Re: March Wiki Conference in Portland

[David Galiel]

Unfortunately, I can't make tonight's meeting, but I wanted to cc all of you WikiWednesdayites(?) on the message I posted to the RecentChangesCamp Planning Google Group, and to extend my invitation to help organize the conference to all of you, and to ask you to spread the word further (just don't spread my personal email address openly please!):
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Hi everyone,

My name is David Galiel, and I've taken the lead in organizing a Wiki conference in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, March 27, 2010, and Sunday, March 28, 2010.

I am new to this list ( and relatively new to Portland), but not new to either wikis, conference organization or working with and coordinating volunteers.

I have directed several volunteer organizations and have organized, coordinated, or led volunteers who organized and/or coordinated conferences, panels, annual gatherings and other events of various scales, all on a volunteer basis.

I've also been using and evangelizing wikis for more than a decade, introducing them to many business clients, non-profit organizations and educational institutions. I am a member of WikiWednesday in Portland (although I'm missing tonight's meeting). I believe in, and have witnessed, the power of wikis to transform organizations and empower a more open, collaborative society.

I won't bore you with my professional bio, but you can read up on that at http://galiel.com/about/ if you're interested.

Enough about me, I just wanted to assure you that I would not have taken on this responsibility unless I intended to follow through. Since I'm not a techie, I can't contribute code, but I can contribute my professional and volunteer experience.  I intend to put on an impeccably-run conference that attendees will enjoy and be eager to return to each year.

I cannot, however, pull it off without your help.

I have met with the organizer of the past two successful WordPress conferences in Portland, Aaron Hockney, who has provided generous insight and advice regarding venue, sponsorship, catering, legal issues and other logistics.

A preliminary meeting at WikiWednesday a few months ago yielded some commitments to help with securing venue, sponsorships and potential keynote speakers for the conference, and there has been some brainstorming on a conference page I set up on the WW Wiki at http://pdx.wiki.org/Portland_wiki_conference . Unfortunately, right after that meeting, I was immediately buried in several months of unusually high volume consulting work, and haven't been able to follow up with the folks who stepped forward until now. No one from the group has taken the initiative to follow up with me.

So, since I haven't heard otherwise, let's assume we're starting from scratch at this point.

My current plan is to have a day and a half unconference (all day Saturday and half-day Sunday), which would feature one pre-scheduled track, including a keynote speaker, along with multiple unconference tracks during both days (with the exception of the keynote, where everyone will gather together).

I'm planning on a conference that will accommodate up to 200 people comfortably, and my goal is to make it as affordable as possible, and to fill every seat.

The intended audience is the general public  - people curious about wikis, people whose organizations are using wikis, people who have started to use wikis themselves, and veteran wiki users, developers and pioneers.

My goal is to bring greater exposure to wikis and to spread their use and to create new champions to go out and spread wikis in their organizations - and, to provide a venue for wiki veterans and newbies alike to celebrate the 15th birthday of Ward's brainstorm.

I will be launching a dedicated conference planning site soon, where we will build an implementation timeline & checklist, along with a proposed budget. That will give us the information we need to focus on our main initial priorities: venue, speakers, sponsorships and in-kind donations.

If anyone here wants to help organize this conference, I welcome your help. I know there are some conference professionals here, and I don't think paying an organizer is in the cards this year - unless said organizer can come with a sponsor willing to pay for their time on the project. Nonetheless, I welcome your participatin to whatever extent feels comfortable. I expect to do this pro bono, myself and I realize that, in the final month or so, will probably be doing this pretty much full-time at the expense of my consulting revenue, but I'm happy to do it to help make this happen.

Since I am new to this list and to most of you on it, one final (likely controversial) note, in the interest of full disclosure and complete transparency:

As big of a wiki champion as I am, I am even more committed to the principle of "appropriate technology" and getting things done - and a conference is not a wiki, nor is the WikiWay or a doocracy the most effective way to pull off a major conference in a way that works sustainably for everyone (volunteers as well as attendees).

Someone needs to take the lead, and every task and responsibility needs to have an owner. There is a fixed deadline, so schedules must be adhered to and commitments honored. Legal contracts must be signed, money professionally handled, and liabilities taken on - even for a nonprofit event put on by a volunteer group promoting an open technology.

I believe in having fun, earning trust and providing space for volunteers to say "no", and, since I want to make this an annual event, intend to lead a team through this in such a way that we'll all still be talking to each other at the end and feel good about what we've done together.

That said, I am leading this team, and I take that responsibility seriously. If you make a commitment to me, I expect you to fill it, or we'll have to find someone else who will. The ultimate priority are the conference attendees. Our job is to work in the background and make sure they have a great experience. This is one of those cases where process needs to facilitate result, not the other way around.

If anyone would like to take my place and lead the conference organizing team, or organize a different kind of conference, I am - believe me, in all sincerity - more than happy to yield the responsibility and step out of the way. 

If not, I invite you to help me make this "the" wiki event of the year. Let's build on past conferences, and make this one the launchpad for regularly scheduled and organized annual conferences for the entire wiki community, a place to connect, get energized, and help spread the WikiWay.

You can contact me at david....@gmail.com for now, I'll set up a dedicated conference email account soon.

Peace,

David Galiel