2021:Call for volunteers
Apply to be a part of the core team for this year's virtual Wikimania or indicate if you want to help with other roles.
As there’s no physical location for this year's Wikimania, there are no geographically based hosts. Instead, the Wikimania Steering Committee and the Core Organizing Team will serve as an international team of community organizers for Wikimania 2021. The Foundation will be providing infrastructure, logistics and organizational support.
We invite you to join us and help produce this event for the community, by the community.
How to get involved
For supporting the organization of Wikimania, we will need help from community members around the world to form an organizing team from within our community. We have identified some roles that would be a part of the Core Organizing Team of 2021 Wikimania.
We are inviting nominations and self-nominations for the Core Organizing Team for Wikimania 2021. This team will help lead the development and production of the overall event, focused on the conference program, and will be supported by technical and project staff at the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimania steering committee. Volunteers will need to commit time each week between now and August to make the event a success.
If you have organized past events in person or online, or are interested in hosting international Wikimedia events in the future, we need you! Planning 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 and who are able to be consistently involved through the conference.
If you want to help with Wikimania but don't want to be a part of the core team, there will be additional calls for volunteers in other roles in the coming months as well. These will include helping with communications, program, mentorship and more.
If you have ideas or questions, please add them to the talk page.
How big will the group be?
The core organizing team will be a small group responsible for the leadership of the event. The total number of people we are looking for the COT is:
- Organizing members: minimum of 2, maximum 3 community representatives
- Programming members: minimum of 2, maximum 3 community representatives
- 1-2 steering committee liaisons (rotating representative)
- WMF: Lead, Project Manager, and Virtual Event Producer
As noted above, additional volunteers to help with other aspects of the conference are also very welcome and there will be additional calls in the coming months.
Roles and responsibilities
What are the responsibilities of Organizing Members? (min 2 / max 3):
- Help choose the right format for a virtual Wikimania - using prior design work to set the length and outline of the event
- Help shape/decide the outcome of the recommendations of the Scholarship Feasibility Report
- Updating and managing the Wikimania wiki
- Keep our international community up to date and involved throughout planning phase
- Coordinate communications, including event communications, program submissions, and program acceptance
What are the responsibilities of Programming Members? (min 2 / max 3):
- 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 March, 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.
Is there an incentive for volunteering my time?
- For active core team members, a full scholarship (travel, lodging, registration fees) to the next in-person Wikimania will be awarded
What kind of qualifications 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 programming members: experience with the programming of international community events; experience as previous program chairs, program committee members
- 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