Good morning, everyone. Well, welcome to EuroPython 2020. That was something we were really looking forward to saying in 2020 here, but then COVID.

But then we said, hey, we're a community of geeks. We have been staying connected since Usenet, since Fidonet, since the good old days of IRC. So we surely can stay connected now

with our pocket supercomputers and actual video calls. And we did. We went to amazing conference online and we made so many new friends around the world. We made so many new friends with volunteers,

with speakers who had never been to an in-person conference in EuroPython before. And hundreds of video calls later. I am so over the moon to be able to see so many of you in person this week.

And for those of you who cannot join today, thank you so much to join the celebration remotely. And for those of you who can join, thank you so much. Thank you so much for making the journey to Dublin.

I am Raquel and I serve as a chair of EuroPython Society this year. And on behalf of all of our volunteers of 2020, 2021 and 2022, welcome, welcome to EuroPython 2022.

The EuroPython Conference Series started in 2002. So this is our 21st birthday.

And the conference is organized by EuroPython Society, entirely made up of volunteers. As such, we have the community at the core of our identity. And everything you see around the conference,

the big and the small, from our program to the little stickers you see, every single thing is curated by our volunteers with great love, great care. And let's be honest, often also through trial and error and with bugs.

But this is a conference that belongs to you and me. So I hope that you enjoy the conference. And I also hope that you would take the time to actually take in all of the things that our volunteers have created.

And if you have found errors, if you have feedback, please tell us. Please help us improve. You can find volunteers in yellow T-shirts. You can talk to them, ask them for help, give them feedback, and more importantly, say thank you.

Now, first things first, let's talk about safety precautions. We all know about COVID. We all want to protect the people that we care about. So for this reason, we strongly recommend

and politely request that you wear a face mask in the building during the conference, particularly when you move around in crowded areas. If you do not have a mask or you have lost a mask, you can request one at the registration desk.

And we also have hand sanitizers around the building. You're welcome to use them. At the registration desk, you could also have stickers to indicate your comfort level of interaction. So please respect other people's preferences.

And now I'm going to give a brief overview of the conference. Between Wednesday and Friday, they are the main conference days. And we have speakers and participants joining both remotely and from Dublin.

If you have an in-person conference ticket, you can also join remotely sometimes. Like if you want to sleep a little bit more, you can join from your hotel, from a cafe together, or maybe even from the beach. Every person can join at any time remotely

or hop around and just have a chat with people here. And every single session is a joint effort between our speaker, our session chair, who's also volunteer, and one remote operator

who are the invisible heroes that are working tirelessly to make this event interactive and remotely. And also, every session has an AV crew from Gonzo who are working over here. And in every room, you can see them in the command desk.

They have been our streaming team since 2017. And also, every session has our CCD staff who are also there. And they are also working together with Gonzo. And thank every technician for all of your work.

This is a big undertaking from us. This was our best intention and our inspiration to provide an interactive experience for everyone against all of the challenges of COVID and beyond.

So in each room, we have two cameras, one over there pointing at the speaker, and one somewhere over there pointing at the audience. So in every room, if you do not want to be filmed, there is dedicated no film zone

that you can read the signage and refer to them and sit accordingly. Around this building, we also have our photographer. Hi, Larissa. And if you do not want to be photographed, you can also request a no photograph lanyard at the registration desk.

Now, because we all know that this is unprecedented times, a lot of things can change last minute. So please refer to our schedule on the website, slash schedule, as a source of truth. We will try our very best to keep it updated.

We also have a speaker breakout room prepared for everyone. So if you are joining us here in Dublin and you want to talk to a remote speaker, or if you're a speaker here and you want to talk to a remote audience,

we have a Liffey Boardroom 4 prepared for you. Everybody can feel free to join. At the same time, we also have our hybrid platform Venueless. Everybody, whether you have a remote ticket or in-person ticket, you can join Venueless to watch things remotely, to also chat with people

via text. Now, after the main three days, we have the sprint weekend. Everybody with an in-person ticket is very, very welcome to join a sprint. You can propose yours by making a pull request

at slash sprints. Outside of the main six tracks, we also have some exciting events prepared for you. So on Thursday, the open space room in Wicklow Hall 2-1,

Thursday afternoon, Chuke, our very own volunteer, has prepared a mentored sprint. We particularly welcome people who are less experienced developers from underrepresented communities.

If you're not from underrepresented community, you're also welcome to join and just have a good time and learn from each other. And on Thursday morning, we have an informal EPS discussion. If you want to know how the sausage is made,

if you have more feedback about what you think EuroPython should be about, or what the EPS should do outside of the conference, please join us and let's chat. Outside of Thursday, you are welcome to use the room freely.

Just propose any informal chats and put your proposal on the flip chart outside of the room, and you will tell people, join me for this at that time, and hopefully you will have a great time. We're also at the forum on the ground level, apart from the exhibits from our sponsors.

We also have Makers Fest. And this, you can just go there and have a great time, have fun with our local Dublin makers. You can just make beautiful things and present them at lightning talks later.

On Thursday, on level five foyer, at lunchtime, we have a community organizer's lunch. If you are a conference organizer, you're very welcome to just join us. You don't need to sign up, just pop by and join us,

and let's have a great time. And at the same time, at the same place, on Friday, we will have PyLadies lunch. If you're a PyLady or PyLadies ally, you know where to find us. And we also have a social event on Thursday evening. That is on level three foyer.

We will have food, drinks, Irish music, Irish dance. So you can buy the ticket now at our website. If everything is getting a little bit too overwhelming

because of all this excitement, you can go to the quiet room at Wicklow Hall 2B and then find some peace and quiet. So that's all I want to say about the conference. And now, for some surprise time.

A very, very dear friend of ours, one of Europizon's longest supporters, the kindest sir and the biggest champion of underrepresented groups, now has been awarded the PSF Distinguished Service Award.

This is a very prestigious award given to the community leaders who have made the biggest impact. We would like to share this great news with all of you here at Europizon. Huge congratulations, and let's give a huge welcome to Naomi Cedar.

I am just so excited to share this moment with you, Naomi, in person. I just thank you so much for so many years of service to the community,

for being a beacon of light and source of inspiration to the community. And thank you so much for what you've done in Europizon this year, for running a hugely successful Transcode event yesterday, and for providing your wisdom to our COC committee.

So I will just leave the floor to you now, Naomi, to say a few words. Thank you so much, it's a joy. This is actually kind of a sneak preview. The official announcement is gonna go out next week, but they said I could tell my friends. So there.

So yeah, it's really been a pleasure working with Europizon over the years and with all of you. And if I don't know you in person already, let's fix that over the next few days, okay? I think I'm also supposed to say a little bit about the Code of Conduct. I am a member of the Code of Conduct committee, so to switch to a more serious topic, I guess,

the Europizon Code of Conduct says, be nice. And that's a wonderful start, but it's not terribly specific and people have different ideas of what might be nice. And so I just wanted to call out a few things, maybe that, well, there might be room

for interpretation, let's say. So if you say to somebody, that was a great talk, that's being nice. If you say to somebody, hey, you look really sexy today, unless they're a good friend, that's not nice, that's creepy, okay? And that goes whether you're online or in person,

it's the same sort of thing, you can do that. Similarly, if you say, wow, you are really, really good at coding, that's being nice. If you say, wow, you are really, really good at coding for a girl, that's not nice, okay?

So that's against the spirit of the Code of Conduct. I could go on and on and on, but we're all smart people here, I think you've got the idea. And if not, then I suppose those of us who are on the Conduct committee will be talking to you later. So again, be nice. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Naomi. And on that note, I also want to say that we want everyone at EuroPython to feel comfortable and welcome. And we take diversity very seriously.

We welcome everybody, no matter your gender, identity, color of skin, religion, you name it. We want you here, we welcome you. And diversity to us is not just a box ticking exercise.

So we hope that through our Transcode event yesterday, some of our most marginalized friends feel a little bit more connected. We also hope that our free childcare has made it just a little bit easier for some of you to be able to join us today.

We also hope that the free tampons and the free pads that we're giving at some of the toilets, they just make some of the experiences less lousy. Is that enough? Absolutely not. Please come and talk to us.

Please help us get better. And that's all I have to say about EuroPython. Now, I want to give the spotlight to Vicky, who is a Dublin local, and she is the main reason why EuroPython 2022

is not just a conference in Dublin, but a conference as part of Dublin. Vicky is involved in practically every single tech community in Dublin and in Ireland.

In her own words, she says, if you're interested in something and you haven't found a community around it, you start one. And she truly, genuinely lives by it. So with great pleasure, I want to welcome Vicky to tell her story with EuroPython.

Let's give a huge welcome to Vicky. Madamois, aicarda. Good morning, everyone.

And 100,000 welcomes to all our guests, or as we say in Irish, caid míle fáilte. For those here local in Dublin, storyboat, how are you? It's wonderful to see you all here. And to finally have EuroPython visiting us in Dublin this year,

I kind of would, you know, state what Raquel said. I waited 10 plus two years, and yes, thanks to COVID for making me wait another two years, but there are times to charm, right? And I'm happy to see you all here this morning.

To the core Python Ireland people who I was with that fateful dark wet evening in February, 2010 in a pub called Neary's off Grafton Street. If you were there, you know who you are. I have to say our dream came true.

EuroPython is here in Dublin. And, but let's move further back a few months to when a bunch of us, yes, the same bunch that was in Neary's. We were in Birmingham attending EuroPython 2009.

This is where we heard they were looking for the next host city. Feeling the stares from the Irish contingent burning holes through the back of my head. They were eagerly hoping I would stand up and say, yes, let's have it in Dublin.

Not a chance. We were up against seasoned PyCon organizers from around Europe. And there were only a handful of them back then. Now back to the evening in Neary's. And note, I was the only sober one in the group.

I managed to convince everyone that someone's idea to run a local Irish Python conference was a good call. More so because we were in no way or shape to host a huge conference like EuroPython.

To give you a bit of context, the most people we ever had on our monthly meetups in Dublin at that time was around 20ish people. And that was for an amazing talk. And we have never, ever organized a conference before.

Like, how do we even start? Well, our first PyCon Ireland in 2010 was a success. From a meetup of a handful of people each month to our very first PyCon Ireland of nearly 100 attendees. With the PSF support and the ever-fantastic Steve Holden,

who was the chair of the PSF at the time, he came to PyCon Ireland that year to check out who the heck we were. He even helped us with backpacking and registration. I asked for his advice about running a conference.

He said, you'll get it right after the seventh one. I panicked and nearly ran out. The fourth PyCon Ireland in 2013 was my last involvement with the conference as chair.

I passed the baton on to the amazing Irish Python community, which has grown in leaps and bounds thanks to this Irish conference. And also, thanks to the fantastic support from the international Python community.

And now, as I look around, I'm standing here this morning and I still can't quite believe that EuroPython is in Dublin. I hope you can see how I'm excited I am.

Well, I hope you really do, I am inside anyway. And you might think, who is this person getting so hyped up on stage, or trying to, who keeps repeating that she can't believe EuroPython is in Dublin? Well, let me introduce myself. I am Fikitumi Lee, and as mentioned, I've been involved with Python Ireland

from mid-2005 to around 2016. I chaired the first four PyCon Ireland's from 2010 to 2013. Fun fact, I launched PyLadies Dublin during PyCon 2013, PyCon Ireland 2013, because Lynn Root

was our very first female technical keynote speaker. And thank you, Lynn, for the inspiration and for all your help. Around 2012 and 2013, I pulled my head out of the sand and started seriously trying to encourage more diversity inclusion in Python and PyCon Ireland. I also put my energy into my other

associated not-for-profit involvements like Coding Grace, which advocates diversity in tech through events and curated news from around Ireland and collaborating with others. PyLadies Dublin, a monthly meetup with talks and interactive coding, in-person evenings, and remote events, and is open to everyone.

Women Who Code Dublin, connecting and running events for professional women, and Wits Ireland, which is Women Technology Science Ireland, who have been around for 30 years and have contributed to Irish public policies like gender pay gap, and I help them where I can.

I'm also a wannabe maker. One of my past roles was the maker advocate for Dublin Maker, which is a free Maker Festival in Marion Square, and by the way, they're back next Saturday. I've been hopping up and down and being very determined to bring more Maker stuff to EuroPython, and a huge thanks to Nicholas Torvay for co-conspiring with me

and help make MakerFest a reality this year. And it's down in the forum on the ground floor, so please visit and have fun making and talking to our Maker friends. Let's reminisce some more. For those who don't know, the Irish tech community

has grown a lot since 2005, when I started taking over organizing PythonR meetups. Before the days of Eventbrite and Meetup, there was only the word of mouth to try and find out about tech events. I was early in my career, and I was eager to geek out and talk tech with people

who I don't work with. Don't get me wrong, my colleagues were really great, but there were more techies out there, right? So finding out about Irish tech events was not easy. So one way was through the Irish Linux User Group, which was a mailing list.

And so when I was working on a project at Dogpatch Labs in 2016, I did a little digging around and talked to the Irish tech community to get their input to see what groups were around in 2005. So I mentioned the Irish Linux User Group mailing list, there was PHP Ireland, or was it Dublin,

Python Ireland, Ubuntu Ireland, and what's Ireland? That's five groups. Jumpit had five years. Number of Irish tech community groups doubled, thereabouts. Now, there's too many to count. Here's another fun fact.

With the community's help, I curated a list of diversity in tech groups around the island of Ireland. There's over 65 active groups. Well, more than 65. But can you believe that number? Well, I couldn't. I thought it was a third of that number when I started curating the list.

Now, even as we sit, or stand, here in the Convention Centre, we are right in the Silicon Docks, surrounded by many tech companies, large and small, local and international. It's not just Dublin that has a healthy tech

and startup scene. It's all over Ireland. A silver lining from COVID, people can now move away from the cities and work remotely. With groups like Rural Ireland, Tech Advocates, otherwise known as RITA, they're a group of community advocates and essential resource for folks

who are interested in living and working in rural Ireland. A great example is that EuroPython organizers have worked really hard to offer hybrid this year, after recognizing how important remote access was for folks who may not be able to make it to the conference this year.

So to EuroPython team, past and present, thank you for the opportunity. And thanks for coming to Ireland. A huge thanks to Marc Andre for letting me peek under EuroPython's hood all those years back to see how a conference like this was run and managed.

A big shout out to PyCon UK, who has given us support through their sagely advice through our PyCon Ireland's Learning to Walk phase in 2010. And a special posthumous mention to the late John Pinner, who, for those who know him, was very patient and helpful in every way.

He has been an inspiration to me and many others in the Irish Python community, imprinting the grassroots of Python community ethos. For me, as someone who is involved with the tech community in Ireland, especially the Python community, including my work advocating diversity in tech,

I aim to keep and stay true to this community ethos. It's been a joy, as well as working with the EuroPython team the past year in preparing this year's conference. What tremendous energy you all have, and you all rock,

along with support from organizations like, for example, the Dublin Convention Bureau, who offered advice to our organizing team to providing tourist information to visiting delegates. Everyone has rolled up their sleeves and made EuroPython very welcome here.

I hope you all will enjoy all the talks and the various activities happening this week, especially the tech community organizers' lunch on Thursday and PyLadies' lunch on Friday. We also have an Irish experience for you, especially if you're visiting Ireland for the first time, and that was a social event that Raquel just mentioned earlier.

It's gonna be an evening with the Faux Shelling, who are our new and exciting collective of musicians from Dublin, Ireland. Their lively set consists of a mix of Irish songs and dances, and are guaranteed to get the toes tapping. They will also have special guest appearances of two world-famous dancers who have just returned

from a tour with Lord of the Dance. We can't wait to see you all there. To our visiting guests, enjoy Dublin and Ireland. Any of you haven't tried, and if you're curious, I do recommend the pint with the black stuff.

I swear, I didn't drink anything this morning. And do head over to nearby Mulligans on Pulbeg Street. You definitely won't be disappointed. This is, finally, if you want to meet the Python Ireland community, they do have a meetup this evening at Against the Grain. Yeah, after the conference.

Gaurav, Mila, Margaret, thank you. Thank you so much, Vicky. And lastly, I also want to say a special thank you to all of our sponsors. Thank you so much for supporting us

throughout these challenging times. And that's it. Thank you so much for being here, and I hope you have fun throughout this week. Thank you, and welcome.