Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2025/Programme development

This page is devoted to the programme development for the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2025.

Programme Committee

Chair: Kiril Simeonovski (Wikimedia CEE Hub)
Local Team: Marios Magioladitis ([Wikimedia UG Greece)
Local Team: Nikos Likomitros (Wikimedia UG Greece)
Local Team: Christos Varvantakis (Wikimedia Deutschland)
Nataliia Tymkiv (Wikimedia Ukraine)
Wojciech Pędzich (Wikimedia CEE Hub)
Barbara Klen (Wikimedia CEE Hub)
Natalia Ćwik (Wikimedia Polska)
Anastasiya Lvova (North-West Russia Wiki-Historians User Group)

Topics of interest

The following table reports the results from a community survey that was launched in January 2025 to identify the needs of the communities across the region, where the indicated topics are classified into four groups.

	Description
Strategic discussions:	Top issues affecting the community that needs to be discussed in person are: Technical skills Community building Collaborations AI topics Editor retention Capacity development Changes in the structures of user groups that might affect every UG Self-governed roundtables, with opportunity for everyone to speak without any kind of judgment as a safe space Future of the CEE Hub Communication Youth issues Strategies for increasing participation Privacy and safety issues Future of projects Budget planning for events Affiliate management Advocacy Solving community issues Gender gap
Projects needs to work on in-person:	Some of the projects or activities that need to be, partially or fully, planned in person are: Future of the Hub Development of Wikimedia projects CEE Spring Collaboration projects Tackling burnout problems Youth issues Outreach to librarians, wikicamps Capacity building strategies Training sessions Consenus building Raising awareness and solving problems that can't be solved the same way online Advocacy Safety of Wikimedians Community support GLAM partnerships Grants Community strategy
Important goals, problems, or obstacles:	Top issues: Improving skills of existing members, community building Collaborations, inclusion Hub sustainability and future Outreach Better cohesion of the CEE region Gender gap Combatting disinformation Emigration, that affects the prospects of some projects Improving the presence of youth Improving safety and privacy issues AI topics Defining a governance model for the Hub, elections for the SC Decline of editors Keeping Wikipedia attractive Wikiclubs
Skills important for the community:	Important skills that people need to learn are: Technical skills Organisational skills Community building Fair and beneficial use of AI Strategic planning, collaborative decision making Communication Training and public speaking skills Safety practices Networking Conflict resolution Management Advocacy skills Fundraising skills Collaboration

Slogan

The slogan for the conference is Crossroads of Knowledge.

Submissions

See: Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2025/Submissions

Themes

The themes of the conference will be defined based on the topics indicated in the submitted session proposals.

Timeline

Activity	Deadline	Status
Call for submission opens	15 April 2025 00:00 (CEST)	Done
Announcement sent to info-wmcee@wmceehub.org, wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org to Facebook groups to Telegram groups	15 April 2025	Done
First reminder sent to Facebook groups to Telegram groups	21 May 2025	Done
Extension announced to info-wmcee@wmceehub.org, wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org to Facebook groups to Telegram groups	29 May 2025	Done
Second reminder sent to Facebook groups to Telegram groups	7 June 2025	Done
Third reminder sent to info-wmcee@wmceehub.org, wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org to Facebook groups to Telegram groups	10 June 2025	Done
Call for submissions closes	10 June 2025 23:59 (CEST)	Done
Submissions are evaluated by the programme committee	June 2025	Done
Applicants are notified about final decisions	July 2025	Done
Draft schedule published	late August 2025	Done
Final schedule published	early September 2025	Done

Useful links

Annual Wikimedia CEE meeting: drafting the programme