Wikimania 2022/Volunteer

Help organize Wikimania 2022!

In 2022, Wikimania will be primarily virtual, with decentralized in-person components if local and global circumstances allow. Like Wikimania 2021, Wikimania will be organized by a global core organizing team of volunteers supported by WMF staff. This team will organize the virtual conference and develop flexible, timely resources so that communities can independently organize local in-person meetups based on their possibilities and energy.

Apply to be part of the Core Organizing team for Wikimania 2022 or offer your support for other volunteer roles – short-term or long-term. We invite you to join us and help create our iconic event for the community, by the community. (Initial applications are closed as of Jan 9, you can see the on-wiki list of applicants here!)

Planning and organizing Wikimania is an amazing way to meet and collaborate with other Wikimedians from all over the world. This group will need people who are strong collaborators, communicators, and solution-oriented to be consistently involved through the conference. We will need a range of different skill-sets: from communication champions, fans of admins and logistics, to wiki wizards. If you have organized past events – in-person or online – or are interested in hosting international Wikimedia events in the future, we need you!

We described below a bit more in detail what the Organizing Team does, and what roles we need to be filled.

There will be different ways you can show your support and get involved:

1. A member of the Organizing Team
2. A member of one of supporting working groups (program, scholarships, or activities during the event...) – we encourage those that may not be able to join the COT to apply for these roles.
3. At a later stage, we will be asking for proposals for in-person events. This process will start once the COT has been formed. You can already start thinking about organizing an in-person Wikimania. More information to come.

The time commitment we are looking for is on average 5 to 7 hours a week but this will increase in the run up to the event. You would also need to engage in asynchronous communication, prepare for meetings, review documents and follow up on any specific tasks.

Important dates

• Application deadline: January 9, 2022
• Meetings with steering committee members: week of January 24
• Potential dates for Wikimania 2022 (to be finalized by the Core Organizing Team):
  • August 10-14, 2022
  • August 17-21, 2022

Background on volunteer roles

Core organizing team

Tell me more about the COT?

The Core Organizing Team (COT) will be a small group responsible for the organization of the event, ranging from 6 to 15 volunteers supported by the Wikimania Steering Committee and a team of staff from the Wikimedia Foundation.

As noted above, additional volunteers to help with other aspects of the conference are also very welcome.

The Core Organizing Team: The Basics

To organize Wikimania 2022, we need help from community members around the world to form an international Core Organizing Team (COT) to lead:

• Programming: reviewing session submissions, selecting sessions, building program tracks, communicating with speakers.
• Scholarships: reviewing and approving scholarship applications, ensuring funds make it to scholarship recipients, answering questions related to use of scholarships, overseeing impact of scholarships.
• Social events and entertainment program: establishing the entertainment section of the conference program and (co)organizing social activities with communities
• Communication, including outreach and social media: creating and publishing communications content about Wikimania.
• On-wiki content management: designing and updating the content on the Wikimania wiki
• Safety support during the event: covering Trust and Safety protocol, moderating chats and notetaking, triaging support requests

What does the commitment look like?

To be part of the Core Organizing Team for Wikimania you need to be able to commit to approximately 5 hours of weekly participation and preparation from February to August, 2022.

What are the responsibilities of organizing members?

• Help determine the best structure to support the chosen model for Wikimania 2022
• Help with the scholarship program
• Designing, implementing, and reviewing (applications for) the scholarship program to support participation at Wikimania 2022
• Help identifying virtual event platforms and tools
• Design social program activities during Wikimania
• Updating and managing the Wikimania wiki
• Keep our international community up to date and involved with outreach and conversations
• Support communication – including event communications, program submissions, and program acceptance

The Foundation will be offering stipends to cover the cost of COT members’ time coordinating Wikimania, covering things such as occasional childcare, food for meetings and reasonable associated costs. The process for paying out stipends, as well as the exact amount, are currently being discussed. Active core team members will receive a full scholarship (travel, lodging, registration fees) to attend another major in person Wikimedia event.

Program committee

What are the responsibilities of program committee members?

• Create and manage the call for program contributions
• Manage programming
• Establish programming framework
• Coordinate and execute community submission/acceptance process
• Assist with programming logistics

What does the commitment look like?

Starting in February, through September, 60-90 mins active weekly participation (possibly more or less in some weeks depending on tasks). Times and dates will be chosen by Core Organizing Team members, and will be inclusive of all timezones.

Other roles

Want to help organize Wikimania in other ways?

If you’re interested in supporting Wikimania but can’t commit to the Core Organizing Team, we still want to hear from you! There will be additional calls for volunteers in other roles, both leading up to and during the event. These include helping with communications, program, trust and safety, and more. If you are interested in such roles, please be on the look out for our volunteer signup.

If you have ideas or questions, please add them to the talk page.

How to volunteer

What kind of qualifications or experience are we looking for?

• For organizing members: event organization experience of virtual, in-person or hybrid events; previous organizers of events such as regional events, thematic events, meetups or Wikimanias
• For program committee members: experience with the programming of international community events; experience as previous program chairs, program committee members
• Mediawiki coding experience, template, bots, page design
• Past or future Wikimania organizers are welcome
• Collaborative approach as a principle
• In good standing with the community and the Foundation
• Members from anywhere in the world are welcome; the working language of the committee will be English

Application process and deadline

• To apply, answer the application questions, below. The deadline is January 9, 2022.
• You can email your answers to the Wikimedia Foundation community events team at communityeventswikimedia.org if you would prefer to keep your application private, or if you would prefer your application to be public, you can post it. Applicant details from email and meta will be shared with the Wikimania events staff and Wikimania Steering Committee, who will review the candidates to ensure a good mix of experience and global diversity
• Short-listed candidates will be invited to a 30-minute chat with previous COT members, members of the Steering Committee and Wikimedia Foundation Staff in late January 2022, which will be a chance to understand the role and get questions answered as well as discuss what role you want to take with Wikimania
• Members will be announced by the end of January.
• Please read the COT Survey Privacy Statement regarding how private information will be handled.

NOTES on the application:

Please indicate if you'd like to be on the core team, or in a different role. There are two questions about time commitments: if you are on the core team if you can commit 60-90 minutes per week, increasing to 4-5 hours closer to the event. If you'd like to be in a different volunteer role, please let us know how much time you can commit.

Application Questions

1. Wiki username (if you post on meta, please make sure the email connected to your username is active so that we can contact you directly)
2. What region are you located in? (Africa (East, South or West Africa), America (North, Central or South America), Asia (East, Southeast or South Asia), Oceania, Europe, Middle East and North Africa)
3. Do you have any previous event planning experience? (In-person or online? Local, regional, or international? A Wiki Loves campaign? An edit-a-thon? Another photography competition or campaign?)
4. What was your role? (I helped out a bit, I was one of the coordinators, I was the lead organizer for an event of up to 100 people, I have organized 100+ person events in the past)
5. Have you ever organized a virtual event? Can you give examples?
6. Have you been to Wikimania before?
7. Are you a past Wikimania organizer?
8. In 100 words or less, let us know why you are interested in volunteering as a Wikimania 2022 organizer?
9. Is there an aspect of conference planning you are especially interested in? (examples: communication tasks, on-wiki tasks, social media support, event logistics support, buddy to first time event participant etc)
10. What is your availability like? (A few hours a week? A few hours a month only? Available from January to August? Available closer to the event only?)

Questions?

Post on the talk page here or contact the community events team at communityeventswikimedia.org.