diff --git a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/pom.xml b/log4j-slf4j18-impl/pom.xml

index 8332557..ea25131 100644

--- a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/pom.xml

+++ b/log4j-slf4j18-impl/pom.xml

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@

     <log4jParentDir>${basedir}/..</log4jParentDir>

     <docLabel>SLF4J Documentation</docLabel>

     <projectDir>/slf4j18</projectDir>

-    <slf4j.version>1.8.0-alpha2</slf4j.version>

+    <slf4j.version>1.8.0-beta4</slf4j.version>

     <module.name>org.apache.logging.log4j.slf4j</module.name>

   </properties>

   <dependencies>

diff --git a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/EventDataConverter.java b/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/EventDataConverter.java

deleted file mode 100644

index 620232a..0000000

--- a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/EventDataConverter.java

+++ /dev/null

@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@

-/*

- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more

- * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with

- * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.

- * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache license, Version 2.0

- * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with

- * the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

- *

- *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

- *

- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software

- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,

- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.

- * See the license for the specific language governing permissions and

- * limitations under the license.

- */

-package org.apache.logging.slf4j;

-

-import java.util.Map;

-

-import org.apache.logging.log4j.message.Message;

-import org.apache.logging.log4j.message.ParameterizedMessage;

-import org.apache.logging.log4j.message.StructuredDataMessage;

-import org.slf4j.ext.EventData;

-

-/**

- *

- */

-public class EventDataConverter {

-

-    public Message convertEvent(final String message, final Object[] objects, final Throwable throwable) {

-        try {

-            final EventData data = objects != null && objects[0] instanceof EventData ?

-                    (EventData) objects[0] : new EventData(message);

-            final StructuredDataMessage msg =

-                    new StructuredDataMessage(data.getEventId(), data.getMessage(), data.getEventType());

-            for (final Map.Entry<String, Object> entry : data.getEventMap().entrySet()) {

-                final String key = entry.getKey();

-                if (EventData.EVENT_TYPE.equals(key) || EventData.EVENT_ID.equals(key)

-                        || EventData.EVENT_MESSAGE.equals(key)) {

-                    continue;

-                }

-                msg.put(key, String.valueOf(entry.getValue()));

-            }

-            return msg;

-        } catch (final Exception ex) {

-            return new ParameterizedMessage(message, objects, throwable);

-        }

-    }

-}

diff --git a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/Log4jLogger.java b/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/Log4jLogger.java

index 6cbb7c4..10ad49c 100644

--- a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/Log4jLogger.java

+++ b/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/Log4jLogger.java

@@ -27,9 +27,7 @@ import org.apache.logging.log4j.message.Message;

 import org.apache.logging.log4j.message.ParameterizedMessage;

 import org.apache.logging.log4j.message.SimpleMessage;

 import org.apache.logging.log4j.spi.ExtendedLogger;

-import org.apache.logging.log4j.util.LoaderUtil;

 import org.slf4j.Marker;

-import org.slf4j.MarkerFactory;

 import org.slf4j.spi.LocationAwareLogger;

 /**

@@ -40,19 +38,14 @@ public class Log4jLogger implements LocationAwareLogger, Serializable {

     public static final String FQCN = Log4jLogger.class.getName();

     private static final long serialVersionUID = 7869000638091304316L;

-    private static final Marker EVENT_MARKER = MarkerFactory.getMarker("EVENT");

-    private final boolean eventLogger;

     private transient ExtendedLogger logger;

     private final String name;

-    private transient EventDataConverter converter;

     private transient Log4jMarkerFactory markerFactory;

     public Log4jLogger(final Log4jMarkerFactory markerFactory, final ExtendedLogger logger, final String name) {

         this.markerFactory = markerFactory;

         this.logger = logger;

-        this.eventLogger = "EventLogger".equals(name);

         this.name = name;

-        this.converter = createConverter();

     }

     @Override

@@ -364,9 +357,7 @@ public class Log4jLogger implements LocationAwareLogger, Serializable {

             return;

         }

         final Message msg;

-        if (eventLogger && marker != null && marker.contains(EVENT_MARKER) && converter != null) {

-            msg = converter.convertEvent(message, params, throwable);

-        } else if (params == null) {

+        if (params == null) {

             msg = new SimpleMessage(message);

         } else {

             msg = new ParameterizedMessage(message, params, throwable);

@@ -400,7 +391,6 @@ public class Log4jLogger implements LocationAwareLogger, Serializable {

         // always perform the default de-serialization first

         aInputStream.defaultReadObject();

         logger = LogManager.getContext().getLogger(name);

-        converter = createConverter();

         markerFactory = ((Log4jLoggerFactory) org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getILoggerFactory()).getMarkerFactory();

     }

@@ -412,15 +402,6 @@ public class Log4jLogger implements LocationAwareLogger, Serializable {

         aOutputStream.defaultWriteObject();

     }

-    private static EventDataConverter createConverter() {

-        try {

-            LoaderUtil.loadClass("org.slf4j.ext.EventData");

-            return new EventDataConverter();

-        } catch (final ClassNotFoundException cnfe) {

-            return null;

-        }

-    }

-

     private static Level getLevel(final int i) {

         switch (i) {

         case TRACE_INT:

diff --git a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/LoggerTest.java b/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/LoggerTest.java

index 0524074..c60f1ad 100644

--- a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/LoggerTest.java

+++ b/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/LoggerTest.java

@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;

 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;

 import java.util.List;

-import java.util.Locale;

 import org.apache.logging.log4j.junit.LoggerContextRule;

 import org.apache.logging.log4j.test.appender.ListAppender;

@@ -34,8 +33,6 @@ import org.slf4j.Logger;

 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

 import org.slf4j.MDC;

 import org.slf4j.Marker;

-import org.slf4j.ext.EventData;

-import org.slf4j.ext.EventLogger;

 import org.slf4j.ext.XLogger;

 import org.slf4j.ext.XLoggerFactory;

 import org.slf4j.spi.LocationAwareLogger;

@@ -145,23 +142,6 @@ public class LoggerTest {

         verify("List", "o.a.l.s.LoggerTest Hello, Log4j Log4j {} MDC{}" + Strings.LINE_SEPARATOR);

     }

-    @Test

-    public void testEventLogger() {

-        MDC.put("loginId", "JohnDoe");

-        MDC.put("ipAddress", "192.168.0.120");

-        MDC.put("locale", Locale.US.getDisplayName());

-        final EventData data = new EventData();

-        data.setEventType("Transfer");

-        data.setEventId("Audit@18060");

-        data.setMessage("Transfer Complete");

-        data.put("ToAccount", "123456");

-        data.put("FromAccount", "123457");

-        data.put("Amount", "200.00");

-        EventLogger.logEvent(data);

-        MDC.clear();

-        verify("EventLogger", "o.a.l.s.LoggerTest Transfer [Audit@18060 Amount=\"200.00\" FromAccount=\"123457\" ToAccount=\"123456\"] Transfer Complete" + Strings.LINE_SEPARATOR);

-    }

-

     private void verify(final String name, final String expected) {

         final ListAppender listApp = ctx.getListAppender(name);

         assertNotNull("Missing Appender", listApp);

@@ -177,6 +157,5 @@ public class LoggerTest {

     public void cleanup() {

         MDC.clear();

         ctx.getListAppender("List").clear();

-        ctx.getListAppender("EventLogger").clear();

     }

 }

diff --git a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/OptionalTest.java b/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/OptionalTest.java

deleted file mode 100644

index a6e9fd5..0000000

--- a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/logging/slf4j/OptionalTest.java

+++ /dev/null

@@ -1,69 +0,0 @@

-/*

- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more

- * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with

- * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.

- * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache license, Version 2.0

- * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with

- * the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

- *

- *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

- *

- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software

- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,

- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.

- * See the license for the specific language governing permissions and

- * limitations under the license.

- */

-package org.apache.logging.slf4j;

-

-import java.util.List;

-

-import org.apache.logging.log4j.junit.LoggerContextRule;

-import org.apache.logging.log4j.test.appender.ListAppender;

-import org.apache.logging.log4j.util.Strings;

-import org.junit.Before;

-import org.junit.ClassRule;

-import org.junit.Test;

-import org.slf4j.Logger;

-import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

-import org.slf4j.MDC;

-import org.slf4j.Marker;

-import org.slf4j.MarkerFactory;

-

-import static org.junit.Assert.*;

-

-/**

- *

- */

-public class OptionalTest {

-

-    private static final String CONFIG = "log4j-test1.xml";

-

-    @ClassRule

-    public static final LoggerContextRule CTX = new LoggerContextRule(CONFIG);

-

-    Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger("EventLogger");

-    Marker marker = MarkerFactory.getMarker("EVENT");

-

-    @Test

-    public void testEventLogger() {

-        logger.info(marker, "This is a test");

-        MDC.clear();

-        verify("EventLogger", "o.a.l.s.OptionalTest This is a test" + Strings.LINE_SEPARATOR);

-    }

-

-    private void verify(final String name, final String expected) {

-        final ListAppender listApp = CTX.getListAppender(name);

-        final List<String> events = listApp.getMessages();

-        assertTrue("Incorrect number of messages. Expected 1 Actual " + events.size(), events.size()== 1);

-        final String actual = events.get(0);

-        assertEquals("Incorrect message. Expected " + expected + ". Actual " + actual, expected, actual);

-        listApp.clear();

-    }

-

-    @Before

-    public void cleanup() {

-        CTX.getListAppender("List").clear();

-        CTX.getListAppender("EventLogger").clear();

-    }

-}

diff --git a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/resources/log4j-test1.xml b/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/resources/log4j-test1.xml

index a64bdfa..07a2be6 100644

--- a/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/resources/log4j-test1.xml

+++ b/log4j-slf4j18-impl/src/test/resources/log4j-test1.xml

@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@

   <ThresholdFilter level="trace"/>

   <Appenders>

-    <List name="EventLogger">

-      <PatternLayout pattern="%C{1.} %m%n"/>

-    </List>

     <Console name="STDOUT">

       <PatternLayout pattern="%C{1.} %m MDC%X%n"/>

     </Console>

@@ -24,10 +21,6 @@

   </Appenders>

   <Loggers>

-    <Logger name="EventLogger" level="info" additivity="false">

-      <AppenderRef ref="EventLogger"/>

-    </Logger>>

-

     <Logger name="org.apache.logging.log4j.test2" level="debug" additivity="false">

       <AppenderRef ref="File"/>

     </Logger>

diff --git a/src/changes/changes.xml b/src/changes/changes.xml

index 2c701e2..e9d3f3b 100644

--- a/src/changes/changes.xml

+++ b/src/changes/changes.xml

@@ -134,6 +134,12 @@

       <action issue="LOG4J2-2667" dev="ggregory" type="fix" due-to="Gary Gregory, Edith Chui">

         "Values not bound to statement" when using JDBC appender, appender does not respect bufferSize="0".

       </action>

+      <action issue="LOG4J2-2744" dev="ckozak" type="fix">

+        Remove unnecessary EventLogger references from log4j-slf4j18-impl due to removal from slf4j.

+      </action>

+      <action issue="LOG4J2-2745" dev="ckozak" type="update">

+        Update log4j-slf4j18-impl slf4j version to 1.8.0-beta4 from 1.8.0-alpha2.

+      </action>

     </release>

     <release version="2.12.0" date="2019-06-23" description="GA Release 2.12.0">

       <action issue="LOG4J2-2547" dev="rgoers" type="fix">