The Lightning Talk Showcases are a fun, fast-paced afternoon event filled with 5-minute lightning talks in rapid succession on a range of topics. Wikimania Nairobi will have two Lightning Talks Showcase sessions to highlight some of the most compelling concepts and powerful thinking developing across the Wikimedia Movement. Read more at: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2025:Program/Lightning_Talk_Showcases.

A report released by the WMF Research Team in January 2025[1] showed that the majority (13 of 21) larger language versions of Wikipedia are losing administrators. The study also concluded that the most impactful site for interventions lies in efforts to increase the inflow of new administrators. The goal of this panel is to bring together experts from Wikipedia communities and the WMF to discuss and share ideas for what can be done in response to declining numbers of administrators on many large language versions of Wikipedia. This may include discussion and critique of recommendations included in the WMF Research Team’s report, but also other ideas for policy-based interventions and other ways the WMF may be able to support administrators. Moreover, we hope to encourage sharing of community-based efforts at increasing the number of new active administrators.