop the local community?

-We expect the local community to be more active after the international conference. Usual Wikimedians are more active and inspired after they meet and talk with other Wikimedians, special international ones. Objectives are as this: more projects proposed by the members, more active local Wikimedians who would like to travel on other conferences, etc. The metrics we expect are: at least 50% more pro-active local Wikimedians in all spheres of the movement.

• As actively sharing new ideas seems to be a key deliverable, I suggest you will think about active ways to engage during the conference. To achieve real outputs, you would need to provide a lot of content on the ‘How’ to do, and not the ‘What’. A way to do that will be to limit the oral presentations (and other formats of sharing knowledge in a passive way), and to move into a more proactive approach. Things like training sessions, workshops and round tables might get more engagement.

-Thank you for those insights, they will be helpful to the program team.

Context

• Can you share some of GLAM Macedonia activities or projects that are being developed and implemented as a result of the last conference?

-We can point out the Wiki Camp for underage students which will take place in the last weekend of March 2020. The Wiki Camp is collaboration between Wikimedia Serbia and GLAM Macedonia education teams, started as idea on the CEEM 2019.

• list of priorities from the last conference report - this question refers to the progress that was made in the regional community in terms of the content of the conference and topics to be covered. For example - what kind of new collaboration were created; are there any new projects; is there any progress you can point out regarding community development, newcomers etc.

-Yes, of course, there are new projects and collaboration. The line in the grant proposal is revised.

• Key lessons - thank you for sharing an overview of past events organized by GLAM Macedonia. Can you please share some of the learnings and lessons you have learned as event organizers? Is there anything you think you should do differently for this conference?

-There will be some differences to do for this conference: we have an international program committee responsible for creating the program, we have a lot of volunteers to help on the conference, and we will have to use eterpad for the first time.

Scholarships - What about the other 30 participants (out of the total 120)? Do you mean for those to be self-funded community members or WMF staff?

-Yes, 30 participants we expect to have more than the participants with scholarship, i.e. self-funded community members and WMF staff.

Venue - How many conference rooms will you use at the Venue? Are you planning on having parallel sessions? (the budget indicates 2 rooms, but I also see Technical support for 3 values).

-There will be parallel sessions in 3 conference rooms, and technical support is count for 3 venues. In the budget we count 2 rooms, as the cost for renting 1 room is in-kind donation from the hotel.

Budget

• Accommodation costs - can you please share the breakdown? How many nights, how many rooms?

-Accommodation costs are calculated as this: 90 participants x 4 nights each = 360 beds including breakfast. The price of 32 EUR per person per night is in double room, or shared room.

• Can you please elaborate on what you will do with the Video recording?

-The plan is to record in two venues parallel sessions, the sessions in the third room will not be recorded on video. Some sessions will be streamed live, as it was case previous years. All video recordings at the end of the conference will be uploaded on commons and Youtube for latter use.

• What will be included in the Promo packet? When it comes to swag, we ask to be environmentally mindful and we don't really encourage merchandise or advertising products. Therefore we ask to limit swag to low cost items like stickers.

-The plan is to have promo packet with bag and some low cost item. There will be no advertising products in the promo packet. Tourist brochures will be donation from Ohrid Municipality and will be set to the welcome desk (not in the promo packet) for participants to get one as they wish, but the tourist brochures are not advertisement, aren’t they?

• What will be covered by the Learning Day budget? And how will the participants be chosen?

-Participants for learning days will be chosen by their willing to attend pre-conference learning day. The budget is calculated for 20 participants + 5 volunteers. Accommodation for 25 persons x 32 EUR per night = 800 EUR + 250 EUR lunch + 150 EUR (3 coffee breaks for 25 persons, i.e. 25 x 3 = 75 x 2 EUR). The costs for speakers and the dinner will be provided by Community Development of WMF, as we were informed in a call with Simona Ramkisson.

• Also, can you please share what is the expected impact and outcomes of having a pre-conf learning day? Is it something the community expressed any desire in? As this conference is very skills building oriented - I’m not clear what would the day include that wouldn't already be a part of the conference.

-As I was part of many learning days, I know that learning day includes sessions which are not strictly Wikimedia oriented, but very helpful for Wikimedians in their future work. Usually the conference program is Wikimedia oriented, and such sessions are rejected from the main program.

• Who are the 10 people who should pay the 85 EUR conference fees? 85 EUR is quite a high fee for Wikimedia conferences. Is there a reason for asking participation fees?

-The sum of 85 EUR is for persons who would like to participate, but they are not included in the number of expected participants, if we have them at all. The sum includes catering, coffee breaks, promo packet, and Saturday night dinner for one person. - Violetova (talk) 13:01, 21 February 2020 (UTC)

When you're able, please respond to the questions above and revise the proposal as needed. These revisions will be due by 26 February 2020, after which the Conference Grant Committee will begin formal review of the proposal.

Thank you again for your significant role in supporting your community! Best CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 16:26, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

Hi CAlmog (WMF), and thank you for the comments and insights. The answers are posted under every question. Regards, - Violetova (talk) 13:03, 21 February 2020 (UTC)

Amendments to budget

Hello Chen! I have amended the budget today to include a potential invitation to adjacent communities that don't obviously in a meta community like CEE. These include Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Tadjik language community representatives (2 per community). Their travel is what will cost more, so I added a specific line for their travel. The marginal cost of adding 6 people will be absorbed by fluctuations in number of participants, so I didn't change anything there. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions! Thank you! notafish }<';> 05:50, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

Hi notafish!I'm very happy you were able to include those communities and I think it's a wonderful idea to extend the invite and the scope of the CEE community under the circumstances. Thank you for letting me know. CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 12:21, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

Proposal approved

Dear CEE meeting team,

Thank you for your work on the grant request. I appreciate your efforts and patience with this special round process.

We are glad to inform you that we have reviewed the final proposal and we are happy to support it in the amount of 74,922.00 EUR. This is a very important platform for the community and the movement and I'm very happy we could support you in bringing this event back to the physical space after two long years.

Looking forward to working together! On behalf of the Conference Grants Committee and Community Resources team.

Best, CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 05:15, 17 June 2022 (UTC)