MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference/Location ideas

Some attendees and former organizers have floated around ideas for where future conferences could be held. Below are anonymized opinions compiled from water cooler discussions.

Criteria

• Whether any organizer lives there and/or has enough familiarity with the location, and is willing to serve as the conference chair or local chair
  • To avoid accidentally doxxing anyone, we will be intentionally vague about this and will only say if we have any community familiarity or not
• Whether it would make certain attendees and/or their colleagues more likely to attend
• Whether this conference location has been featured in recent memory—if it has been, it's not on this list
• U.S. only: How good the air connections are
• Whether April or late fall would be a good time to host the conference at that specific location
• Cost for attendees
• Public transit
• Whether the conference would be suitable for a family to attend as well (an optional nice-to-have)
• Whether the location has fun social activities for attendees

Proposed locations

Proposed location	Spring or fall	Upsides	Downsides
Denver, Colorado, USA (or Boulder, Colorado, USA)	Spring	Great air connectivity, both domestic and international Near nature April is shoulder season when the skiers leave and the mountain bikers/hikers haven't arrived yet Direct train link from the airport to downtown (RTD Line A)	Limited community familiarity Not many attractions Not great for people who are particularly sensitive to high altitude sickness
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA	Spring	It's where our colleagues who serve in the Space Force are based Community familiarity Pretty town	Not many air connections If flying to Denver, still need 1 hour drive to get to Colo Springs Limited public transit
San Luis Obispo, California, USA	Spring	Beautiful town Community familiarity	Very few air connections Limited public transit
Atlanta, Georgia, USA	Spring	Excellent air connectivity, Many direct flights to ATL, both domestic and international Low cost of attendance	Not many attractions No community familiarity
Phoenix, Arizona, USA	Spring	Nice weather before May Community familiarity Low cost of attendance	Gets too hot after April Bad public transit Not many attractions
Orlando, Florida, USA	Spring	Very suitable for conferences Great for family fun—Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, and the Kennedy Space Center, among others Near to Kennedy Space Center, which facilitates NASA employees to attend more easily Good (but not great) domestic and international connections Great weather during this time of year Low cost of attendance	Limited community familiarity Small nit: MCO Airport is overcrowded and is operating over its designed capacity Bad public transit Not well-known for fun social activities for adults In extreme southeast of the contiguous United States
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Spring	Well-known tourist destination Well-known conference city Las Vegas Strip is walkable and transportation to/from LAS is streamlined Good (but not great) domestic and international connections	Might not be family friendly Not a great location for people battling addiction or for those who are sensitive to tobacco/cannabis smoke Limited community familiarity Far away for East Coast folks
Los Angeles, California, USA	Spring	Large city Great for family fun—Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood Near to Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which facilitates NASA employees to attend more easily Excellent air connectivity. No elaboration needed; it's LA	No community familiarity Somewhat high cost of attendance Bad public transit Far away for East Coast folks
Dallas, Texas, USA	Spring	Excellent air connectivity. Many direct flights to DFW, both domestic and international Relatively central location in the United States Low cost of attendance Community familiarity	Not a very fun or interesting place Bad public transit
Seattle, Washington, USA	Spring	Great air connectivity. Many direct flights to SEA, both domestic and international Excellent public transit system Community familiarity Decent amount of fun things to do, such as Pike Place Market and the Space Needle	In extreme northwest of the contiguous United States High cost of attendance Rainy/cloudy in April
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA	Spring	Good public transit system Great air connectivity. Delta Air Lines hub. Relatively central location in the United States	Might still be too cold in April No community familiarity
Chicago, Illinois, USA	Spring	Good public transit system Great air connectivity. United and American hub. Relatively central location in the United States Many things to do Somewhat high cost of attendance	Might still be too cold in April No community familiarity
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA	Spring	Good air connections - Delta hub
Reykjavik, Iceland	Fall	Centrally located for both North Americans and Europeans, with relatively great air connections In the Schengen Area	High cost of attendance No community familiarity
Rome, Italy	Fall	In the Schengen Area	No community familiarity

Practical challenges surrounding the organization of international conferences

There are several polities with a significant number of individuals in the third-party MediaWiki community. The two most active polities are the European Union and the United States, as the fall and spring MediaWiki Users and Developers Conferences occur in these respective polities. For individuals who have freedom of movement within these polities, there are no concerns about their ability to attend the conferences in their respective polity. However, if these conferences were then organized with the intent to invite an international audience, organizers may find inviting an international audience challenging due to restrictions imposed by respective governments.

The three main polities of the third-party MediaWiki community have been preliminarily identified as the European Union, India, and the United States.

• India:
  • Apart from Indians themselves, only Nepali and Maldivian citizens are able to enter India without needing any sort of visa from the Indian government.
  • Foreigners visiting India need to apply for an e-visa of the correct category. Certain categories may require a paper visa instead of an e-visa.
  • All conferences for foreigners must first be vetted by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Foreigners cannot attend the conference on a tourist visa; they must obtain a conference visa and attach advance permission from the MHA to their visa application. Only when a conference has been approved by the MHA can foreigners be approved for a conference visa. Furthermore, any applicant whose ancestors are from Pakistan (anytime after 1950) will almost certainly be denied a visa or e-visa to India.
• Schengen Area:
  • Nationals of the European Economic Area (which includes all European Union countries) have freedom of movement within the Schengen Area, meaning there is minimal friction to holding conferences in one EEA country versus another.
  • Nationals of the United States and Canada may stay in the Schengen Area for 90 days out of every rolling 180-day period without needing to apply for any sort of visa or e-visa or electronic travel authorization, which greatly facilitates their ability to visit Europe for conferences.
  • Nationals from countries with a high number of denied visas may find themselves struggling to get approval for their visa, making it very difficult and even downright impossible to enter the Schengen Area for the conference.
• United States:
  • Due to the close relationship of the United States and Canada, the North American third-party MediaWiki community has always been able to welcome Canadians to conferences held in the U.S. with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic period.
  • Additionally, most European Union nationals are eligible for an ESTA to visit the U.S., which makes their entry significantly easier than having to apply for a visa from a U.S. diplomatic mission’s consular section.
  • However, for nationals of other countries, the visa policies of the United States represent a significant hurdle that may be a major detractor, or even an outright barrier, to participating in spring MediaWiki Users and Developers Conferences. In particular, the U.S.’s visa policies adversely and disproportionately impact nationals of certain countries with limited or no diplomatic relations with the U.S., such as Cuba and Iran, as well as other countries once formerly covered under Executive Order 13769. In these cases, said conferences would inevitably exclude them if they were to occur in the United States. In such cases, it would be preferable to locate conferences in Canada, which is generally more amenable to inviting foreign nationals who would face difficulty or discrimination from the U.S. in obtaining a visa.

Generally, the patterns of attendance are that Americans and Canadians will attend conferences in the U.S. and Canada without difficulty, while Europeans will attend conferences in the EU without difficulty. A small number of Americans who choose to make the transatlantic journey may attend the conferences in Europe and vice versa. There are minimal considerations of whether they need a visa or not to attend.

To date, there have not been any third-party MediaWiki conferences in India or any other country not mentioned above. When a proposal was made to hold an international conferences in Asian countries such as Japan or Singapore, there was insufficient interest registered by the community that would make such a conference sustainable.