EMWCon Spring 2018

The Enterprise MediaWiki Conference Spring 2018, or EMWCon Spring 2018, will be held March 21-23 in Houston, TX. EMWCon is a three-day conference featuring discussions of topics related to "Enterprise MediaWiki", i.e. the usage of MediaWiki software by and within companies, non-profits, governments, and other organizations. The intended audience of EMWCon Spring 2018 is anyone who uses, or would like to learn more about, MediaWiki within organizations.

This is the third EMWCon. EMWCon began as a spinoff of the Semantic MediaWiki Conference, or SMWCon, which is an annual conference held each fall in Europe. EMWCon and SMWCon are both three-day conferences with similar topics of discussion, though EMWCon has a broader scope.

Event details

 * Dates: Wed-Fri, March 21-23 2018
 * Times: 9:00am - 5:00pm
 * Location: The Houston Technology Center (HTC).

Organizers
The organizers of EMWCon Spring 2018 are:
 * General Chair: Mark Hershberger
 * Local Chair: Frank Taylor
 * Registration Chair: Yaron Koren
 * Program Chair: Ginger Hershberger
 * Create Camp Chair: James Montalvo
 * Video Chair: Greg Rundlett
 * Chair Emeritus: Cindy Cicalese

Registration
To register for EMWCon, please go to the EMWCon Spring 2018 page at Eventbrite.

The cost for the three-day event is:


 * $424.35 - standard rate
 * $160.41 - students and freelancers

(If you would be paying your own way, go with the lower rate. If your company or organization is paying, the standard rate applies.)

Sign-up
Also, feel free to add your name to the informal registration signup, below:
 * 1) Peter J. Woudsma, NATO
 * 2) Lex Sulzer, dataspects
 * 3) Wolfgang Fahl, BITPlan/ProfiWiki
 * 4) Yaron Koren
 * 5) Bryan Hilderbrand
 * 6) Mark A. Hershberger
 * 7) Cindy Cicalese
 * 8) Greg Rundlett
 * 9) Daren Welsh
 * 10) Costa Mavridis, NASA/SGT
 * 11) Evita Hollis
 * 12) Tony Mallia, Edmond Scientific
 * 13) Ad Strack van Schijndel, Wikibase Solutions
 * 14) Ben Fletcher
 * 15) Frank Taylor
 * 16) Billy Coffield
 * 17) Michael Barylak
 * 18) Chris Koerner
 * 19) Ike Hecht, WikiWorks
 * 20) Kris Field NASA
 * 21) Vincent Brooks NASA/Cimarron
 * 22) Erik Biegert NASA/Leidos
 * 23) Rich Evans, NASA-GRC
 * 24) Gergő Tisza
 * 25) David Strine
 * 26) Jared Olson NASA/SGT

Lightning talks
To give a lightning talk, just add the proposed title and your name, below:
 * MediaWiki vs. Airtable - Yaron Koren
 * MediaWiki and the European GDPR (datencockpit.at) – Sabine Melnicki

Local accommodations
Here are some hotels within walking distance of the conference venue:


 * Doubletree (directions to HTC, 14 minute walk)
 * The Doubletree on Dallas St. will have a number of rooms reserved for us at $159/night from the 20th to 23rd of March. Please email Ginger Hershberger at ginger@mwstake.org before February 28th if you would like this rate. These are doubles (2 beds in one room), but singles (1 bed in one room) can also be arranged.
 * Holiday Inn (directions to HTC, 11 minute walk)
 * Best Western (directions to HTC, 10 minute walk)
 * Hyatt (directions to HTC, 11 minute walk)

METRO is the agency for public transportation in Houston, Texas. The services include the bus and the light rail. A handy way to pay the fare of $1.25 for three hours is the Q Card.

Social activities

 * The conference dinner, which is included in the cost of the conference, will be Thursday evening at Hugo's. Please sign up so we can give them a plate estimate


 * Dinner at Hugo's on Thursday:
 * 1) Ginger Hershberger
 * 2) Mark Hershberger


 * Conference attendees may choose to go in small groups to local eateries for dinner on Wednesday night.
 * The conference venue is about a 30 minute drive from NASA's Johnson Space Center. Attendees may choose to visit Space Center Houston, the official visitor center of the Johnson Space Center. Sign up below if you would like to visit Space Center Houston with other conference attendees on Tuesday before the conference or Saturday after the conference. The cost of entry into Space Center Houston is not included in the cost of the conference.


 * Visit Space Center Houston on Tuesday:
 * 1) Yaron Koren


 * Visit Space Center Houston on Saturday:
 * 1) Neus López Mata
 * 2) Gergő