 Having dreamed of all of you arriving and safe and sound and together, I would say that it renders me a bit speechless but I feel that many of you in the room who know me might find that slightly hard to believe. It's occasionally true. But I do think there is something awe-inspiring about the breadth and the depth of the commitment to hope as Nigel notes. A commitment to change in our times that is so obvious if you get to stand out here and look across all of you. We have come to this place from different parts of the world, different places and spaces in which the questions and the possibilities that are central to this conference matter to us. We work in governments, public institutions, communities, the private sector and we've come together because there's something worth exploring further. There's something worth talking more about, something worth understanding more deeply about the potential of a restorative approach for where we work, where we learn and the communities in which we live. Some of you have come because you've experienced the significant potential of this approach to make a difference in these places and spaces to support and encourage the just and healthy relationships we need to be well and to flourish. Some are here because you've kind of glimpsed or heard about that potential of a restorative approach and you want to know more. And I'm actually relatively certain that some of you have not really sure why you've come here or were told to come here, but I hope that you find out over the next few days. As we gather here, we bring with us many different experiences and perspectives on what restorative means and in particular what it looks like in action, in practice, in our various places and spaces. And this diversity of perspectives and experiences is part of the richness and the strength of this gathering and of the restorative community and movement more broadly, I think. But it can be and it sometimes is a significant weakness. In a bid to secure the changes that we seek to take action to make a difference, we focus much of our energies and efforts on how a restorative approach is practiced. We look to models and practices to find tools and processes for us to use and share. No doubt this is very important. After all, we're not here to navel gaze and talk about nice ideas and theories. We're here because there are people with real needs that must be met. There are real and urgent problems in communities that must be addressed and social inequalities and injustices that cannot continue to be perpetuated within our communities, institutions and systems. We want to take action and we want others to understand what this approach is as the minister compels us to go out and help with this task. And we want to offer guidance so it's done well when it's done. But to do this, to help people understand what to do, to convey the significance of this approach, we way too often take a shortcut. We tell people what to do, how to do it, but we leave little room and we don't convey openly enough why we would use a restorative practice or process. We move to models and to training ahead of understanding and we do and as we do so, when we do so, I think we miss the greatest significance, the greatest potential of a restorative approach. It is not merely one that makes use of a new set of tools or practices. It does offer new ways of doing things in our workplaces, in our schools, in our communities and in governance. When things go wrong and to ensure they go right more often, but it's more than that, I think. And if we fail to understand and to communicate what that more is, what this restorative approach is about, we'll fail to achieve the changes we hope for, we'll fail to make the difference we seek because we'll offer new tools and practices and models without new ways of thinking and seeing that are key to their success. A restorative approach then must underlie our practices, processes and tools. It's what makes them restorative. It's not about how we organize the furniture or what outcomes are on or off the table. These practices have to be about much more than straight interventions, tailored for particular outcomes for individuals to address their behaviors or conduct. And it's only if we pay attention to the approach that underlies these practices, to why we would do things in these ways and what it is we're trying to do with restorative practices and processes and these tools that will make any real and lasting difference for people and the communities in which they live and the institutions and systems that seek to serve them and meet their needs. A restorative approach is at its core relational. It's about the way in which we think about the world, who we are, how we are with one another. It's an approach that sees that connection and relationship are core to who we are as human beings and how the world works. And it pays attention to this fact of life and seeks to make it relevant, actually matter to the ways in which we live, we learn and we work. A restorative approach is then about more than how we do things. More than tools in the toolkit for doing the things we've always done. It requires us to think about what we're doing, what we want to do and why. And the why is about the relationships we need from one another to be well, to learn, to succeed and then a restorative approach lets us ask. What are the practices? What processes? What institutional structures? What policies? What systems do we need? Can we use to pursue this approach to foster healthy relationships of respect, mutual care and concern for one another's dignity? Answering this will require careful attention to context, to our histories, to our structures of power and privilege, to who and where we are and what matters about what's happening and who is affected. There is no single answer to this question. No practice that's going to be restorative in every circumstance or context. We need them to be tailor fit. We need them to be flexible and adaptable, changing for circumstances and needs and yet we need to provide some guidance for putting this approach into practice. But what we need are principles to guide us and then we need a learning community in which we do not train each other or tell each other what to do as Nigel helps us see but rather share why we do what we do so that we can support one another in our efforts to be restorative. That's what this conference is about. That's what the international learning community strives to be. We're here to explore the possibility of what happens and what can happen if we see the world through a relational lens and take a relational approach to all that we do. If this is what a restorative approach means then it's clear that it's not only what we do when there's a harmful incident or a conflict or a problem to be solved. It's about how we are every day, what we do day to day. It's about what's required to do right by one another and to live justly with one another. And this is a question at the core of all of the panels today and I think it's what brings us all here together. I'm going to invite our first panel to come up and help us start our journey of talking to one another about these ideas and their significance for our communities.