2019 talk:Meetups

Which room is where?

Could someone color code, or in other way make it clear, which of the rooms are at Hotel Amaranten and which one are at Stockholm University? Ping Eric Luth (WMSE) and Lea Lacroix (WMDE). Thanks. Ainali (talk) 18:42, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

As I understand it all of these rooms are at Hotel Amaranten. Eric Luth (WMSE) (talk) 07:57, 17 June 2019 (UTC)

Now it says at the page "Anyone planning to attend these meetups should also plan to travel from the reception venue back to the conference venue. " And is not said in the page that the rooms are in the Hotel. Why do you not write this at the page itself? I asked at the reception and got the right information that the meetups are at thre hotel and it was also told in telegram, but why is this meetup page page here itself not updated?--Urjanhai (talk) 11:14, 16 August 2019 (UTC

In the beginning it seems to be told that that meetups are at the hotel only the passage cited below seems to have been left there.--Urjanhai (talk) 11:25, 16 August 2019 (UTC)

Meetups get second-class timeslots

For me the meetups are a major reason to attend Wikimania or any conference.

This is an opportunity to have in person communication with close colleagues and where an entire room of people get to participate. The published record of Wikimania includes the minutes of meetups, and most people whose thoughts actually get published from attending a Wikimania do so in the context of meetup attendance.

The currently suggested meetup times are 8pm-midnight on Friday and Saturday night. Saturday nights are typically times when people try to socialize and come to know their colleagues in a friendly way outside an agenda. Any meetups scheduled then compete with that socializing. For Friday night the meetups are after or during the reception, which also will be a challenge.

This is a challenge which has happened a previous Wikimanias. I am not sure what to do about it. My view is that lots of people attend meetups, want meetups, and enjoy the meetups where they participate. How does it always happen that there is so little encouragement to include meetups in the program and anticipate that people will attend them? Why do things like group workshops and roundtable discussions get included in the agenda, when they are approximately a meetup and share the format, but when a global community which otherwise can meet in person to develop their existing collaboration, that is non-standard and relegated to off hours?

I am not directing this to anyone in particular. I think the lack of support for meetups is a an oversight in all Wiki-conferences, and even non-wiki conferences. Blue Rasberry (talk) 13:28, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

@Bluerasberry: Thanks for the feedback. I bring @Wittylama: into this discussion to, as it concerns program design. Making Wikimania more focused on workshops and roundtable discussions is not a way of trying to compete with meetups, but exactly as you say make sure that there is more opportunity to talk and discuss relevant topics together as part of the program. We do have a limited amount of rooms, so it is hard to offer rooms for meetups during the program hours. There is however a lot of tables and chairs across the conference venue, so it is indeed possible to have meetups around the conference througout the conference days. We also hope for nice and sunny weather, of course, making it possible to have meetups on the beautiful lawns just outside of the main buildings.

I have now also, on this page, updated with a list of bars and cafes that could be used for meetups close to either the conference venue, the main hotel and the hotel where we have offered reduced prices. We have however only listed meeting rooms at the hotel at times when people easily can be at the hotel. That is after program hours have ended at the university. Because of the distance between, it is hard to have any meetups take place there at other times. I hope this answers to some of your questions. Eric Luth (WMSE) (talk) 10:37, 17 June 2019 (UTC)

@Eric Luth (WMSE): Thanks for the response. I appreciate it and do not need anything further. Team Wikimania Sweden is doing a great job and I would not ask you to change anything. Thanks especially for the cafe suggestions. Blue Rasberry (talk) 11:33, 17 June 2019 (UTC)

Continued exploration of options

I am not posting here because I expect anyone to respond or change things - just go forward with the program as planned. I am only sharing thoughts and checking options.

I wish there were more accessible times and place where people could anticipate being able to meet together as a group and have a conversation.

Of course there the possible of just showing up to the conference and people who already know each other can recognize the others and meet outside the venue. We can also advertise outside the schedule, perhaps for people who are already on a mailing list or in a social media group, to come to a group discussion.

I wish there were an easy obvious way to advertise for a group of ~20 people to be able to meet for a chat for an hour during the conference schedule. Is there a large hackathon room where a small group like that could meet in a circle, even with no privacy, but just to know that they have space for a chat as a group? Blue Rasberry (talk) 13:33, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

@Bluerasberry: The new structure of the community village is intended as a way of making it easier for people who do not already know each other to meet. There are also, as this map indicates, plenty of space around the venue for spontaneous meetups. Perhaps we can look into how we can make it easier to advertise for meetups around the venue at the different seating areas (though the interactive parts of the community village is also intended for that). Scheduling to many meetup slots during program time of course would compete with the program itself. Eric Luth (WMSE) (talk) 13:40, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

@Eric Luth (WMSE): Okay, this is a good response. I just read about the community village - it seems that this year, the format of that is going serve some of the function which meetups previously served.

Thanks for sharing the map also. That helps.

Overall - this information eases the challenges of meeting up and are a big help. Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:44, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

Reception plan

The reception is 6-8pm on Friday. Meetups start Friday night at 8. Google says that the public transit from the reception back to the conference venue is 25 minutes, so maybe with walking and waiting for the train it takes 35 minutes assuming that people already have transit cards and can navigate alone in a new city. That means that to join the early meetups one needs to leave the reception just midway into it. That is unfortunate.

I am seeing the Friday meetups as being a challenge to attend. Blue Rasberry (talk) 13:33, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

@Bluerasberry: It is a 10 minutes walk from the city hall to the hotel where meetup rooms are booked. Though I get what you mean, we are trying to provide with many different times for different people and different purposes. There are still times available from 21 too, and plenty of free space on Saturday as well. Eric Luth (WMSE) (talk) 13:43, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

@Eric Luth (WMSE):, Okay, that sounds better. I misunderstood about the travel time from reception to meetups. Thanks. Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:28, 15 July 2019 (UTC)