 and good morning, New York. I'm Medina Friedman. I'm the president and CEO of NASDAQ, and it is my great pleasure to be here at the 2017 SLUSH conference, the tense time that this incredible event has taken place here in Helsinki, Finland. I am thrilled to be here today with Marianne Vakula, the chief executive officer of SLUSH and all of our distinguished guests as we get ready to ring NASDAQ's opening bell and begin the U.S. Trading Day. As you can see from the screens behind me, this event is being simulcast live on NASDAQ's seven-story tower in the heart of Times Square in New York. So I'm gonna give a big wave just to say hello to everyone in New York. In addition to the 10 years of SLUSH, I also wanna take this opportunity to congratulate the Republic of Finland on its 100th year of independence and NASDAQ Helsinki or the Helsinki Stock Exchange that had just had its 105th anniversary. I think we have plenty of reasons to celebrate 2017 here in Helsinki. So please join me in a round of applause. Woo-hoo! The past 10 years, SLUSH has grown from a 300-person assembly to a world-renowned event. This year, we have 20,000 CEOs, founders, technologists, investors, and political leaders have all gathered in Helsinki to share their ideas, thoughts, and experiences with delegates from around the world. The philosophy behind SLUSH has remained the same to help the next generation of great world-leading companies move forward and rewrite tomorrow. SLUSH is truly an event that is part festival, part conference, and it is a community of people who love what they do. At NASDAQ, we are extremely passionate about helping businesses gain access to capital in order to create jobs, invest in products and services, and drive growth in every industry, from gaming to biotech to energy to transportation. As a preeminent leading technology company that serves the global capital markets and a world-leading exchange operator in the US and here in the Nordics, NASDAQ has helped great leaders transform the nascent ideas into some of the most iconic brands of our time. Companies like Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Tesla, as well as a tremendous group of global brands with Nordic origins like Nokia, Fiskars, Carlsberg, H&M, ABB, and AstraZeneca, they have certainly changed our lives and truly embody what it means to be a NASDAQ-listed company. In the Nordics, NASDAQ is the hub of new listings in Europe, and this week we just passed a great milestone of 100 new listings in 2007. It's an amazing signal as to how strong the Nordic economies are today. It's worth mentioning that the two largest IPOs of the year in the Nordics are Finnish companies, Tervis Dolo and Rovio Entertainment, and it is our great pleasure to have everyone here to share in their success as well. So Marianne, congratulations to you and the entire team for all of your success with this fantastic event. We look forward to collaborating and celebrating with you not only today, but in the future as well. So now please join me in welcoming Marianne Vickola to the stadium to say a few words. Thank you. Thanks so much. Wow, thanks, Arina. Also good to be back after the six hours and being all around the event. Super, super delighted to work together with you and also really excited for what's gonna happen in five minutes and 40, no, 35 seconds to open the NASDAQ Bell in New York. I thought that for a minute or so, I could actually go back to the past six hours, share some of my highlights for what's been going down the past six hours and go through what's been going on. At the moment at the meeting area, we've been having like back-to-back meetings with investors and startups, 10,000 meetings lined up for today. Really excited to see what's gonna be the outcome of that. Second highlight would be this thing, state of European tech report. Please go and grab yourself one. I truly think this is the most in-depth report and the view into what's happening in the European tech at the moment. Everything from investments to the optimism, capital flows to talent, upcoming communities to what corporates and CBC is doing at the moment in Europe. And maybe lastly, I have to say that if you were here at the opening show, you probably saw the little thing called Rack for Finland. So, where Finns are not that good usually at, you know, telling what we're good at. So, if you just have one highlight of your journeys in Europe, here in Finland, please share that with the hashtag Rack for Finland. We thought that this day and today is our slush communities gift for the country as it's 100th year of independence. But don't wanna take your time any longer. I think we can start slowly getting the show started. Great, all right. Well, before we bring everyone up onto the stage, first of all, we should give you a huge round of applause for such a successful event. So, congratulations. Woo-hoo! It's quite incredible what you've created here, Marianne. And just to commemorate today, we have a nice little memory, a memento of the Nasdaq Tower. And if you just wanna hold that for a second. Thank you. Woo! All right, you're gonna... Right. All right. Marianne, you wanna come right over here? Yes, come on over. All right, so I understand. Yeah, you guys should stand right in the middle. Yeah, come on around this way. Please and gentlemen, the live broadcast of the ceremony on the television networks will begin momentarily. We ask that the clapping and cheering starts now. Thank you for participating in Nasdaq's opening bell.