 In a minute, I will bring up an amazing panel to talk about the diverse contributions that extend beyond code, recognizing the vital roles of local ambassadors, glossary translations, and events like Kubernetes Community Days, in making the cloud-native experience truly accessible for everyone globally. We have lowered barriers for individuals with disabilities and underrepresented groups, ensuring that everyone, regardless of background or ability, has a place in our community. We will let diversity as we continue shaping the future together. And with that, let's bring our panelists to the stage. First, we have Andrea Giardini, independent cloud-native consultant. We have Jinhong Reinholtz, Chief Cloud Architect at SacroBank. Stefan Estegracias, cloud-native enablement catalyst at ITQ. And last, Anastasia Gubska, SRE and DevOps engineer at BT Group. Take a seat. Thank you so much for being part of this panel and talk about the contributions that extend beyond code. Let's start with a quick round of introductions. Anastasia, do you want to go first? Thank you. Hello, my name is Anastasia Gubska. I work as an SRE engineer. I work for British Telecom Group. And I want to especially thank everyone for having us here. It's been so wonderful and so wonderful and supportive and accessible at this conference. I also want to talk about the deaf and cloud-native meetups and being a member of the CNCF deaf and hard of hearing working group. Thank you so much, Stefan. Good morning, everyone. I'm Stefan Estegracias. I'm working as a collaborative enablement catalyst at ITQ. For the community, I'm proud to serve as a CNCF ambassador, contribute to the Glossary Project and organize local community events. Jinhong? Hello, everyone. I'm Jinhong Reinholtz, Chief Cloud Architect from Saxo Bank, which is an IT firm happened to have a banking license. In CNCF context, I'm organizing KCD Denmark and the cloud-native Copenhagen Meetup Groups. Anastasia? Good morning, everyone. I'm André Giardini. I'm an independent cloud-native consultant and trainer. And yeah, in my spare time, I take care of some KCD organization, some community groups previously in the Netherlands and now I'm based in Paris. So I'm taking care of the local group over here. Perfect. So no-code contributions. Let's start a little bit to talk a little bit about what that could be. And Stefan, could you maybe elaborate a little bit on the concept of no-code contributions and share some examples from your own experience? Yes. So initially, I contributed by posting issues, some project PRs, and a lot of digital documentation. Anyone is welcome to contribute. So to find out how, please visit the Contribution page with that code. So this Contribution page are managed by the Contributor Strategy Group. Contributions to the SCNCF are not just about writing codes, but as well how helping the community and the working groups in other ways. These contributions are no-code contributions. For instance, since the Glossary Project was announced at the PregoScupcon, I decided to join the French localization team to translate the cloud-native concept for French speakers. One definition at a time, because I think that adoption grows when the language is not a barrier. That means that everyone can understand the cloud-native concept for making them more accessible and more widely adopted. Furthermore, no-code contribution can also support the effort of working groups, such as the cartographer's working group who developed the cloud-native maturity models. This model offers a comprehensive roadmap for organization not only adopt cloud-native technologies, but as well excel in their implementation, management, and governance. In my role, I frequently use this model to guide the organization to develop their unique journey for cloud platforms. And then I come back to the project to share my feedbacks and experience to them. Another example of no-code contribution is organizing and contributing to local meet-up events, such as meet-ups and KCDs. So don't hesitate to contribute. You will be playing your part in the cloud-native journey smoother for our community. And it's a rewarding effort. Yeah, I completely agree. Thank you so much, Stefan. I also believe that one of the important ingredients in scaling cloud-native globally is by building these local communities with cloud-native community groups and KCDs. Jinhong, you have been involved in all of this as well. So can you maybe talk a little about how these events have played a role in making cloud-native accessible globally? And also maybe share some of the key elements in building a strong and supportive community, and especially one that embraces diversity. Thank you, Kasper, for bringing up this essential discussion. The global embrace of cloud-native technology owns much to initiatives like cloud-native community groups and the Kubernetes community days. These are our main avenue to make cloud-native technology accessible to everyone. Take Denmark, for instance. Our community, our local groups in 2023 have organized the KCD Denmark event, which brought 400 IT enthusiasts together and creating a vibrant space for learning and sharing. Notably, we have supported the coding pirate with a $40,000 donation, highlighting our commitment to wider societal impact. Let's also talk about Jessica and the blind participants who shared the KCD experience online. It's also reflecting on how our supportive spirit of our community. When we talk about building such a supportive and diverse community, a few key elements stand out. First, inclusivity is non-negotiable. Everybody should feel welcome. Second, accessibility matters, whether it's a financial or breakdown language barrier, like translating CNCF glossary into French. Third, we prioritize sustainability by minimizing the travel emissions. Or you can be innovative like us, reuse a fluffy disk as a conference batch. Lastly, it's all about boosting education and encouraging collaboration. At the end of the day, the global growth of cloud native goes beyond just the tag. It's about fostering a community where people come together, collaborate, and grow collectively. It's through this shared effort, we can truly open up cloud native technology to everyone, no matter where they are. Thank you so much. I know you've been involved in building communities, local communities here in Europe. Can you share some of your experiences and success stories? And maybe also touch a little bit upon the concept of Qtrain because you're one of the organizers there as well. And how that helps make an event like Qtrain, cloud native, more environmentally aware? Yeah, sure. As in Hong Kong, I've also been quite involved with the KCD program and the Meetups in the Netherlands before, where I used to live and now here in Paris. The KCD community, the Meetup community, is a great environment to grow and to learn from each other. This is what I like the most when sharing my experience with other organizers. It's really an environment where we try to help each other, building better events, and serve better our community. Many of the people that helped me out during KCD and during Meetups organization, were then the one that got involved in Qtrain. This is an initiative that we launched around six months ago to bring as many people as possible to KubeCon by train from different cities around Europe. It's an initiative that came out of nowhere really from an idea around six months ago and it grew into something bigger than me. Let's put it this way. I have to say a huge thank you to all the organizers that organized trains from all over the place, close by, far away, bigger communities and smaller communities, to bring as many people as possible to KubeCon by train. This was super nice because in this way, people that are part of the same community are allowed to get to know their inner community on their way to KubeCon before getting to a conference like this one which can be pretty overwhelming for some of the people. And yeah, of course, we also had the chance to share a nice moment together, a nice party when we arrived here and this is another event that allows us to make the community even stronger, make the community even bigger. So we plan on doing this again and now that we know the next true destination, we can plan well in advance. Let's put it this way. But yeah, a nice initiative and a very, you know, an initiative where the community responded really, really well and it was a way again to push sustainability for any big event like this one, but also to make the initiative more sustainable. We relied on like group booking to make the ticket price very affordable and as inclusive as possible. So this was also a big part of things. In case you want to join us in the future, you know where to find us, it would be nice to have you for the next edition of KubeCon. Awesome. We also, oh, sorry. Anastasia, you're one of the co-host of the new Deaf and Cloud Native Community Group and from your point of view, how can the Cloud Native community actively work together to removing barriers for people with disabilities? And can you share some of your insights and your contributions to this community group? Yes, first of all, thank you so much for including me on this panel. Currently, the most critically important thing is to raise awareness about our presence within the community. Oftentimes, community activities are not accessible for deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Because of the inaccessibility, oftentimes deaf people literally stay home and then no one knows that we have accessibility needs at all. Our goal is to provide resources, both in our community and the community at large, to make certain that all activities can be more accessible for deaf and hard of hearing individuals and technology. An additional challenge is that sign language is not universal. Not all deaf and hard of hearing people use sign language at all, and certainly not all of them know American sign language. Although I'm currently signing American sign language, I'm not fluent, it's my fifth language. At my job, I use British sign language, even though English is the base language for both British sign language and American sign language, the sign languages themselves are quite different. As a co-organizer for deaf and cloud native in our community, our mission is to break down these barriers. We've created a space where deaf people can talk, share and educate one another, share knowledge and skills, and learn new technologies in whatever language they sign or speak. In this way, we can be part of so many cool things happening in cloud native tech. This is important because there's still so few opportunities for us to participate in community events other than KubeCon. And this is only the second KubeCon that has been made accessible to us. But we are very optimistic that through our work, the community will become more and more accessible, not only at KubeCon, but we will attract more deaf contributions in the CNCF landscape. You can also support us by organizing accessible events within your own community. Anyone can help. I welcome everyone to check out our contribute.cncf.io. There's an accessibility tab that you can experience many resources there. And if in your community, you see an accessibility issue, call it out. Our working group has published a lot of great resources for you and you can organize accessible events outside of KubeCon. If you do organize community events locally in your hometowns, please make sure they are accessible. If you need help or advice, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We are at hashtag deaf, hard of hearing. Caption your videos, spread awareness, and contact our group if you need us. It's very important to provide full inclusion for people with disabilities within your community so that everyone can feel included. I completely agree. Thank you so much. I really hope listening to these experiences has inspired some of you to start contributing whether it's code or no-code contributions as we discussed today and also making your events more accessible for the broader community as a whole. I want to say thank you so much to all of you for being part of this amazing panel. And yeah, let's give them a big round of applause while they walk on the offstage. Thank you. Thank you.