LAKSHYA SIVARAMAKRISHNAN: Good morning.

A hearty welcome to each one of you

to the sixth anniversary of Google's Women Techmakers

International Women's Day Celebration.

My name is Lakshya Sivaramakrishnan,

and I work with the Google Developer Relations team,

where I manage the Women Techmakers program for India.

I want to start off the day by saying that everyone is welcome

here.

This space is very safe, irrespective

of your age, your gender, your sexual identity,

your cultural background, and all intersections therein.

The International Women's Day summit

is led by the Women Techmakers team.

Women Techmakers is Google's global outreach program

for women in tech.

They focus on providing visibility, community,

and resources for women across all levels and job ladders,

so that women can join, lead, and thrive in the industry.

In addition to supporting engineers,

Women Techmakers invites all contributors

to the tech industry to participate

in their programs, their scholarships,

and their initiatives.

Each year, Women Techmakers engages

with over 150,000 women in tech all over the world

in 190 countries.

And much of the work is though focused on a global scale,

the team truly believes that its grass roots movement,

led by women in tech around the globe, like you,

is propelling our industry forward.

To support this, we are also collaborating

with around 525 Women Techmakers ambassadors around the world,

and are proud to partner these community organizations.

We have close to 20 Women Techmakers ambassadors

from India in the audience today.

Can you have a huge round of applause

while they wave out to all of us?

[APPLAUSE]

Thank you.

How many of you have attended a Women Techmakers event before

or are a part of the Women Techmakers community?

Wow.

I see a lot of hands, and I see a few new ones, too.

So if you're interested in learning more about how to get

involved in the women Techmakers community,

we encourage you to sign up for their membership program

at WomenTechmakers.com/membership.

How many of you are students here?

Wow.

I've got something that might interest you.

So the Women Techmakers scholarships

for the Asia-Pacific region is expected

to go live by the end of March.

So maybe that's something you want to stay tuned

to in WomenTechmakers.com/scholars.

We also have our very own regional India-specific page.

And to learn more about what we do,

you can visit WomenTechmakers.com/India.

That was a little about Women Techmakers,

but I also want to talk to you about why

we are here today celebrating International Women's Day.

We think it's vitally important to celebrate, support,

and elevate all women in technology.

And we are glad that you all made it here.

We have designers, entrepreneurs, developers,

data scientists, product managers and many more

as a part of this community right here today.

I also would like to share a little about why I am here

today celebrating International Women's Day with all of you.

For me, this is an annual celebration of the work

that we do around the year with various initiatives, programs,

and campaigns.

Personally, this summit is also very nostalgic for me,

because this is my fifth one.

Five years back when I attended my first summit,

I was sitting somewhere there right at the back

just consuming the content that all these amazing,

inspirational women were sharing.

And through the various capacities, from an attendee

to a community volunteer to being a Women Techmakers

ambassador myself to managing this program for India

along with an exceptional team whom I work with,

I believe that each one of us have a part

to play in this growing women in tech ecosystem.

This also brings me to the theme of the event, which

is, lift as you climb.

The first time I heard this phrase, I was like,

wow, this is so powerful, because this

is about supporting others who are trying

to achieve your goals and helping them rise

higher as you pursue your own.

This also, funnily, reminds me of a quote which

I read a couple of days back which says,

there is a special place for women in hell

who do not support other women.

We also know how important it is to meet women where they are.

That's why across March and April,

we host 19 summits across the Google offices of the world,

but also support 300 community-led meetups in 52

different countries.

Just a quick quiz.

Any guess on how many summits are happening today

across the globe?

Four?

Somebody has thoroughly looked into that website for sure.

Yes, that's four.

The reason I share this with you is

for you to know that you are a part of a global movement.

You are not alone in those moments of self-doubt.

We want you to know that there is a community to support you

wherever you are.

I would love to take you through the agenda of the day.

We have some amazing speakers and content

which will certainly leave you inspired and empowered.

But in addition to these amazing speakers,

we also have two hands-on workshops.

We've partnered with a couple of our favorite teams

to offer you a more meaningful experience and potentially

some new skills.

The #IamRemarkable workshop aims to motivate participants

to promote themselves in front of their peers and management,

thereby breaking gender-related modesty norms and glass

ceilings.

For the attendees participating in the Actions

on Google workshop, which is our technical workshop for today,

it would focus on key fundamental concepts

to develop actions for the Google Assistant.

The team wants to empower 20,000 women across the globe

and more to publish their first action with the Google

Assistant.

And I'm really excited to see what you all

are going to create today.

I'm confident that by hearing the speakers,

you will definitely leave the summit much more inspired.

But please use this time to network

with your fellow attendees.

You never know where these connections will help you.

You could also pull out the agenda

throughout the day on your phones

using the link on your badge.

Moving on to some general information for the day,

all sessions will happen right here at the grand ballroom.

You can find the restrooms right opposite

to the registration area.

We also have a parent's room and a prayer room available.

The mother's room is near the women's restroom.

And the prayer room would be Meeting Room 2.

Find a volunteer in the gray T-shirt

in case you want to know where these rooms are,

if you need help in finding them.

I also have some fire safety instructions.

So in case of emergency, which we hopefully wouldn't need,

you need to walk out of this door,

and the prefunction area is going to be your assembly area.

And there's also a fire door there.

If any of you need help in charging your device,

we have charging stations throughout the room.

Both the workshops will happen here right in this room.

So we're going to break the room into two, where,

if you have a blue sticker on your badges,

you're going to be a part of the Actions on Google workshop,

which is going to happen in the front side of this room.

If you do not have a sticker on your badge,

which means that you are a part of the #IamRemarkable workshop,

which is going to happen on the back side of the room.

We will also have a photographer and videographer on-site

all day.

And this event-- and I'm really excited about this--

is going to be livestreamed, so that folks

who couldn't make it to the event

have access to the content of this event.

So feel free to share this in your social media

and let your friends know.

We'll be providing a lot of food and drinks for you

throughout the day.

So please help yourself to them.

One interesting thing, we're also having a Twitter challenge

for which you could use #WTM19.

If you have some extra characters left,

you could also use #WomenTechmakersIndia there.

And you could tweet about anything,

what you liked about this event, some quotes that really caught

your eye, some pictures that you take

with friends and fellow attendees, and much more.

I leave it to your creativity to decide

what you want to tweet about.

Something that's really important to us

is how we are engaging with communities of women

across the world who aren't able to join us today.

So in lieu of the gift bags that we do every year,

this year, Google's Women Techmakers

is contributing to organizations across the globe

that are committed to supporting and empowering women and girls.

As a part of these efforts, with the help of GlobalGiving.org,

we want to offer you the opportunity

to help us make an impact in a way that is meaningful to you.

Can we go to the next slide, please?

We have several great programs.

And we are letting you choose where your donation goes.

Inside your notebook, there is a card with a donation code.

Please be sure to visit the website

and take a moment to choose that organization that you

want your donation to go to.

We also encourage you to tag your social media posts,

as I said, with #WTM19, and you can join the conversation.

It's so inspiring to see so many faces and voices that

are a part of this global event series.

And don't forget the Twitter challenge that I spoke about.

There are hundreds of Googlers who

are helping out across summits and meetups this year.

And while a lot of their work is behind the scenes,

we want to make sure to shine a spotlight on them

and thank them.

Their countless hours and late nights

are what makes days like these possible.

So thank you to the volunteers.

Can we have a huge round of applause for them?

[APPLAUSE]

[MUSIC PLAYING]