Talk:Wikimania 2010/Bids/Draft timeline

Timeline way too soon

I believe the timeline starts way too soon, I don't think most serious bidders can put on a serious bid on 1, or 2 months starting from today. Looking for sponsors, securing a venue and all that will take at least 4/5 months, even planning and all that, securing volunteers, etc. The bid creation can start August and end by December 31st, then having the 'bidding' work through January and February, with Q&A talks, and ending with reaching a decision by March/April. --DamianFinol 22:26, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

I agree it's too early. Majorly ^talk 22:32, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, having a lot of time for the bids to be developed on wiki is more in keeping with the spirit of Wikimedia, and allows the work of developing the bid to be shared more easily through the community, rather than to be taken on to the shoulders of just one or two people, but putting together the bid is not the hardest part of running Wikimania, and so we should provide as much time as possible for the successful bidding team to organise work for the conference (and it is easier to give longer notice of the desire for organisers to attend the previous Wikimania to their own).

James F. (talk) 08:25, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

I've moved things up a bit, creating space for postmortem and setting of requirements too. Effeietsanders 13:06, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

"A bit"?! 4 months less to organise the conference is quite a significant move. Perhaps we should try to seek consensus here (or wherever - wikimania-l?) rather than just edit it like a vanilla wiki?

James F. (talk) 17:27, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

As argued before, it was not an option to do it in the middle :) Because that way it would confict with the december holidays, which is a major drawback for the southern hemisphere teams. That was at least the outcome of the evaluation of last time's bidding procedure.

Besides that, I read several arguments and opinions to move it up (time to create really good bids, time for evuation, postmortem, bidding requirements, better timeframe to jump in the active organisation of the previous wikimania etc) and actually very little arguments to keep the early timeframe as previously suggested. But if you have some, please bring them up :) (or point me to the ones I missed) Effeietsanders 22:58, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

I've removed several mentions which are not actually part of the 2010 bidding timeline (which is going to look completely different anyway). I encourage people not to get married to any set of dates any time soon. Cary Bass ^demandez 19:02, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

I have to say I (weakly) preferred the original timeline. We cannot feasibly place reservations for things or get (at least the bulk of) confirmed sponsorship until the winner is announced and the new timeline makes it all look a bit tight. (There are already multiple reservations for July/August 2010 at one of our preferred venues.) Plus the more time there is for bidding the more duplicated work there inevitably is across bids. Oh and as I think someone's already mentioned, having it now means people's memories of what worked and what didn't work in Alexandria are still fresh. --cfp 15:09, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

Please note that in many cases (at least here in the Netherlands) locations are very well able to give conditional reservations (options) which you can cancel at no cost up to a certain time span. You could contact the location and ask whether this would be an option. Note that this is also to them possibly a nice thing to have, so they might be willing to tweak a bit in :) Effeietsanders 15:17, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

Well there's no reason we couldn't have it across the holiday if we just didn't count the holiday weeks. E.g. we could stick on four weeks to the end of bidding, then have questions and answers first thing in the new year e.g. the 5th. Could we draw up an early, a mid and a late alternative then have an informal vote amongst existing bidding teams? --cfp 12:40, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

Especially for the more southern teams this middle option would be very tough, if I understand correctly. And I don't think this should be a voting issue. It should be a consideration about how to get the best qualitative bid and result here, and that should at the end either be a joint decision (consensus) or a somewhat more neutral one. Don't forget that not every bidding city will have stepped forward, especially if it is somewhat later for the schedule, and that a lot will be possibly influenced by the bidding requirements. Effeietsanders 15:00, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

Bidding fever

I agree that we're putting ourselves way ahead of the race. After sitting out from 2009, I was considering putting together a bid for 2010, but not if it's that soon. And putting the announcement that close to the Christmas holidays is just not a good idea, for anyone in the office or for the people waiting for the news. Mike Halterman 02:31, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Okay, scratch my comment; I've clearly started one anyway. ;) Mike Halterman 08:26, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Compare with the timeline for 2008. This timeline gives a great deal more time for bids to be put together initially, and also for them to be expanded before the Bid Committee makes its decision.

James F. (talk) 08:28, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

My concern was that it may be too much time...but it may work to everyone's advantage. Mike Halterman 08:29, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Beyond 2010

While it's too late to do this for 2010, I would suggest that preliminary bids for 2011 and beyond should be in before Wikmania yyyy-2. This would allow prospective bidders to attend Wikimania yyyy-2, and perhaps even participate in some of its organization. By attending the bidders would have a much better idea of what they are getting into, and have a more realistic vision about what is expected of them. The experience of local organizers with past Wikmanias, could be a factor in the final selection of the host city. Eclecticology 07:53, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

While it is already hard to predict what one will be doing irl in 1,5 years time, I think it is almost unreasonable to expect from people to commit themselves even longer, more then two years in advance. None the less it is a good advice of course to the bidders, but I do not think it should be mandatory :) Effeietsanders 08:55, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Timeline for the timeline?

Do we have any idea when this timeline and the requirements will be becoming official? --cfp 00:34, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

public meeting

Hi,

isn't it more logical, due to the volunteers that are doing the bids, to have the public meeting in the weekend, so that also people who have a job can attend? :) (March 30 is on a Monday) Effeietsanders 12:21, 25 January 2009 (UTC)