> A quick raw search on flight prices from Frankfurt, Germany, San > Francisco, USA and even Taipei, Taiwan, seem to suggest that the two > most plausible cities for an Australian bid would be Sydney and > Melbourne (I also plugged in Canberra and Perth, for comparison's > sake).
Yep, Sydney and Melbourne are definitely the two most reachable Australian cities for all possible participants (both international & local). Both would be good, and there are plus and minuses of each, e.g.: Melbourne: * Plus: trams make getting around relatively easy, and there's a skybus from the airport to Southern Cross station, but Minus: it's a bit confusing to then get the tram from the bus stop, if you've never done it before. * Plus: Uni Melb has a good central location, and has dorm rooms on-campus, assuming it's available & the price is okay. * Plus: the night markets make a good evening activity. * Possible minus: in July/August, Melbourne might potentially not have the best weather? Sydney: * Minus: Sydney's international airport arrivals sucks, especially the arrivals hall with the long queues as they x-ray scan every bag, plus the transport out of the airport sucks (queues for taxis, expensive trains, overpriced car park fees, etc). No idea how Melbourne international arrivals compares, since I have never disembarked an international flight in Melbourne. * Plus: Darling Harbour is a great conference venue, and some of the unis could also be good. * Possible minus: Is there nearby accommodation, and if so at what cost to attendees? * Plus: It's not too hard to come up with activities that are likely to appeal to international visitors (e.g. trip to Taronga Zoo: ride a ferry on the harbour, get a great view of the harbour bridge + opera house, feed a kangaroo, hold a koala, be frightened by an emu, etc). Both cities would be absolutely fine, IMHO, in terms of being reachable to wide base of attendees & providing suitable venues and activities. Really comes down to what the local people are willing & able to do towards organising, and what support/sponsorship/assistance they can get from local external organisations. > On the matter of chapter support, I have no doubt that the chapter > will > support a bid at some point and I do not think we should go ahead > unless > the chapter does support it. That however is for the future. I have > some > sympathy for Steve's view that this, 2 days from the AGM, is not the > time to > be discussing this. The new committee will have other things on its > plate when it takes over. Okay, but why not give the local members of cities interested in bidding the chapter's permission to approach possible venues / sponsors / government events groups / like-minded organisations, to scope out what's involved / the facilities available / the best way to run it / how much it would cost, as long as it's made crystal-clear it's scoping at this stage? I don't see what we lose from that, the chapter doesn't need to do anything else about it until this research is done, everyone is operating under the same rules & opportunities, and if the bids are able to learn from each other and we end up with several well-developed bids, then that's a good thing and not a bad thing. Just my 2 cents! -- All the best, Nick. _______________________________________________ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
