New subject: How does the waitlist work?

21 Apr 2026

      Hi everyone,
I'm writing with some additional information on how the
waitlist works, as well as the current status. All of this information
and more is now covered in the Registration FAQ on the Wikimania Wiki
[1].
We are working with the venue to expand event capacity by 100 to
200 people. One of the biggest challenges for each Wikimania is to find
a venue with 8+ breakout rooms that also has a large enough main
amphitheater. To overcome this, Wikimania 2026 will have an extra space
beyond the main amphitheater for the opening ceremony, which helps us
expand event capacity.
This has entailed securing additional space
for the opening ceremony as well as additional breakout rooms. As a
result of releasing small batches of additional tickets, removing
duplicates, and processing cancellations, as of April 21, around 80
people have come off the waitlist and been given the opportunity to
request an invite. This process will continue over the next few weeks.
IF YOU ARE ON THE WAITLIST, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU CHECK YOUR EMAIL
DAILY. Once a slot frees up, the next person on the waitlist will
automatically receive an email with a link to request an invitation. The
link will only be valid for 48 hours. Please whitelist emails sent from
info@eventyay.com and check all email folders (including spam). If you
do not respond within 48 hours, the system will automatically move to
the next person on the list.
When you click on the link, you will be
taken to a form to submit your request for invitation.  Once submitted,
your request will undergo a trust and safety review, and you will
receive a response within 14 days - this is the same process for all
prospective attendees. (Trust and safety reviews are only carried out
once someone comes off the waitlist and completes their request for
invitation.) Please continue monitoring your email, as once you receive
an invitation you will have 7 days to complete registration by
initiating payment.
We believe that there will be some accepted
speakers who have been unable to secure a place at Wikimania to date. An
increased number of tickets are now set aside for those cases, which
will be offered to unregistered, accepted speakers in mid-May when the
program decisions are finalized.
After accommodating speakers, we
hope to be able to release any remaining spaces to the waitlist, likely
around EARLY JUNE. Once those slots are taken, a few spaces may become
available due to last-minute cancellations, but there are no guarantees.
We will continue to update the FAQ on the Wikimania Wiki as the status
changes. We would advise against making any non-refundable travel and
hotel reservations until your registration is confirmed.
Thank you
again for your understanding as we work to accommodate as many attendees
as possible at Wikimania Paris.
Sincerely,
ADÉLAÏDE CALAIS
Responsable communauté en ligne / Coordinatrice Wikimania
_+33 1 42
36 26 24_ [2] 
_+33 6 38 36 13 32_ [3]
_-------------------------------------------------------------------------_
WIKIMEDIA FRANCE
Association pour le libre partage de la
connaissance
_WWW.WIKIMEDIA.FR [4]_ 
_28 rue de Londres, 75009 PARIS_
[5]
Le 2026-04-21 19:10, Elena Lappen a écrit :
...
Begin forwarded
message:
...
FROM: Guillaume Paumier via Wikimania-l
wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
...
SUBJECT: [WIKIMANIA-L] RE: HOW
DOES THE WAITLIST WORK?
...
DATE: April 20, 2026 at 1:38:24 AM PDT
TO: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)"
wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
...
CC: "Federico Leva (Nemo)"
nemowiki@gmail.com, Guillaume Paumier guillaume.paumier@gmail.com
...
...
REPLY-TO: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)"
wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
...
Hello,
I would like to
second Nemo's request for timely updates. Unless I missed something
(which is very possible), I haven't seen any official news since the
announcement weeks ago that the in-person event was sold out.
...
I
imagine I am not the only one about to finalize my summer travel based
on the current assumption that I can't attend Wikimania (something I am
very disappointed about, but I can accept).
...
If, by some twist of
good fortune, some of us currently on the waitlist ended up getting an
invitation to attend, learning about it after our other travel
arrangements are made would be adding insult to injury.
...
As
Wikimedians, we are all aware of how harmful lack of reliable
information can be. Something as simple as "if you haven't heard from us
by April 30, you can be certain you won't be able to attend" would go a
long way to reduce uncertainty.
...
Thanks,
On Sat, Apr 18, 2026
at 7:25 PM Federico Leva (Nemo) via Wikimania-l
wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org wrote: I am in the waitlist for
Wikimania. (I pre-registered on April 2nd; I
...
had no idea there was a
risk of it being sold out in a day.)
...
I heard different rumours and
speculation on whether Wikimania is
...
"really" sold out or
significantly more seats will be freed once people
...
have to pay for
the registration.
...
Can we give some basic information for (aspiring)
attendees, such as
...

how many people are going to be accepted in total

(beyond
...
"pre-approved" participants like scholars),

how many were

already accepted and have paid for it,
...

how the waitlist is managed

and
...

when one needs to start worrying about their registration not

succeeding?
...
For example, the registration form said a background
check would be
...
conducted but I have no idea how that's possible when
I only provided an
...
email address. What if I chose the "wrong" email
address? I assumed
...
someone would contact me to confirm if they can't
find out whose address
...
it is, but maybe I'm wrong.
Speaking of
scholarships, personally I did not apply because I am happy
...
to pay
for my own costs and I prefer if scholarships go to first-time
...
attendees, but I probably would have applied had I known it was the only
...
chance to get in. People are probably making decisions right now
about
...
their attendance (including booking or not booking
accommodation) which
...
may turn out to be wrong later due to a lack of
correct information.
...
Best,
Federico
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...
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...
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Links:
------
[1]
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2026:Registration#FAQ
[2]
tel:+33142362624
[3] tel:+33638361332
[4] http://www.wikimedia.fr/
[5]
https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/1234174880

Re: How does the waitlist work?