Grants:Conference/bluerasberry/WikiConference North America 2019

Purpose and vision The purpose of this grant application is to create a record of the North American Wikimedia community's desire to have Wikimedia Foundation financial support for a WikiConference North America 2019. This community - including members of Wiki NYC, Wiki DC, Wiki Canada, Wiki Mexico, fledgling regional communities in Cuba, the DR, Haiti, and elsewhere in the region, and also thematic US-based wiki user groups doing outreach to underrepresented demographics including LGBT+ people, people of minority ethnicity and race, women, and subject matter experts in a range of fields - has presented this conference as a volunteer event in 5 previous years.

WikiConference USA/2014 – New York City, New York, U.S.
WikiConference USA/2015 – Washington, D.C., U.S.
WikiConference North America/2016 (theme: "Inclusivity") – San Diego, California, U.S.
WikiConference North America/2017 (theme: "Amplify") – Montreal, Quebec, Canada
WikiConference North America/2018 (theme: "Possibility") – Columbus, Ohio, U.S.

Each of these conferences cost about US$60,000 and had hundreds of participants. The program was awesome, nothing ever went wrong, and everyone loved them.

In summer 2018 the Wikimedia Foundation began to say that they were unable to fund conferences in 2019. There was not discussion about this, but rather, it was a mandate decided by the Wikimedia Foundation to apply to most of the world.

Despite the Wikimedia Foundation saying this, I am making this proposal to ask for sponsorship anyway. If the Wikimedia Foundation cannot fund the conference in entirety, then I am asking for $20,000 or whatever is possible to give. This could be contingent on the Wikimedia community fundraising the other $40,000.

We are a volunteer community. There is no staff administration of this conference. The conference is effectively the main Wikimedia governance activity in North America, as it is the event where new Wikimedians meet with experienced ones, Wikimedia contributors at institutions meet with each other, and people in the region advance issues of national importance.

Please give a brief description of the event you are planning. What do you hope to accomplish during the event? Why is this event important for your community?

The conference will discuss issues similar to how it has in the past 5 years, except decided as always by consensus of the Wikimedia community for what is fresh and important for this year. It will be a typical Wikimedia conference for this region.

Important details

Please add key information to the table below. The dates, location and number of participants can be estimates and do not need to be finalized at this time.

Proposed date(s)	25 October 2019 - 27 October 2019
Proposed location	Mexico City
Number of participants	300
Event page	WikiConference North America/2019
Primary contact person	Lane Rasberry, bluerasberry

Background[edit]

Community input[edit]

Use the results from the community engagement survey to fill in the table below. Since you cannot cover all topics or meet all needs at one event, prioritisation is important. Please rank the priority of each topic, skill, project or problem as high, medium or low. Finally, please answer the questions below the table.

	Description	Priority
Strategic discussions: What are the top issues affecting your community that need to be discussed in person?	diversity, inclusion, and friendly space	regional collaboration among similar projects
Capacity development: Are there important skills that many people in your community need to learn?	Wikidata engagement and Linked Open Data in general	train the trainers for doing community programming in their region
Working groups: Are there joint projects that need to be planned in person?	institutional collaboration and partnerships	fundraising for next year's 2020 conference, apparently
Community building: Are there other in-person activities are important for community building?	usergroup governance and mutual support	previous conferences are ~75% first-timers, so introductions

Survey analysis:

How many people did you send the survey to? How many people responded to the survey?
Did you see consensus around shared goals that this community wants to focus on in the next 12 months? What were the top 2 goals?
Based on survey responses, what are the most important things your community should do at the conference to achieve those goals?

If we had funding we would do the survey.

Context[edit]

It is helpful to get an understanding of why this event is important to your community, and what experiences you have had in the past. Please answer the applicable questions below.

1. What inspired your community to begin planning this event?

Last 5 conferences were great and we want continuity and to replicate those models of success.

2. How does this event relate to other activities that your community is working on?

Has there been an increase in coordinated activities since the last conference?
Has your community been able to resolve long standing conflicts?
Have any project ideas that came up at the conference been implemented somewhere?

Yes to all, can explain if there is any chance of funding.

3. Please list the priorities identified in the report from the last conference organized by this community. What progress have you made in those areas?

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4. If your community has hosted a similar conference in the past, what key lessons were learned, and what would you like to improve on?

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Plan[edit]

Venue and Logistics[edit]

1. If the venue is more than 1 hour away from a major airport or transportation hub, how will participants travel to the event venue?

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2. Is the event venue within walking distance from the hotel? If not, how will people travel between the two locations?

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3. Is the event venue and hotel accessible for people with physical disabilities?

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4. Do you anticipate any challenges with using the space for the event you are planning?

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Friendly space policy[edit]

Please link to the friendly space policy that your community will be using for this event.

The friendly space policy which everyone in the Wikimedia movement uses literally originated from the first instance of this conference.

Participation[edit]

It is crucial that most participants have a minimum level of Wikimedia experience so that they can engage actively in workshops and discussions. Please answer all applicable questions below.

1. Please describe the target audience for this conference or event.

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2. If your conference has an outreach component, how will you ensure engagement with these participants after the conference, and what impact do you see them having on the projects?

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3. Are you thinking about inviting WMF staff to attend or participate in the event? If yes, please list individuals or teams who you may want to invite, or describe how you would like WMF staff to be involved in the event.

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Scholarships[edit]

1. How many scholarships would you like to offer?

20

2. What expenses will the scholarship cover?

we put people in hostels and they share bedrooms with strangers

3. How will scholarship recipients be selected?

through the established process

Resources and risks[edit]

Describe the resource potential for successfully executing this project and the key risks/threats.

Resources[edit]

Organizing team

Team	User Names
WMF Liaison
Logistics
Conference Program
Scholarships
Communications
Volunteer Coordinators
Other team members

Risks[edit]

Examples of risks, along with how you would minimize or overcome them, are:

Skill gaps in project leadership team (e.g. no financial management experience)
Components of the measurement process that are hard to quantify

Examples of how to minimize these risks include:

Recruiting volunteers with desired skills to project leadership team.
Working with the WMF Learning & Evaluation Team to develop an appropriate measurement and evaluation plan.

Budget[edit]

Please provide a detailed breakdown of project expenses according to the instructions here. See Budget Guidelines.

Event budget table

same as previous years

Total cost of event: PLACEHOLDER TEXT

Total amount requested from the Conference and Event Grants program: PLACEHOLDER TEXT

Additional sources of revenue that may fund part of this event, and amounts funded: PLACEHOLDER TEXT

Please confirm that you are aware that changes to the approved budget beyond 10% in any category must be approved in advance.

Discussion[edit]

This proposal is Wikimedia Foundation pre-rejected. I have no reason to believe that it will be reviewed but I wanted to ask.

Endorsements[edit]

Do you think this project should be selected for a Conference Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. Other feedback, questions or concerns from community members are also highly valued, but please post them on the talk page of this proposal.