Talk:Wikimania 2013 bids/Naples

Talk:Wikimania 2013 bids/Naples (archive)

Questions for the Organising Committee

Budget

Dear bidding team,

According to the Timeline the bids should be final by now. Could you please clarify where is your budget? Even if not perfect, I think it is critical to present it. What are the factors that make that it is not published yet? Effeietsanders (talk) 10:33, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Please let me remind you this is still an open question. Effeietsanders (talk) 07:34, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Chapter opinion

Dear bidding team,

As I understand, the chapter does not support your bid. Could you please clarify if you sought their support, and if so, why it was not given? Effeietsanders (talk) 13:22, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

We sought the support of the Italian chapter and presented our proposal in the WMI Assembly last December. The Assembly deliberated (half votes negative and half neutral, proponents didn’t vote) not to support the bid on the following ground:

a) WMI esteemed not to have the organizational capability to support a Wikimania in Naples (even because a consistent number of members and the whole WMI Steering Committee is preminently in Center-North Italy, namely in the Turin/Milan area). With reference to this, it has to be noted that the vast majority of donations to WMF are from Center-North Italy, and that, as much as we know, except a single manifestation back in 2008 (Galassia Gutemberg) WMI never organized anything south of Rome. This results in WMI to be scarcely represented, followed and financed in Southern Italy.

b) Despite the Bid Coordinator to be a member of WMI, the Assembly showed perplexity about the capability of the bidding Team to organize the event.

After the vote in Assembly, we almost decided to give it away, but then we learned (and it was formally confirmed by a member of the Wikimania Jury, see discussions in archive) that Chapter's support is not mandatory for presenting a candidature. Since we esteemed to have the capability to organize the event, we pushed the candidature forward.

As we always stated, we hope to show our suitability for the organization, and we are confident that we at least showed to have the capability to summon public and private support around the candidature, and we have clear ideas about how to organize such an event in Naples.

If we win, we'll be happy; if not, we think that participation is the engine of wiki movement, so we are already happy to be here.--87.19.22.13 12:50, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, I was unlogged...--Ferdinando Scala (talk) 09:18, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

IRC Public Meeting

Dear bidders,

As outlined in the timeline on this page, there will be a public IRC meeting on 14:00 UTC coming Saturday on #Wikimania on Freenode IRC. I look forward to meeting you then. Effeietsanders (talk) 15:47, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

More Questions for the Organizing Committee

Venue

1. How many simultaneous tracks are possible?

   The Stazione Marittima has a total of 6 rooms, of which a main auditorium hosting 600 and other five rooms hosting between 110 and 150 seats each. On request, contiguous rooms of 110 and 150 seats can be merged into a larger room of 250 seats. As a consequence, we can host from a minimum of five to a maximum of six simultaneous tracks.

   Can room be merged? What is the max amount in the main room?

2. The main auditorium can sit 600? But you expect 700 attendees?

   How does this work out? We expect 700 as a rolling total. Our plan, but we are waiting for definitive numbers to have an assessment, is to have the main auditorium plus one of the breakout rooms.

3. What will happen if more attendees arrive?

   The rooms at Stazione Marittima can host a maximum of 1.170 attendees, therefore a contingency plan based on the renting of more rooms is completely possible.

4. How many breakout rooms are there? How many people are exactly in each breakout rooms ?

   As said, further to the main auditorium (600 seats) five more rooms are available: Calipso/Agave (100 seats each); Elettra/Perseide (110 seats each); Dione (150 seats).

5. What is the distance between the various halls if not in the same building?

   The various halls are all in the same building and floor, therefore distance is near to zero.

6. Does the castle has a main hall or just breakout rooms?

   The castle has a main room hosting 250 seats and a number of smaller rooms. For this reason, lacking an auditorium as in Stazione Marittima, we take it as an emergency location.

7. Is the castle airconditioned?

   Yes, all the rooms. The castle regularly hosts medical congresses and cultural manifestations, therefore it is provided by fully organized congress facilities.

8. Will lunch be at separate buildings or at one location?

   One location, in the halls separating the congress rooms.

9. Is there a website for the Castel dell'Ovo? Can you provide a layout of the venue?

   We cannot provide directly all the images you may need, as they are not CC BY-SA. Anyway, the Municipality of Naples (the owner of the castle) holds a website, where you can find all the infos: layout, photos, services etc. - Stefano Schiazza (talk) 01:05, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

Visas

1. Is there government support for the conference? Can they ensure Visa assistance support?

   As explained in the page, we already asked and obtained institutional support, namely the major of Naples, who will “’’personally involve all the local institutions and the stakeholders to support the Wikimania Conference’’”, as quoted in his ‘Letter of Support’. This will provide both tangible help, such as focus concerning security, traffic control etc., and image impact to the public.

   In general, getting a Visa to visit Italy is not a prohibitive activity, by the way we plan to contact each foreign embassy and consulates present in Naples in order to introduce the event, thus to accelerate the process of production of Visas. Any other embassy will be easily reached in Rome (just 200 km away from Naples). Stefano Schiazza (talk) 12:47, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Conference organization

1. Will there be chapters conference?

   The program of the conference has been outlined in its main components, but as said, we expect to have a sharing with WMF and prospective participants about it. In this framework, we do foresee to have a chapters' conference, which could be entirely possible since adequate spaces in the chosen structure are available.

2. Will dinners be provided as part of the conference?

   No, dinners are not considered part of the programmed activities: the entire schedule is supposed to have place mainly during the morning and the afternoon.

   Furthermore, we considered that a more genuine and absorbing experience of Naples had to allow all the participants to try our cuisine, not just in the gastronomic sense. Food is one of the traditions that make Italy, and specifically Naples, well famous all over the world. Who comes here, can’t miss this feature.

   Finally, as widely explained in the page, the cost of life in Naples is easily affordable. With about 10/13 €, you can enjoy an original Neapolitan piazza (that is a fully satisfying meal itself), appetizer and drink included, just to get an idea.

3. Will you cater for various dietary needs (lactose intolerants, sugar free etc.)? Will you arrange vegetation food? Can you arrange Kosher food? Halal food?

   Of course, as an international venue of conferences, the Stazione Marittima will provide all the existing typologies of food. We intend to relay on the existing communities (gathered around the respective Mosque and Synagogue) for assistance if any problem occurs

4. Will you be using a production company? An event manager? Will the "Conference consultant" be a professional firm? Or just one worker?

   As explained in the page, we involved (for free) Frontiers of Interaction, a professional organization based in Italy with long and consolidated experience in managing global, tech-related events. It will also put any effort in content and speaker curation, so as in funds and partners rising. They will surely solve any Internet access issue (as mentioned in the last #IRC meeting) and will be our automatic pilot in the general management of the event. Their team consists of about 5/6 people.

• A detailed schedule and budget are missing.

Please notice that I have updated answers 2, 3 and 4, thanks. Stefano Schiazza (talk) 18:39, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Some comments

• There are some gaps in the proposal, for instance the budget is not present and the description of the accomodations is not sufficient.

Budget is arriving strightaway. We would please need some clarification about what is missing in the accomodations details, since we provided in a separate page the list of all the relevant structures with individual links and costs.--Ferdinando Scala (talk) 14:04, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

The budget is now ready. Stefano Schiazza (talk) 15:07, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

In order to clarify the respective positions of accomodation and venues, you can see the map recently posted on the page (Section: Accomodation)- Stefano Schiazza (talk) 14:36, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

• Even if the locations are really good, for instance it could be fantastic to have the VIP party in the Royal Palace, there is not an insufficient description about the organization of these parties.

What kind of details would be needed?--Ferdinando Scala (talk) 14:04, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

• In general the offer is good but there are some critical points to be fixed. May you fix them?

--Ilario (talk) 10:15, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

Yes, we are working on them...--Ferdinando Scala (talk) 14:04, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Timeline

Dear bidding team, could you please indicate in a rough timeline what main actions you would perform when between the acceptance of the bid and the evaluation? I'm not looking for extreme details, but mainly for when you will be booking, when you think you will have the final budget ready, etc. Effeietsanders (talk) 22:31, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

First of all, we will start to build the website for the crowdfunding, therefore we will contact all the firms we proposed to reach as sponsor; at the same time, we will fix all the details (such as timing, catering etc.) about the venues: Stazione Marittima, Palazzo Reale, Museo di Pietrarsa etc.

Then, we will move to the Visa issue, according with the needs of participants: for instance, if a considerable number Chinese wikimedians intend to take part to the event, we will plan a visit to the Chinese embassy in Rome.

We will then use Publicis’ professional resources to get the Media coverage for the event.

Eventually we will arrange the settings for the conferences, with Frontiers of Interaction and dotSUB’s assistance.

We are also considering the idea of involve Naples’ Universities, in order to facilitate activities in non-English languages. Furthermore, we will involve the students in the process of "wiki-input": they will help us to promote that activities we hope will bring into Wikimedia projects (local Wikipedias, Commons, Wikiquote, etc.) the town where the event is hold, such as GLAMATHON and the contest among wikiphotographers, with the aim to capture professional images of Naples' monuments, that can be shared on Commons to enrich the newly-created voices. This will be obtained through the direct involvement of professors, and in general this phase will probably go with the entire operation.

Finally, we will have a better defined idea of the exact amount of the budget in about 4 months. Stefano Schiazza (talk) 13:04, 11 April 2012 (UTC)