 Hello, Jason E Street, the DEFCON Groups Global Coordinator, and this is the year in review for 2016 and looking ahead to 2017, what we've done this year and what we're planning on next year for DEFCON Groups. I'd like to start off with, on a positive note, we had a lot of good enrollment for DEFCON Groups around the globe from a global perspective. We have new chapters now in Beijing with Jun Li, Anthony in Hong Kong, Peter in Shenzhen, Luther in Singapore, which is really good. It's like seeing a lot more activity going on there. We also have Dino in Johannesburg, Granton, Cape Town, South Africa. We're starting up on a group in Bucharest, Romania, even, and we're getting a lot more involvement with different chapters starting up around the globe, not just in the continental US, which is a good thing. We want to get more voices out there, get more of the community active in DEFCON Groups. On a not so good note, we have had issues recently with the Lukal India incident where we actually had to disband a DEFCON Group because of their branding, a conference, as if it was DEFCON, which is not something that you can do. It's like you can be a DEFCON Group, but that does not mean that you are DEFCON. There's only one DEFCON conference that happens in Vegas every year, and it's not something that goes around and does touring. It's like we are looking into creating DEFCON villages to go to different conferences, maybe, and share that DEFCON experience at other conferences. But unfortunately, you cannot use the DEFCON branding as trying to make yourself appear that you are part of DEFCON. You're a DEFCON Group. So we have more information on the website that you can look into. We love the involvement. We love the enthusiasm of the DEFCON Groups, but you have to understand that for branding and for liability reasons, it's like there is a definite distinction between the two. And I think one of the other things we need to talk about is that you're the hat contest did not go well. It's like straight up, we had two entries. I think that was mostly a failing on my part. I got involved in DEFCON Groups. I wanted to start off big. I wanted to start off with something out there, but it's like may have overestimated what we could do and what I could actually achieve right out the gate, which was all on me. But we did have two good DEFCON Groups that actually tried. The DEFCON 775 and the DC 414, both did good entries. The great entries helping the community, helping out the people in their community, which is what we are trying to achieve and get more involvement in. And so therefore, they are the de facto winners. We'll be contacting them later about getting what their prizes are. So yeah, I think and also on that note, it's like I have to admit that I am not the best organizer person out there. It's like I don't know adult very well. That's not a secret. And so a lot of these things that you see that are getting done behind the scenes are not done by me. And that's an important fact that I want to make sure that we understand. And I think it's a perfect opportunity to actually call out quite a few great members of our team that are doing a lot of work, volunteering their time, volunteering their skill set to help make DEFCON Groups more cohesive and make it even better than it was this year or it's been in the past. We're going to just grow it and make it better in the upcoming year. And it's through the works of these people, starting off with Tottenkoff, Megan Wu and Soops, James Smith. We have a new organizer in charge. Like I said, I don't very well. He's going to help be more of the supervisory part of the group organization of Brent White. We have Sarah Kent that are also helping. So these guys are the reason why DEFCON Groups is running. It's it's still doing the function to still getting new groups updated to the website every month. They do a lot of work behind the scenes and it's not just one person doing this. Also, there's Will, who's in the background, who's constantly getting, providing swag, providing stickers, providing things that we can give out when we, when I travel to different conferences and talk to different DEFCON Groups, meet them face to face in their cities, giving them a little token of appreciation from DEFCON for the work that they're doing. That's from Will. And it's all done under the good graces of Dark Tangent, of course, who was a firm believer in this, who's firm believer in the community concept of getting DEFCON Groups started up not for the sake of having a DEFCON Group, but the sake of having people and local hackers having a place that they can meet on a in a local setting where they can talk to each other and they can meet and they can collaborate and they can just be part of something there. So that's a really great thing that we're also trying to continue and try to work on more. One of the things that I think that we've learned up from lessons learned this year was no matter what kind of ideas that you have, it's like out there, no matter how grand you think they are or how wonderful you think they are, it's best to actually see what people want. It's like what people are willing to look for, what they're asking for. And that's one of the things I don't think we did too much this past year. It's like I went and said, hey, this is what I envision. This is what I see. Let's make it happen. And that didn't work out as well as it should have been. It's like because it just I made that mistake. So what we're going to be doing next year is in the next month or two, it's like we're going to be sending out to all the point of contacts for all the DEFCON Groups that are registered on the side already and have submitted their forms. We're going to send out emails to those point of contacts with the email address they provided with a survey. And basically it's going to ask, what do you want from DEFCON Groups? What do you expect DEFCON Groups to provide? What do you expect us to help you do more in your community? We're going to start getting those voices. It does two things. Once it makes sure that we know that the point of contact is correct, that that group is still around. So that's a good thing that it's going to do. It's going to make sure that these groups are active still. The second thing that it's going to do is it's going to give us that voice that we need to know how we're supposed to make it. Because this is us helping to serve the community. It's like that's what this is about. We need to know what is needed and what is expected from the DEFCON Groups so we can help do that. And the last thing just to make it fun is we're going to make it a contest. So once everybody has entered, it's like by the end of February, everybody's responded to this survey, all the different DEFCON Groups that are responded, we're going to do a drawing, random drawing through that list of responses. And we're going to give out some care packages to those groups. The next thing that we're going to do is we're going to read all those suggestions. We're going to read all that input. And we're going to help we're going to use that to help make DEFCON Groups more of what people that are doing DEFCON Groups are looking for. Because that's what it's supposed to be about. DEFCON Groups is like and I've gotten this in a lot of different places I've been. I mean, and it's not it's not based on. Any one geographical location, it's different locations, different places, but it's a thread of like, why do you have a DEFCON Group? Why is it there? I've got the 2600 or I got a maker space or I've got this other insert, you know, meeting here. Why do I need a DEFCON Group? And that's a great question. It's like, which we're going to help, you know, get an answer for because we're going to ask them, like, what does this provide for you? It's like the thing that it provides for me. It's like that, you know, the 2600 and the other groups. It's like, there is no competition. That was one of the other things we it's like there's a competition between saying if you can't have a DEFCON Group and a 2600 Group at the same time or in the same city, and that's not correct. It's like DEFCON Groups forms as a community that's surrounded the ethos of DEFCON. That is the conference that is like the now, you know, conglomerate of conferences, many conferences being held under one tent. It's the ethos of learning, getting together with like-minded people and learning for the sake of learning, the sake of figuring out how to do things. That's what DEFCON Groups is providing. It's like that local attachment and understanding and being able to talk to other people in your community instead of having to wait once a year to meet with the rest of your family, the rest of your community in Vegas, you can meet locally. It's like, I've been to places where the people there know they're never going to a DEFCON. It's like they just, because of their political standing, because of their location, because of their funds, because of their situation, they have no aspirations to actually ever make it. They just cannot see themselves making it. But with that DEFCON Group, they feel like they're a part of it. And it means something to them. And it means something to me, and it should mean something to the community to have that kind of camaraderie, that kind of connection. And it's like, and it's through a conference, and people think, well, this is one conference that happens in Vegas. It's more than that. And a lot of people feel that. And a lot of people want to share that feeling with others. And that's part of what makes DEFCON Groups so important, because it helps get that message out there. So I want to end this on thank you for your support so far. Thank you for the toleration of the mistakes, the fumbles we've done. Thanks for listening through this rambling video blog, whatever this is going to be labeled as. But just thank you for being part of it. It's like, this is a great community. It's like, it's something that I wholeheartedly believe in. It's something that I feel is important. It's like, not just for that once a year time, but it's like for everybody in different parts of the world and different communities to feel that connection. And I think DEFCON Groups provides that. And it's like an affirmed believer in that still. And I want to see more activity. I want to see more connections grow. It's like, I want this to be a global community. I have a lot of ideas of how I want that to happen. That's great, but that's not just how it's going to work. I need your input. It's like, we need your input on how to make this so everybody can benefit from it. It's like, we want this to be a community effort because it is a community group. It's like, so please help us with that. Please be part of it. And thank you. It's like, I'm looking forward to 2017 as a resurgence of the hacker spirit, the DEFCON community ethos going out globally and being even bigger and better. So thank you once again. Signing off.