Wikimedia India Chapter:Wikimedia Conference 2014

Dear Members,

your Executive Committee is willing to bid for Wikimedia Conference 2014, in order to bring the conference to India. This will basically help us to achieve international presence, and will be a test venture to see if we have that competency to organise Wikimania in near future in India.

Application 2

 * Chapter/organisation/group: Wikimedia India


 * Team (at least three people): Karthik Nadar, Sowmyan Tirumurti, Srikanth Ramakrishnan, Jayantha Nath and Frederick FN Noronha (resident from Goa)


 * Primary contact person: Sowmyan Tirumurti (tsowmyan@undefinedwikimedia.in)

Experience in organising conferences with 100+ participants

 * WikiConference India 2011 -- 700+ participants
 * Some local meetups/ workshops have had 100+ participants

Adequate support by either staff or volunteers to secure the logistics

 * Event management team to be roped in
 * One fellowship to help organise from our end (cost aprox. INR 25,000x6 months)
 * Supported by Sowmyan Tirumurti, our Executive Manager
 * Supported/Advised by Executive Committee
 * Will request volunteers from Wikimedia India to help during the event (5-10 persons)

“Visa-friendliness” of the country

 * Online Visa Application: http://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/


 * Business Visa Checklist: http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/pdf/Checklist_BusinessVisa14012013.pdf (UK Example)


 * Persons coming from Cambodia, Finland, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, New Zealand are eligible for visa on arrival. While, persons coming from Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, South Africa and Uruguay do not need to pay a visa fee.


 * From WCI experience, everyone except Wikimedia Nepal will need a visa. We had several Wikipedians/Staff attend from USA/Europe/Bangladesh and as far as we are aware there was only one rejection. There was the case of Jimbo where there was a passport mix-up and we had an emergency visa applied within a day. Another case of a Wikipedian from UK where a same day Business Visa was granted. Wikimedia India will provide invitation letters and everything required to all affiliates.

Distance to the nearest international airport

 * Goa International Airport, more commonly known as Dabolim Airport is just located 16.8 kilometers away from the actual venue. Reaching to the hotel from the venue will just take ~25 minutes as per Google Maps:

Rough estimate of travel costs for _all_ participants (given that each organisation sends two delegates)
''For the estimate, we used the lowest prices on Skyscanner.com for the 3-6 April weekend. While many organisations will likely pay for their own costs, we would like to have a rough estimate of the total cost to the movement.''

Rough estimate of accommodation costs for _all_ participants (given that each organisation sends two delegates)
We have included this in the cost below, 70 double occupancy rooms are included in the quote.

Rough estimate of the total venue costs
We took a quote from a few hotels, requesting them details for 70 rooms on double occupancy basis, internet access for all guests, 3 meals a day for 3 days (breakfast, lunch and dinner), airport transfers for everyone, a conference hall for 200 people and 2 smaller satellite halls use from 9am to 6pm.


 * The rough quote given by Alila Diwa Goa looks to be the most competitive at INR 8000/- per room per day inclusive of taxes which are currently applicable for all the above facilities. This would work out to INR 16,80,000 for 3 nights. We understand a few people may want to stay an extra night depending on their flight schedules which would work out to the same INR 8000/- per night on double occupancy basis for say 35 rooms. There wouldn't be a separate social event because everyone would be at staying together and all meals are included. We could add a live one man band at an extra $500 on one night.


 * Total cost would be INR 19,60,000/- or USD $ 31,309.82 at an exchange rate of INR 62.60/USD 1 based on a rough quote.


 * While we understand the quote was requested for hostels and a hotel, we feel that the event and the movement would benefit to a very large extent were everyone to be accommodated at the same place as it would give a feeling of unity and oneness across among participants. We further benefit economically getting the conferencing facility cost included in the cost of the rooms. Lastly it makes it easier for us to manage logistics at one single venue.


 * Venue website: