Dear Wikimedians,

We are delighted to announce that the registration for the Wikimedia Conference 2018 [1], which will be held in Berlin from Friday, April 20, through Sunday, April 22, is now open!

Following Abraham’s invitation, we would like to provide you with important information regarding the eligibility for participation, participant number regulation, registration procedure, specifics in regards to the travel and hotel booking as well as the visa application process.

==Eligibility criteria and participant number regulation==

The eligibility criteria for participating in the Wikimedia Conference 2018 are aligned to the Affiliates’ Agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation. Chapters, Thematic Organizations and User Groups must have shown signs of recent activity (within the last six months as of September 30, 2017) and be up-to-date on their reporting [2] by the eligibility deadline (December 15, 2017). Moreover, affiliations need to have been officially recognized by the Wikimedia Foundation before January 1, 2017. Before registering for the conference, please check the eligibility and status overview of your affiliate as well as the participant number regulation on meta [3].

==Registration information==

To make the conference a success, it will be essential for the invited affiliates to deliberately choose their delegates. Affiliates are asked to only send delegates that are well-informed in goings-on at the affiliate, able to confidently answer questions about it and share experience from their group. They should also be empowered to commit their group to involvement in proposed projects or initiatives. We recommend to follow the “How to select the delegates” information, which is published on meta [4].

People, who are selected by their organization to represent them at the conference, need to register via the registration form [5]. The registration deadline is Monday at midnight CET, January 15, 2018. Please note that we won’t be able to accept and process registrations after this deadline.

We are looking forward to also welcoming members of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees and staff, the Funds Dissemination Committee as well as the Affiliations Committee in Berlin. We see a huge advantage in having their representatives participate on site. Please also register via the registration link [5].

In addition to the core-conference, pre-conference Learning Days on Wednesday and Thursday, April 18+19, are organized by the WMF Learning and Evaluation team [6]. There is also a Boards Training Workshop [7] organized by Frans Grijzenhout (chair of Wikimedia Nederland) and Tim-Moritz Hector (chair of Wikimedia Deutschland), which will simultaneously take place on April 18 and 19. Should you be interested in participating in either of the two pre-conference offers, you can indicate your interest in the registration form.

Based on our positive experience from 2017, there will again be a chance to directly connect newcomers (who never attended the Wikimedia Conference before) and experienced participants (who visited the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin > 1 times) in the so called Buddy Project [8]. Our aim is that through this offer everyone can make the most of their experience and take as many impressions, contacts, ideas and inspirations home with them as possible. If you would like to take part in the Buddy Project, please specify in the registration form whether you would like to take part as a newcomer or experienced participant.

For the purpose of helping affiliates to check that only their selected representatives have registered and enable participants to connect before the conference and stay involved afterwards, we will publish all participants’ names on the meta page [9] shortly after registration.

Further information on the registration process can be retrieved from meta [10].

==Hotel and travel booking==

The Wikimedia Conference will take place at the Mercure Hotel Berlin Tempelhof Airport [11] in Berlin’s neighbourhood Neukölln. A high number of hotel rooms, which are conveniently located on the levels above the conference venue, have been reserved for the conference participants. All rooms include Wifi, breakfast and have their own bathroom.

Representatives of affiliates with an annual plan grant (group 1) will need to book and pay for their hotel rooms as well as travel individually. The hotel booking form and price information can be found on meta [12].

Affiliates, which don’t receive funding via an annual plan grant (group 2), will be supported by WMDE for their hotel needs and travel booking.

Members of the WMF Board, FDC, AffCom or WMF staff (group 3) receive travel and hotel booking support by the WMF travel department.

As for additional participants specifically invited by the Program and Engagement Coordinator to complement the conference program (group 4), WMDE will assist you with your hotel and travel booking.

We advise you to check meta [3] to which group you belong to.

==Visa information==

Please visit the website of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Berlin [13] to find out whether you need a visa for travelling to Germany. In case you are in need of a visa, we advise you to register until December 11, 2017, so that WMDE can assist you with the application process and send you the required visa documents sufficiently in advance. All relevant information and necessary steps to undertake are also described on meta [14].

Wikimedia Deutschland is looking forward to welcoming you in Berlin in April!

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us any time via wmcon@wikimedia.de should you have any questions or comments.

Best regards,

WMCON Organizing Team

Wikimedia Deutschland

wmcon@wikimedia.de

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018

[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Reports

[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Eligibility_Criter...

[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Program_Design_Pro...

[5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Registration_Infor...

[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Learning_and_Evaluation/News/Learning_Days_f...

[7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Pre-Conference_Boa...

[8] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Buddy_Project

[9] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Participants%27_Li...

[10] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Registration_Infor...

[11] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Conference_Venue

[12] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Travel_and_Hotel_B...

[13] http://wmde.org/visa_requirements_overview

[14] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Visa_Process_and_A...