Submissions/Takeaways from a Wikipedia National Conference that was larger than any Wikimania to date: an Organisers Perspective

From Wikimania 2012 • Washington, D.C., USA

This is a rejected submission for Wikimania 2012.

Submission no.

301

Title of the submission

Takeaways from a Wikipedia National Conference that was larger than any Wikimania to date: an Organisers Perspective

Type of submission (workshop, tutorial, panel, presentation)

Presentation

Author of the submission


E-mail address

wheredevelsdare [at] hotmail [dot] com

Username


Country of origin

India

Affiliation, if any (organization, company etc)

Wikimedia India

Personal homepage or blog
Abstract (please use no less than 300 words to describe your proposal)

WikiConference India 2011 (WCI) went down in history as the first national level Wikipedia event in India. An event that was attended by over 700 people, and in the words of Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales, the largest Wikipedia Conference to date - larger than Wikimania in Israel.

The conference drummed up a lot of national and international interest within Wikimedia as well as in the press. I have interacted with foreign chapters who mentioned that they would be interested to hear how the event went and have recently had a Skype Call with a foreign chapter thinking of replicating the event in their country. This presentation would be aimed at takeaways from my experience as Chairman of the Organising Committee and one of the two foundation fellows who were instrumental in making the event a reality.

In particular, the presentation would deal with:

  • Need: Why the conference was organised?
  • What it took? Mentally and Physically.
  • WMF, Community and Chapter backing
  • Dealing with Mind Boggling Responses: CfP - 550+ submissions, Scholarships - 7000+ applications
  • Outsourcing of some aspects of event management and hiring a PR Company: good or bad?
  • Be on your toes and react quickly (For Example, A barrage of newbie registrations led the Programs Team to include of more academies, English and Indic)
  • What impact it has had on the Community in India (Match-stick impact: Some of it is unbelievable, like a new language Wikipedia started at incubator level and doubling of Chapter membership!)
  • Impact on other outreach activities
  • Impact on the Indic Community in India and outside India (Since a sizable part of the programming was dedicated to Indic Wikipedias)
  • What to avoid [i.e. where we screwed up and you shouldnt :)]
  • What to gear up for in the event of trouble (We had major visa issues and a political protest to deal with!)
  • Sustainability as an annual event
  • Why this sort of event should be replicated in other countries?
  • Impact events like WCI have on Wikimania.

At the end of the presentation, I hope to engage with the audience in a question answer session to see what ideas they can take away from this and what suggestions they have from their experience, what they would have done differently.

Track (Wikis and the Public Sector; GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums); WikiCulture and Community; Research, Analysis, and Education; Technology and Infrastructure)

WikiCulture and Community

Length of presentation/talk (if other then 25 minutes, specify how long)
25 Minutes
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

Depends on whether I get a scholarship

Slides or further information (optional)
Special request as to time of presentations (for example - can not present on Saturday)


Interested attendees

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  1. Tinucherian 12:22, 2 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Balajijagadesh 13:20, 2 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  3. NaBUru38 15:49, 5 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  4. CT Cooper · talk 21:06, 14 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Risker 04:35, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  6. SarahStierch (talk) 01:11, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  7. Graham87 (talk) 14:19, 31 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  8. DebashisM
  9. AbhiSuryawanshi (talk) 08:23, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  10. Djembayz (talk) 13:15, 19 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  11. SupaplexTW (talk) 09:14, 2 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  12. Add your username here.
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