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Wikimanía 2020

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This page is a translated version of the page Wikimania 2020 and the translation is 5% complete.

Wikimania 2020, a Wikimedia conference, was scheduled to be held in Bangkok, Thailand from 5 to 9 August, 2020,[1] coinciding with the 15th anniversary of the event. In view of COVID-19, it was postponed until 2021.[2] Wikimania 2021 was held as an online virtual event only, and Wikimania 2022 was virtual event combined with local meetups. Wikimania 2023 is a return to an in-real-life conference. It was planned to be hosted by Wikimedia ESEAP (East, Southeast Asia and the Pacific), a first time for a regional collaborative. It would have been the third time it would be hosted in Asia and the first time for Southeast Asia.

Core Organizing Team (COT)

Wikimania 2020 Core Organizing Team (COT) is drawn primarily from East, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Regional Cooperation (ESEAP).

  • Athikhun Suwannakhan (Thailand), Wikimania 2020 Event Chair
  • Butch Bustria (Philippines), Event Lead Vice Chair and Communications Subcommittee Chair
  • Gnangarra (Australia), Scholarships Subcommittee Chair
  • Jamie Lin (Taiwan), Program Subcommittee Chair
  • Robert Myers (Australia)
  • Andrew Lih (United States), Lead Adviser and Liaison to the Wikimania Steering Committee


For more information, see wikimania.org.

Selection process

Due to a series of changes in the management of Wikimania at the Wikimedia Foundation and after discussions with the proposed venues and new potential venues, the Wikimania Committee considered for Wikimania 2020 the venues of Perth, Bali and Bangkok and has been encouraging a broader collaboration among regional teams. The selected venue was officially announced at Wikimania 2019.

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


The Wikimania Steering Committee and Wikimedia Foundation are seeking expressions of interest from interested parties for 2020. This is NOT the bidding process! You don’t need to have a venue locked down, contracts drafted or sponsors lined up. (The factors below should give you some idea of what the projected minimum required elements are for hosting a Wikimania, and the minimum responsibilities of the hosting team/organization. The Handbook is out of date, but we hope to revise it in the coming year.)

We will be taking into account additional factors about potential sites/hosts, especially the cost, accessibility, security, and the strength of the organizing team. In the spirit of rotating the conference in various regions of the world, the Steering Committee would especially like to encourage proposals from Asia. Please note the following:

  • Conference should be held in a venue that is close to reasonably priced lodging (it can also be in a hotel or a campus itself)
  • Lodging that is within walking distance that is affordable, clean, and safe (or transportation that can be easily provided for the attendees from the lodging to the venue)
  • Reasonable transportation cost to Venue (international round trip air fare, length of travel time)
  • Close proximity to an international airport
  • Conference should be held in the July–August timeframe. The conference takes place over a weekend; the format is usually Tuesday through Sunday. (Religious holidays will be taken into account when finalizing actual dates.)
  • A volunteer, core team comprised of people with heavy involvement in the Wikimedia movement’s projects; this team will be responsible for the conference program, providing volunteers and sponsors, doing local outreach, and working closely throughout the year with the WMF staff (the latter will handle most of the logistics)
  • List any previous experience in hosting events
  • Description about why host city/country is a compelling venue for Wikimania
  • A goal/vision for how the conference might leverage a project or an issue that is of importance to the team/country
  • Ease of getting entrance visas into the country AND transit visas for most of our attendees, (can discuss this in more detail with the Events Manager)
  • Personal safety of participants (e.g., welcoming environment/culture regardless of people's sexual orientation, race, age, gender, expression, disability, etc.)
  • Conference facilities should accommodate anywhere from 600 to 1,400 attendees, depending on location (the main hall of the venue should be able to host most of the attendees for the keynote talks) and be free or reasonably priced
  • Flexible meeting space that can accommodate multiple tracks for five days
  • Meeting space that is attractive for socializing and close to restaurants, transportation, etc.
  • Excellent and fast network infrastructure, especially an enterprise grade wireless network.

If you are interested in discussing the possibilities and working with the WMF Events Manager in preparing a proposal to host and organize Wikimania 2020, please contact eyoung@wikimedia.org AND indicate your interest below by October 15. Do not prepare a proposal or bid in the space below. Final proposals will be posted at this site at a later date. Also, if you know of an individual or group that we should approach about hosting, we are encouraging nominations as well. The Steering Committee and the WMF expect to make a decision by the end of the year or early 2019. Thank you! --EYoung (WMF) (talk) 22:37, 6 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]


The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

Expressions of Interest (list here)

Notes

  1. "Wikimania – Wikimania". wikimania.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2019-09-01. 
  2. "(Wikimania-l) (Covid-19) Postponing Wikimania Bangkok until 2021". lists.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 18 March 2020.