Experience Sharing/Cormaggio

Brief thoughts for now - might add to these with time..

I've enjoyed both Wikimanias immensely - it's just such a buzz to meet people face to face that you previously only knew through online contact (often not knowing their identities at all). And having that number of Wikimedians in one place is just awe-inspiring - I remember sitting around in a circle in Boston after the conference was over, thinking: "these people are just incredible". :-)

As Andrew says, the communal spaces are really important (and Frankfurt was great), and I'd like to be able to augment those communal spaces better with the online participation of Wikimedians who aren't able to make it. The group blog has been interesting (though I haven't used it!) - we need more ways of capturing people's thoughts and experiences as they happen, if possible.

The main critique I would have about each conference is that we haven't had a recording apparatus in every room. I've given a presentation at both conferences and have a record of neither. :-( I really need a record of my presentation this year (depending on whether it gets accepted, of course!) - so it would be a real relief to know that there is at minimum audio recording in each room, with video and/or projection screen capture as additional bonuses.

Overall, however, my experiences have been overwhelmingly positive, and I've every reason to believe that this year's conference will be just as enjoyable if not more so. Hope I can help this in some way too.. :-) Cormaggio 11:02, 23 April 2007 (UTC)