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Barrett, it's so good to see you, Allison.
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Oh my goodness, I'm so glad we could catch up here at RubyConf, and look at all of these wonderful people! Hello everyone! We are so glad that you were able to make it.
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This is certainly a RubyConf like no other. Packing for RubyConf this year was a little different.
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What did you bring along, Allison? Well, some things are the same. I've got some RubyConf swag, I've got water to make sure that I'm hydrated, a snack, and a notebook for taking notes on all the amazing talks I'm going to see. And I'm here with all of my Ruby friends.
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Awesome! Some things are also a little different this time, aren't they? There's no conference Wi-Fi to apologize for, so I guess that's good. And we might have some kids or animals in the background; you may even hear my son playing his horn a little bit. And maybe there are some word distractions, even though we hopefully put "Do Not Disturb" on.
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We don't get to hang out like we normally would, but there's something amazing in the different nature of a virtual conference. There are so many things that we can do! We hope that you're excited for our hallway track with spectacular activities like a mani-pedi party, an escape room, a DIY snack break, and crafting your own zine.
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And we have plenty of ways to still hang out with your RubyConf friends!
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So without further ado, I'd like to officially welcome you to RubyConf! Yay! We are your program chairs, Allison and Barrett; it's so great to have you all here! Hello! Make sure you stay active in Slack; I've seen that many of you already are!
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We've got our Ruby ambassadors here who will be hosting ad hoc gatherings throughout the conference. Keep an eye out for those! Don’t forget, you can do it too. Feel free to meet up with folks for breakfast, lunch, dinner, elevensies, or whatever the right mealtime is for you!
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We've even got a guide to getting started with hosting a virtual event, posted at rubyconf.org/prep under socializing.
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And we have the always phenomenal Adam Cuppy who will be our emcee for the conference experience.
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Not to mention an incredible program chock-full of speakers presenting amazing content, fun workshops, and our hallway track!
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Now we always like to have people raise their hands in the audience to see how many RubyConf people have attended and how many are experiencing their first RubyConf. So today, we're going to use Crowdcast's poll functionality to help us with that.
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Hopefully, you see a poll pop up. Let us know how many of you are new and how many of you have been to a RubyConf or two in the past!
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Oh nice! I see the votes pouring in, and there are lots of first-timers and some returnees as well—welcome!
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Alright, next poll: is this your first virtual conference, or are you already a pro? Perhaps a bit of both? Oh look at that, lots of first-timers, but also plenty of folks who are pros already—that is great!
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Now, here are some tips, tricks, and administrative announcements. In Slack and Crowdcast, we ask that you please add your pronouns to your name. You'll find a variety of Slack channels; many of you already have. The ones that are officially created by the conference start with 'underscore RC underscore.'
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Feel free to browse through all the channels, and if you create a channel, you’re welcome to do so—just leave off the 'underscore RC underscore' at the beginning so we can see what's going on.
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There’s a jobs channel as well as a jobs listing site via Airtable, and we have a forum where you can add any listings that you want people to be aware of. So go to 'underscore RC underscore jobs' in Slack to get that link to the jobs Airtable.
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As Allison mentioned, we've got this handy page on the RubyConf site with lots of great general information about the conference.
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Alright, so let's go over a few Crowdcast tools. The chat on the side is open, and many of you are using it right now. It is viewable by everyone and will be saved and visible on the replay.
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In case you missed something within a few minutes after a talk is over, the recording will be available at the same link, and you can replay it.
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To ask a question, you can click "ask a question" from the chat window. This feature will be available for most of the sessions.
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To go to another session, check the top left corner where you see all the various sessions loaded into Crowdcast.
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If you ever need to know what's going on, you can head to the RubyConf website and access the schedule there, or to the 'underscore RC underscore daily schedule' channel in Slack.
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Regarding the code of conduct, if there's a situation, please report it. This can include minor behavior such as an offensive joke, remark, mishandling of a social situation, or maybe stalking or bullying behavior.
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In these situations, if you feel comfortable, please ask them to stop and let them know that you feel uncomfortable. If you realize that you may have inadvertently offended someone, please genuinely apologize and shift your behavior.
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We would still like to hear about any situation, even if you feel it’s minor. For more information, visit the website rubyconf.org/policies.
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Feel free to tweet about the conference using the hashtag #rubyconf2020. Now, I mentioned that we have a lot of Slack channels, including a channel for every talk that's happening, with Q&A sessions in there.
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We also have three private affinity groups for BIPOC, LGBTQ, and women. There have also been some channels that you've created, so feel free to check the channel list in Slack to see if there are more channels that you'd like to join.
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We have so many thank yous to make, because pivoting a conference that has been in person for two decades to a compelling virtual experience was no easy feat.
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Thank you to the program committee who helped craft the program that you're all about to experience and are also running aspects of it.
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Thank you so much to our event organizers for their tireless work and so many hours in making this happen.
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Thank you to our sponsors! Our diamond sponsor is Braintree, our gold sponsors are Engine Yard and Scout APM, silver sponsors include CDR Code, Michelada.io, and Cover My Meds.
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Lastly, thank you to our scholarship and engagement session sponsors: Vonage, TaxJar, ActBlue, AWS, Shopify, and DNS Simple. We could not do this conference without your generosity.
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Thank you, and thank you to all of you for participating! We're really excited to have you here.
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Finally, if you are having technical difficulties, please go to the admin questions channel in Slack, which is 'underscore RC underscore questions,' for assistance. You can also send a message in that channel to @organizers to get their attention.
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Stay here for the keynote with Matt, creator of Ruby. We'll get started in just a couple of moments.
