Wikimania 2010/Bids/Amsterdam/Q&A

Country:The Netherlands
City proposed: Amsterdam
Proposed dates: Friday 23rd July to Sunday 25th July 2010, the Hacking Days would therefore be Wednesday July 21st and Thursday 22nd
Contact persons: the Core team: Effeietsanders, MarkW (or "WarkM"), Catrope (or "Roan Kattouw") and Ciell - wikimania-core at lists.vrijemedia.org

Please post your questions for the Amsterdam bid here.

Carbon neutral?

Will the conference and the flights to it be carbon neutral? -- Jeandré, 2009-03-10t13:14z

Flights and other means of transportation: We do not plan to organize the flights to the Netherlands. Participants should buy their own tickets and can choose for themselves to fly carbon neutral or not.

The conference (Venue and hotels/hostels) :Venues in the Netherlands are obligated to maintain high standards by law. On top of that, Amsterdam has several active railroad connections with many major European cities and Schiphol airport (which offers a lot of direct connections). This should keep the carbon emission caused by visitors relatively low compared with other locations. Also, we have a venue in option that actually is a Green Globe Benchmarked Company. On top of that, many options to behave environment friendly during your stay in Amsterdam, such as the use of a bicycle and lightrail, are available. MarkW / Mwpnl 20:51, 10 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The NH Carlton Hotel, mentioned on the bid page, has a Green Key diploma (this is an international eco-label for tourism products; www.green-key.org). Since 2008, the Stayokay Vondelpark has the European Eco-label. This means that all waste is segregated, power is green, the coffee is fair trade etc.Fruggo 18:41, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Venue pictures

Can you post internal pictures from the venue's rooms, and any related floorplans? -- sj | help translate |+ 19:47, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There are some pictures already on the bidpage, at the bottom of the "venue" header. more is forthcoming. Martijn Hoekstra 21:49, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Are those only of the largest room? -- sj | help translate |+

The one with the double balcony is the largest autitorium, yes. Ciell 15:31, 5 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Can you post pictures from areas that could be devoted to community space? -- sj | help translate |+ 20:22, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

We are trying to find more free images of the community areas at Tuschinski or will have to take them ourselves. This might, however, take a little more time: maybe some of the pictures featuring this article will be interesting in the meantime. Thanks for the patience on that. Ciell 15:31, 5 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That you for your patience, apart from the images Ciell linked to earlier, we've now uploaded some additional images: Wikimania_2010/Bids/Amsterdam#Conference_venue:_Tuschinski_Theater. Kind regards, m:Mark W (Mwpnl) ¦ talk 22:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Typical daily schedule / transportation times

Would all events and shared meals (aside from parties) take place in the same venue? -- sj | help translate |+ 20:05, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, all plenary day-activities will take place in the same venue. Evening activities, such as the party at Strand West (which includes dinner) will of course take place at different locations. During the conference, attendees will not need to travel from one building to another. But, if sunny skies are expected, we suggest people to hang out at the lively adjacent Rembrandt square.

Amsterdam offers a lot for socializing outside conference hours. For instance the already mentioned Rembrandt Square, which is one of the bigger squares with several bars and restaurants, is located nearby Tuschinski on a few minute walk and would be suitable for Wikimedians to meet and move on to the city, or just staying there in one of the bars or on the outside terraces. The square is currently undergoing a drastic renovantion (finished fall 2009), so hopefully the pictures on the Wikipedia article will be sufficient for now. Other places that might be suitable are for example the Leidse Square or the Vondelpark.

As for the first evening, we arranged for an evening dinner and gathering at the "Strand West" (West Beach), so every-one can get to know each other. We are thinking about organizing a get together at the Vondelpark mentioned above, for the second evening. BYO (bring your own) and barbequeing is allowed in the park and we will garantee you'll get to know Amsterdam and it's locals from a totally different point of view then your average tourist would. If budget allows, more of these kind of gatherings can and will be organized. MarkW / Mwpnl 15:18, 5 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Smaller rooms

moved from Talk:Wikimania 2010/Bids/Amsterdam
Hello Amsterdam Team,

I want to stress a little about one of my questions on the IRC Meeting: From the experience of the conference in the last years we not only need rooms to make the talks, workshops, social areas etc. There are also need for other smaller rooms. As there are: A room for the orga team where they can discuss issues and make plans without always be observed from the public, a room for speakers where they can prepare their talk undisturbed. A press room where the press can rest and maybe do interviews, a seperate interview room would be more better. Last but not least a VIP room. Traditional the board would held a one day meeting during the conference and at least they need a room for that.

I am not quite clear from your answer from the IRC meeting if the suggested venue has these smaller rooms or if they must be rented from neighbouring buildings. If this is the case the rental fee must be added to the budget.

Can you clarify this a little more please? Thanks.--Wing 06:51, 31 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed, organisational rooms are very important to us, as well as having workshop spaces and social areas. We realise of course that having six auditoria is just an ingredient to holding a successful conference. Therefore, I'd like to stress out that having enough organisational rooms is one of our main interests at the moment. At Tuschinski, we of course have 2 lounges, where people can relax and meet each other during the day. After hours, people can meet up in an adjacent social area that we'll set up in the Carlton hotel (please read back the answer of Ciell at SJ's question). Tuschinski also has a room they call their "VIP-room”, which can accommodate 60 people. This room can be used as VIP-room, workshop space, as room for the organisational team or for the press.

Tuschinski offers enough room to seat our conference, and the nearby buildings (Carlton, other hotels) have plenty of rooms available to cover any needs we might have. We have not yet covered these in our budget, but our first contacts with those companies indicate that our costs will not rise significantly with those rooms included.

These rooms outside Tuschinski, by the way, will only affect a minority of people; the general public (our attendees) will not have to move back-and-forth to these rooms, and will still enjoy a conference in one location. MarkW / Mwpnl 15:21, 5 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Team structure

You have many people listed as 'helping with all sorts of stuff'. What skills and interests do they have? It would help to see the team organized into the major areas you expect to handle. Is everyone listed under this section planning to dedicate significant time to preparation over the coming year? What is the difference between the organizing team and the other 16 people? -- sj | help translate |+ 17:59, 31 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Dutch community is, as you may know, not as big as the English language ones are: because of several meets, workshops and other social gatherings that are organized throughout the year, most people listed know each other, and know the line of work people are in, know what they do and how they do it. The Dutch are passionate about and devoted to what they do, there is no question about wether or not the people listed will dedicate the proper amount of time to make this conference work.

As for the difference between the core team and the local team, at the moment, the core team is handeling most of the outbound contacts. The local team supported in helping out in general, giving idea's, sorting things out, voicing their opinion and therefore doing all the groundwork, for the core team to do their job as good as possible. We expect that this line will shift in the coming months, when the core team will have to focus more on coördinating. The rough outlines now have been set and the local team will be stepping into the foreground. When that happens, the local team will be set on tasks that fit their wishes and skills, making sure we are covering all area's. Some of the local team are very technically oriented, and willing to help out with the Wireless internet and other technical tasks (for example Mark Bergsma): others have indicated to be more interested to help with designing stuff, approaching sponsors etc.

Please note that also people from outside the Wikimedia communities already have commited themselves on helping with the Amsterdam bid: they are not listed`with the local team yet. Ciell 15:31, 5 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Floor plan of Tuchinsky

While it is quite easy for me to visualize the auditoriums, I cannot visualize what you call the "floors" or what I have seen elsewhere (I think it was on the architecture website) that is called the "Lounge". To make a long story short, could we have a floor plan of the Tuchinsky to have a better idea of what space is available, which numbers it can host and what can be done with those spaces? Thanks notafish }<';> 10:50, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Notafish, in the last few days it has proven to be quite difficult to get a floor plan of Tuschinski, because it is not a conventional conference venue. We have been contacting Tuschinski about this and are trying to get as close to something you are looking for as we can. In the meantime, we have found more photo's on the web, illustrating the corridors on the floors and the VIP room. Ciell 11:39, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Main foyer

Omitted on the pictures is the main bar.

Corridors

Cloakroom

Foyer 2

Foyer two is as large as the Main Foyer and has another (third) bar. We do not yet have pictures of this foyer.

"VIP"-Room

Overview
Bar

Delphine, thank you so much for waiting. The floor plan is online at Wikimania_2010/Bids/Amsterdam#Floor_plan, or directly at the image pages: Wikimania2010 amsterdam tuschinski floorplan GF.png, Wikimania2010 amsterdam tuschinski floorplan 1F.png and Wikimania2010 amsterdam tuschinski floorplan 2F.png. We've paid Tuschinski a visit yesterday, images of most of the areas will become available later today or tomorrow. Kind regards, m:Mark W _{(Mwpnl) | talk} 20:54, 22 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

And the photo's are online as well: Wikimania_2010/Bids/Amsterdam#Conference_venue:_Tuschinski_Theater. Kind regards, m:Mark W (Mwpnl) ¦ talk 22:46, 22 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wheelchair Access

Is your city centre wheelchair friendly? What accommodations, meeting venues and transportation facilities are available to delegates in wheelchairs? (Bielle from en.wikipedia) 24.138.121.254 20:06, 15 August 2009 (UTC) (Bielle at en.wikipedia)[reply]

Hi Bielle, fyi: I wouldn't stay up waiting for answers to your questions, since it is already decided that Wikimania 2010 will be held in Gdansk. Regards, Wutsje 20:11, 15 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]