Hi all,
New to the list, but a veteran of almost everything else in Wikipedia, including being on the Wikimania selection jury for several years, and helping logistics, programming, et al. Happy to give any advice and help as needed.
I think an SF bid would be great. With no disrespect to Stanford's proposed bid, the city-based location in SF itself would be much more conducive to outings and the vibe of other Wikimanias which have been within walking or short public transport distance to cultural institutions and funky attractions. On the other hand, Stanford being in proximity of other dot-coms and startups might provide an opportunity for outreach to other tech firms/groups that we've never had before. It might also concentrate Wikipedians together in a way to help promote more editor-editor interaction. Each one has its benefits.
I was at the WC WikiConference, and it might indeed be an interesting evolution for Wikimania. The kickoff WM in Frankfurt '05 was more casual, and really focused on Wikipedians talking with each other for the first time. '06 and '07 professionalized it quite a bit more, as it was Wikipedia's heyday and public rise. Correspondingly, the programs at those events were more formal, as it also allowed for academics/students to get funded to go to a conference that was professionally run and where submissions were peer-reviewed. In some sense, Wikisym now being concurrent with Wikimania has removed the need for the latter, and Wikimania can perhaps return to its more informal, community roots. The WC WikiConf was all open space -- that is, no agenda, all sessions proposed in a circle by attendees, and sifted and sorted in wiki style. Registration was by EventBrite, and Phoebe and Eugene were able to pull it off with much less pain than for Wikimanias. There might be something to learn from that.
Interested in other thoughts.
-Andrew