TL;DR:

* New virtual meet up on Tuesday, Sept 29: panel on editathons [1]

* New program toolkit: Photo contests and events [2]

* Apply for Individual Engagement Grants before September 29! [3]

* New blog series: What I Learned [4]

Greetings Program Leaders and Evaluators!

Important updates from Learning and Evaluation:

== Join us Tuesday, Sept 29: Editathons panel [1] ==

Three program leaders share their experience on creating successful editathons and workshops in this new Learning Circle in the last week of September. Join us next Tuesday, September 29 at 1700 UTC (10 am PST). Iván Martínez (Wikimedia México), Nikola Kalchev (Wikimedia Bulgaria) and Greta Doçi (Wikimedia Albania) will share their experiences hosting different types of editathons, and on innovation running this special Wikimedia program. This new virtual meet-up will also bring up the findings from the last program report [1]. Join us via Google Hangouts: https://plus.google.com/b/117126229120807344920/events/c75vfvmc88p4eh6vcsf5olo5l1c

The event will be recorded and available later on our Youtube channel.

== New program toolkit: Photo contests and events [2] ==

We have launched a new guide on how to implement a Wikimedia program: Photo Contests and Events toolkit is now live! This is a work in progress, and we look forward to community members actively contributing to what is outlined in the toolkit. Some of the gaps are in the Plan subpage, on How to choose the best program for your community, and planning award ceremonies and follow up events. On the Run tab, there is a gap on how to help photographers improve their skills. Beyond these, all sections can be expanded and edited, and we look forward to community members contributing what they know!  

Explore (and contribute to) this step-by-step guide to run your first event, find ideas to remix popular photo competitions, and locate useful bots and templates to make the most out of your photo event. The new toolkit has an improved design, optimized for mobile, that also shares learning patterns with less clicks involved. Find experienced program leaders on the Connect tab [2], and create a profile to offer your expertise to others. We want to thank all the community members who offered their knowledge to create this new toolkit, and we look forward to have this tool expanded by wikimedians all over the world.

== Apply for an Individual Engagement Grant before September 29 [3] ==

The second round of Individual Engagement Grants (IEG) is accepting proposals until Tuesday, September 29. If you have ideas for new tools, community-building processes, and other experimental projects that enhance the work of Wikimedia volunteers, start your proposal today [3]!  Please encourage others who have great ideas to apply now as well.  Support is available if you want help turning your idea into a grant request.

== New blog series: What I Learned ==

Starting this month, we are inviting community members to share a lesson they learned while running a Wikimedia program or activity. The goal of this series is to both showcase a the work done on a community, as well as promote reports as learning resources. We aim at co-editing blogs with community members, and we will publish one story a month, on the third week of every month. If you would like to take part, please reach out directly to María at mcruz@wikimedia.org, or leave a message on her Talk Page for more information [4].