Mindful of the ongoing discussions about conferences, I think that it would be helpful to have a big picture understanding of the goals, plans, and budgets for conferences collectively.

As far as I know, these are the types of recurring conferences:

(1) Wikimania, which seems to be a multi-purpose international conference, with somewhat open admission if someone can afford to attend, is willing to attend, and can get the necessary legal permissions;

(2) the Wikimedia Summit (which I hope will get a name change to reflect its actual scope, because it's not an all-Wikimedia summit) which will focus on WMF, WMF committees that work with WMF affiliate organizations, and WMF affiliate organizations;

(3) thematic conferences, such as the Wikisource Conference;

(4) regional conferences, such as WikiConference North America;

(5) organization-specific meetings of various kinds, including affiliate organizations' annual general meetings and WMF All Hands, and

(6) the Wikimedia Technical Conference.

I believe that WMF intended to do some strategic planning for the collection of conferences as a part of the larger WMF-led strategic planning process. Is this type of planning underway for conferences, and if so can we get an update from someone who is familiar with the situation? If the person who will respond is a paid staff member, then please feel free to wait to respond until a convenient workday next week. In the meantime, other people may wish to comment or ask questions.

Thanks!

Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )