Talk:Wikimania checklist

Provide the organisers/volunteers with a different colout T-shirt.

I do not agree with this request. Wikimania is an event organized by volunteers for volunteers. Creating two groups with different t-shirt is a way to state that someone is attending and the others are serving and taking care of the attendees. Quite a few participants are very demanding because they feel Wikimania is a sort of their personal club med. I have the impression that if they understand they are not served but they are involved in a project in which they clean up the coffee break table too is much better. For Wikimania Esino Lario "we are one team" was the first pillar: no locals vs. international, no Wikipedians vs. non Wikipedian (by the way anyone can be a Wikipedian by clicking the edit button and the "local" team involve also the scholarship and programme committee with people who ara based anywhere). People feel more comfortable by dividing volunteers/organizers from participants: I think Wikimania is not about what makes you feel comfortable but about the meaning of why and how we make things. I trust Wikimania attendees are there to contribute to the Wikimedia projects and free knowledge for free (volunteers) and they are meant to be contribute to the event (organizers). Wikimania is not Expo; we can do things differently and you do not need a person on a specific color t-shirt to ask someone where the toilets are or to find them yourself. --iopensa (talk) 07:13, 8 July 2016 (UTC)

I think you have completely misunderstood the spirit in which I made this suggestion. I have been to several Wikimanias and a lot more international conferences and I can assure you that even with their best intentions, the organisation at Esino was sadly lacking on some points, and one was precisely that people were wasting valuable time trying to find their way around and trying to find out who to ask. Kudpung (talk) 15:00, 8 July 2016 (UTC)

Hackathon – outlets

Ad [1]

@Valerio Bozzolan: I’ve never been to a hackathon, so I don’t know what the customs there are, but having been traveled recently, I’ve experienced how vague the term “electrical outlets” is: what type of electrical outlets? It’s probably a good idea to have some (more-or-less) universal converters for those who forgot to bring one and/or USB-C chargers (fortunately many newer laptops can be charged using USB-C). —Tacsipacsi (talk) 10:00, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

@Tacsipacsi: I completely agree with you, thanks. I've probably just recycled that term that was already mentioned in the page somewhere. Feel free to improve and thanks for this specific correction. ValerioBozz (talk) 10:18, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

This is something Wikimania organisers rarely think of despite being reminded. That's why such events should be at least partly organised by people with experience. Italy has one of the weirdest power socket systems in Europe. In 2016 in the tiny village of Esino Lario, the local shop keepers knew what to expect and stocked up with adapters that they were selling for up to ten times the normal price. Go to Wikimania unprepared, and prepare to be ripped off! Kudpung (talk) 12:10, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

(We are going off topic and polemical... Also, paying "10 times" seems to me an unfair accuse: nobody can think you really paid 50-150 euros for small adapters in that event. If you paid 7€ to 10/20€ these prices are still unfortunately normal in whatever mountain (edited: of Italy) if the shop pays taxes and their rent. By the way, I'm next door to one of those stores right now, so I can share a photo of the current price if you think in bad faith that you have been "ripped off" exactly during that event. However, yes, certainly, anywhere in the world, it is not the best not to go prepared. And during Wikimania Esino Lario, everyone's help was definitely needed to avoid disruptions. So thank you if you helped provide adapters to others.)

So in short, yes, this is a useful information to be mentioned I guess. Thanks (?) ValerioBozz (talk) 17:08, 14 August 2024 (UTC)