*Hello,We recently announced the new Wikimedia Technical Conference (TechConf) during the closing session of the Barcelona Hackathon on May 20, 2018. We are sending this email to give an update on the planning and organization, and to also let everyone know how the nomination process will work for those interested in attending. The Wikimedia Technical Conference will take place in Portland, OR, USA on October 22-25, 2018. And, as mentioned in previous emails [1][2] and on the wiki page [3], this conference will be focused on the cross-departmental program called Platform Evolution. We will be providing more information and context as we go along in the process.For this conference, we are looking for diverse stakeholders, perspectives, and experiences that will help us to make informed decisions for the future evolution of the platform. We need people who can create and architect solutions, as well as those who actually make decisions on funding and prioritization for the projects.Later this week, we will send out a form to provide more detailed information on the nomination process and how to nominate people (or it can be yourself) to attend this conference, along with the skills, experiences, and/or backgrounds that we are looking for. Due to the time needed for visa application and other constraints, the deadline for nominations will be June 8th. Please make sure that you don’t miss the deadline!If you have any questions, please post them on the talk page [4][1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/mediawiki-l/2018-April/047367.html https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/mediawiki-l/2018-April/047367.html [2] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2018-April/089738.html https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2018-April/089738.html [3] https://mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018 https://mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018 [4] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018 https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018 *

*Cheers from the Program Committee:* *Kate, Corey, Joaquin, Greg, Birgit and TheDJ*

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deb tankersley

Program Manager, Engineering

Wikimedia Foundation