Dear Wikimedians,
Greetings from Wikimania 2025 COT,
We are excited to inform you that registration for Wikimania 2025 is now
officially open! We encourage you to register now for the in-person or
virtual event. Register for the in-person event by 13 July or while places
last. Register for the online event anytime.
Register here: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2025:Registration and
check out our latest Diff blog
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2025/05/27/register-now-to-attend-wikimania-nair…>
for more information.
For any support, feel free to contact the COT via email at
wikimania(a)wikimedia.org
We look forward to seeing you all in Nairobi.
Kind regards,
Terry Boke
Communications Lead - Wikimania 2025
Dear colleagues,
As we enter the vibrant season of anticipation for Wikimania, I'm excited
to connect with many of you this August, whether virtually or in-person, at
Wikimania 2025 in Nairobi. Many of us are eagerly waiting to hear whether
our proposal for a presentation, discussion, poster or workshop has been
accepted to be part of this year's event. And already looking further
ahead, I can already feel the excitement building up for next year's
edition in Paris!
In this email, I will share some key updates from the Wikimania Steering
Committee <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee>, but it
would feel incorrect if I wouldn't include some updates about Wikimania
2025! You will find those a bit further below. The Steering Committee
oversees and coordinates the collaborative efforts that make Wikimania a
success year after year. This collaboration involves the Core Organizing
Team, responsible for a specific edition, Wikimedia Foundation staff and
countless volunteers. Earlier this year, the Wikimania Steering Committee
finalized the process of adopting a formal Charter
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee/Charter>, which has
now been approved and published.
I would like to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to Iolanda
Pensa, our chair for many years and main organizer of Wikimania 2016 in
Esino Lario. Her leadership has been invaluable to our committee and
Wikimania. While she has decided to retire from our committee, I am pleased
to know that she will remain involved in an advisory role, and I look
forward to her contributions.
I am honored to announce that Butch and I have been elected as the new Vice
Chair and Chair of the Steering Committee. I look forward to working in
this new role with this wonderful and diverse group of engaged community
members to bring our movement together and facilitate learning, connections
and friendship. We will be joined in that effort by Wojciech Pędzich, a
member of the Katowice organizing team who is joining the Steering
Committee: welcome Wojciech!
The Wikimania 2025 Core Organizing Team (COT) 2 weeks ago in Nairobi to
continue preparations from registration to programming, and to meet with
local partners and vendors that will contribute their important expertise
to make Wikimania a success. While all Wikimanias are special, this year’s
edition promises to be one for the books as we celebrate 20 years of
Wikimania – and, for the first time, host the conference in East Africa.
Wikimania 2025 will take place in the compact neighborhood of *Gigiri.*
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2025/04/23/announcing-the-wikimania-2025-locatio…>
It will span multiple venues across the area, and give participants an
opportunity to be immersed in the local culture. Gigiri is home to the
United Nations Office–the only UN headquarter office in Africa and the
Global South–and several other international organizations and various
embassies.
This year, Wikimania will host a special pre-conference event on August 5th
for users with extended rights
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2025/05/01/convening-users-with-extended-rights-…>.
To support participation, the Foundation has expanded the scholarship
program, awarding 50 Wikimania scholarships to users with extended rights.
This gathering will be a chance for them to meet others doing similar work,
share ideas, and dig into important topics like safety, privacy, policy
tools, and cross-wiki collaboration. Our hope is that it will spark ongoing
conversations and support networks well beyond Wikimania. The main
conference will then be from 6-9 August, and program decisions will also be
announced in the coming weeks.
*Registration for Wikimania just opened
<https://wikimedia.eventyay.com/tickets/wikimedia/wikimania2025/>.* This
year, in-person capacity will be reduced, so we *recommend registering
before you book your travel*, and registering early! Of course, online
participation will be possible as well, and we hope to see even more of you
attend remotely, or at a satellite event!
See you in Nairobi!
Lodewijk Gelauff
Chair, Wikimania Steering Committee