I think it may be a good time for a follow up email. Any suggestions?

I felt WMF did a great job getting together the group of experts that were there. And as @bd808 said, the informal "unconference" format really went well.
One thing I think we could have done better was to start with the intro into Wikimedia Tech, and then have the experts talk about what they're working on (and probably give them a little more than one minute each)... This way those participants with little to no background in Wikimedia tech would get an idea of what area each person is working on.
I was also hoping that @aude/@Addshore/@Lucie would resume their talk after pizza, as I had cut them off abruptly. Sorry.
It will be great if we can send the handouts Bryan is suggesting as a follow-up to registered attendees. I feel that we need to follow up with them one way or another to keep them engaged.

@Qgil , The official photos *should* come out on Saturday. I can compile the photos related to the technical sessions by @Aklapper and @aude

FYI: I will be traveling back from Amman on Sunday night, along with a group of WikiArabia attendees from Palestine. I see there will be at least three of you (@Rfarrand , @Aklapper , and @aude ) coming from Amman, while the rest are flying into TLV on the 29th. We will coordinate further when we meet in Amman.

@Rfarrand, @Qgil, do you know when everyone's planning on coming to Ramallah, and whether they'll be spending either or both the nights of the 29th or the 30th in Ramallah? We're trying to plan the activities before/after the event, and it would be nice to know how many people there will be, and when they will be available. What's the best way to find out?

Venue selected!
After careful consideration of several options for holding the event (tech companies, trade unions), we have decided on holding it at "Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center". http://sakakini.org/about-us/about-the-center/ (Facebook page). The Sakakini building is an old restored mansion in a central location in Ramallah. Photos are on Facebook page. I will add photos of the center to commons so we can include them in the announcement... In the mean time, there are photos of the venue on their Facebook page. The capacity is about 50-60 people.

@Rfarrand sure, we can do that. I'll email you know once the number of attendees is known.
Great! That's the only signup sheet so far... It would be nice to know where everyone's coming from, and whether they'll be staying in Ramallah, so I can help out with the logistics.

Thanks @Qgil!
It is slowly but surely taking shape. I've added some headers and a couple of sentences to the mediawiki page.
Transport from the airport will depend on the number. The easiest is a 4 passenger taxi. There are also larger 7 passenger taxis, but those are not as common. From Jerusalem, there are even more options, taxis are still the easiest, but there is also public transport. Once we have a clearer idea of the number of travelers, we can work out the details.
I mentioned falafel specifically for that reason :) Perhaps we'll go with that.
One more thing, we need bios of the speakers for the local advertisement. Will the WMF profiles do for you and @Aklapper ? @aude? Anyone else?
Also for advertisement, what's the policy of using the WMF logo?

Hi @Qgil
We are still working on the venue, but it will be in Ramallah, not Birzeit. We should have a better idea by Monday. Local advertisement and registration will start early next week.
The event will start at 3:30 and run for four hours.
We expect about 50 participants (will depend on the venue). But these are made up of IT professionals, students, and Open Source enthusiasts. The audience will be tech savvy, but know very little about Wikimedia Tech, so your "Intro to Wikimedia Tech" session will definitely be pertinent. The aim of this event is to get people excited, and hopefully get involved in the projects.
A group of volunteers called "Nablus Tech MeetUps" (https://www.facebook.com/NablusTM in Arabic) - who have a great experience in organizing tech events - are co-organize this event, which is great!
As for social events, lunch/dinner:

• The idea is to have a break in between sessions with pizza and soft drinks (or falafel if you prefer), where people can socialize. Do you think WMF will be able to cover the cost? (~$5/person)
• As for before the session, it would be great to take the out the internationals on a walking tour of the town.
• After the event, nightlife in Ramallah is never dull. There are a wide variety of coffee shops, restaurants, and bars. We can preplan something if you prefer, or leave it open (I'll create sections about the walking tour and the nightlife on the event page)

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/WikiArabia_Tech_Meetup_2016

@Qgil I'm creating a mediawiki page right now. The organizing team is also meeting this week to come up with a place to host.
I will post the link to the mediawiki page once it's up. @Qgil @aude @Lucie and whoever else is presenting a session, could you please add details about your talks, and anything else I missed.

@Aklapper I'm ready to move on and advertise locally and find a venue.
@aude will you be coming to Palestine? A wikidata session would be nice.

@aude check with Mervat Salman ([[User:Mervat_Salman]]), she's in charge of WikiArabia, and can help you with scheduling a talk at the conference.

@Qgil, did we not agree on Wednesday the 30th? We can still do Thursday if necessary. I was thinking 3-6 or 4-7 pm. As for content, the intro to Wikimedia tech sounds good. There's also some interest about wiki data. Could we perhaps hold a session on that? There's also the intro to phabricafor talk if necessary. I am working on the transportation from and to Jerusalem and the accommodation.

@Qgil I like these ideas. The regular session at WikiArabia sounds good, and may create interest in the open session.
I will discuss the open session with the local organizing team in Amman.
Again, we'll need to advertise it soon, and it would be a good idea to cross promote the Amman and Ramallah sessions, once they've been finalized.

@Qgil Wednesday evening is probably a better option than Thursday morning, as more people will be able to attend (after work). Thursday is also the last day of the week for most, so Thursday evening is not good for people who work in Ramallah during the week, and go home for the weekend (anyway, Thursday evening is the welcome dinner for the Hackathon). I guess we need to balance between the availability of the Hackathon participants who may be able to join and the local participants. (Or we could potentially hold two sessions, one on Wednesday afternoon/evening, and one on Thursday, the Thursday one being geared more towards the Hackathon participants, and more advanced developers...)
I guess we need to figure this out as soon as possible so that the Internationals can make their travel arrangements. How will they be notified?
Also, we need to advertise this soon. I would appreciate any help in creating advertising material, if you have any from previous workshops/talks.

I think well designed surveys are crucial to the continual improvement of the program.
I can share a survey I gave out at the end of the very first semester of the very first course in the education program in Palestine.
Only 5 out of the 18 students enrolled submitted their responses to the survey after two pleas (I've just sent out a third plea, highlighting that it is a very short survey and shouldn't take long).
The survey was done online, and I had no face-to-face interaction with the students.

@Qgil Birzeit University is probably a good setting (it's only a 15 minute ride from Ramallah)... Location shouldn't be an issue.

@Qgil, WikiArabia will be attended by editors/admis as well as a few developers (from the participant list, I can count three or four, and these exclude Jordanian participants). I would suggest holding a wider session for the open source community in Jordan, and not just for the participants of WikiArabia. That should have a greater impact. Please share your thoughts on the preferred target audience.

I will be attending WikiArabia and traveling back to Jerusalem/Ramallah. I have also registered for the Jerusalem hackathon (attendance not confirmed).
WikiArabia: Mar 24-26
Hackathon: Mar 31-Apr 3