Greetings Program Leaders and Evaluators!

== WMCON 2016: Outcome of the Learning Days! [1] ==

We hosted a two-day long pre-conference, Learning Days, on April 21st and 22nd in advance of the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin. 51 participants representing their affiliate organizations participated in several sessions. The priority topics selected were: a) Engaging and Retaining Volunteer, b) Best Practice Exchanges with other Leaders, c) Designing Wikimedia Programs and Events, and d) Measuring and Evaluating Impact.

Feedback shared by participants highlighted a number of practices participants planned to bring back home with them; either processes to help their local community to develop, or tools and resources to apply directly to their projects. Find the complete feedback and the resources shared on the event page [1].

== Wikipedia Tools for Google Spreadsheets [2] ==

Thomas Steiner of Google has created a Google Spreadsheets add-on that helps pull out data from all Wikipedia language versions and Wikidata. Released under anApache License, Version 2.0, this tool adds Wikipedia custom functions for use in Google Spreadsheets like WIKIPAGEVIEWS, WIKITRANSLATE, WIKISYNONYMS, WIKIGEOCOORDINATES. For instance, when you type =WIKITRANSLATE ("Orange") in a Google Spreadsheet cell and press enter it automatically returns the translated versions of the Wikipedia article “Orange”, in all the languages the articles exist. The tool could come handy for program leaders during outreach and other activity planning and implementation, especially tracking pageviews of articles over time. [2]

== L&E Newsletter Learning Quarterly Issue 8 published [3] ==

The latest edition of our newsletter, Learning Quarterly (April-June) , went live. In this issue, we have featured GLAMing Madrid in the section “A program in the spotlight”, a project that has led the foundation of formal collaboration with state museums in Spain. The story for the newsletter was written by Rubén Ojeda, Wikimedia Spain’s  first Wikipedian in Residence. The newsletter also features stories on: Global Metrics Review (an open discussion); the Wikipedia Education Collab meeting in Stockholm. Read the latest on how to stay connected through blogs and events, and learn about the upcoming Inspire Campaign. If you want to feature your program in the section “A Program in the Spotlight” email eval@wikimedia.org. [3]

== Pre-Conference Learning Days at Wikimania Esino Lario [4] ==

We are organizing two new Learning Days at this year’s Wikimania in Esino Lario. Because of restriction of space at the venue, participation is by invitation only. We have sent a first round of  invitations out Friday, May 13. If you would like to take part in Learning Day and did not get an invite, please email Subhashish at spanigrahi@wikimedia.org indicating your interest, and we’ll get back to you. There are three ways in which the participants can get involved: a) Submitting a poster (Deadline: Sunday, June 12), b) Presenting a lightning talk, and c) Co-presenting in a workshop. More updates are coming up in the event page, keep checking! [4].