Wikimania-City/Dublin

Closeness to an international airport – Dublin Airport
Availability of conference facilities is excellent: Red Cow, Jury's, the RDS, etc, etc, etc.
Availabiliy of excellent IT/network facilities.
It's not too costly getting there: http://www.aerlingus.com, http://www.ryanair.com, http://www.mytravellite.com/, etc. etc. (for the USA, approx. US$400, from New York, Boston; US$500 from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle prices as of 12 Oct 2004 from Orbitz by BCorr) — also see below
The craic
Loads of universities, which may be good in terms of attracting an audience, maybe also accommodationwise.
Obvious point: It's an English-speaking city (with apologies to Dublin's Irish speakers and sizable Chinese and Nigerian communities). — For better or for worse, English is the de-facto lingua franca of supernatural activities at the Wikipedia and in other organisations as well. So it might be good to pick a city where people can rely on that common denominator. Most people also have a European language like French too.
Generally very open to all comers — the Irish may be predominantly Catholic, but you'll find that all kinds of cultures mix and mingle in Dublin. Jews, Anglicans, Latter Day Saints (Mormons), the Society of Friends (Quakers) — they're all in Dublin. Incidentally, Dublin's New Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre is particularly splendid: [1], [2], [3], though some like the Dublin Mosque better [4], also see [5]
Involvment of those on ga.wikipedia - it would be very likely that we could get involvement from Irish language bodies like Gael Linn and Foras na Gaeilge.
The recent founding of the Irish Free Software Organisation [6] (who have expressed an interest in participating).

Dublin's Guide - Dublin Visitors http://www.dublin1.webs.com

Disadvantages

Cost of accommodation and living (food, beverages) can be quite steep. When I lived in Dublin, my rent was higher than what my sister paid in Paris.
Dublin traffic (see [7]). It would be a good idea not to bring a car.

Location/Possible Venues

The RDS is a suitable venue for a large number of attendees and is located in the city centre. For lesser numbers, the Helix at DCU and the O'Reilly Hall at UCD are both good venues. TCD is particularly central.

I've emailed dcb at dublinconventionbureau dot com, but please don't let that stop anybody from pursuing other avenues of inquiry about a venue (Ropers).

These are the emails exchanged between myself and the Dublin Convention Bureau so far:

The following preliminary info has been kindly provided by the Dublin Convention Bureau (.PDF files):

* Initial venue proposals and prices

* Venue Information

* Why Dublin?

* Dublin Convention Bureau - Services offered to Meeting Planners

* Professional Conference Organizers

Don't be put off by the rather high end/high profile impression the above may convey. (I did not oversell us -- they just were extremely happy to help.) Depending on our effective numbers we can also expect travel savings to more than offset venue booking costs. I will elaborate on my enquiries at the latest during the upcoming IRC chat.

Cost

There were some concerns regarding venue costs in Dublin. While we obviously don't need to pick the costliest option, maybe the following lends some perspective on the issue:

Jimmy's travel cost numbers suggest that for US Wikipedians, Dublin may be 100-200 euro cheaper to travel to when compared with other places.

Compared with Frankfurt Dublin is only $14 cheaper for US Wikimedians (based on Jimmy's research). Continental Europeans would have to pay much more to cross the English Channel.

With 100 people, saving 100 euro per person on travel will amount to 10,000 EUR savings. That may more than offset potentially higher accommodation/venue cost.

==Accomodation== Tourism Ireland (the all-Ireland tourism body) or Fáilte Ireland (the Republic-specific organisation) can be contacted (preferably well in advance) to organize accommodation. Bed and Breakfast is probably the best option for most people, though the quality of individual B&B's can vary greatly (the majority of B&B's are probably quite nice, but there are less desirable places as well). For best value, bookings should be made WELL in advance and preferably people should try to get hold of pictures from the individual B&B's (and/or local knowledge) to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Sample Airfares

20-25 July, from New York, $657 (price as of 25 September 2004 on Orbitz by Jimbo) — also see above

Local helpers

Kiand 17:49, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC) — I'm within 45 minutes of Dublin City Centre, and less of the westside of the city. I can assist in July, August or September and later, but not June or earlier.
Kwekubo — I live a similar distance away on the southside, and if the meetup is in July or August (or even early September) I should be free to help.
zoney ♣ talk I live 2.5 hours away in en:Limerick, but I should be able to help.

(IRC access a bit flakey/cobbled together) 82.141.234.222 18:33, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Ludraman 17:18, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC) I'm not local, but sure I'd be willing to help. I'm only 14, so what I can do is limited, but would be willing to seek hotel rates and transport info, buses, and other research and organisation. And maybe I could pull some strings with my parents :-)
"not local" — to explain: according to his user page, Ludraman is based in Co. Tipperary, Ireland, but not in Dublin
Ludraman — You talked about "pulling some strings"—what do your parents do, then?

My dad's involved in hotels, my mam's a good organiser for these sort of things, but its not what they do, it's more that they have connections with people and might be able to make bookings etc. Ludraman 20:29, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Andrew 12:36, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC) - I'm local (Rathfarnham), and might be able to lend a hand.
Dublin Accommodation Free Finder http://www.freewebs.com/dublinaccommodationsalmara/index.htm