---
author: christel
date: 2017-07-24 22:52:39+00:00
slug: opening-keynote
title: freenode #live - Opening Keynote
category: community
category: general
category: freenode
category: live
---
We are delighted to announce the first of our keynotes for the freenode #live conference taking place at the At-Bristol Science Centre in Bristol, UK on 28-29th October this year. We have more keynotes to announce and these will be announced over the next couple of weeks. We also hope that you will join our brilliant line-up of speakers, and that you are considering [submitting a talk](https://freenode.live/conference/fn-live17/program/proposal/new).

The opening keynote is a thoroughly inspiring woman with extensive experience of the various aspects of the free software communities, and we are really excited to welcome none other than the glorious Deb Nicholson to Bristol in October. 

![Deb Nicholson Bio Picture](/static/img/FNLIVEKN1-DebNicholson.png)

Deb Nicholson is a free software policy nerd and passionate community advocate. She is the Community Outreach Director for the [Open Invention Network](https://www.openinventionnetwork.com), the largest patent non-aggression community in history which serves Linux, GNU, Android and other key FOSS projects. She’s won the [O’Reilly Open Source Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Reilly_Open_Source_Award), one of the most recognized awards in the FOSS world, for her work on GNU [MediaGoblin](https://mediagoblin.org/) and [OpenHatch](https://openhatch.org/). She is a founding organizer of the [Seattle GNU/Linux Conference](https://seagl.org/), an annual event dedicated to surfacing new voices and welcoming new people to the free software community. She also serves on the [Software Freedom Conservancy's](https://sfconservancy.org/) Evaluation Committee, which acts as a curator of new member projects. She lives with her husband and her lucky black cat in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Get your [tickets](https://freenode.live/conference/fn-live17/tickets) now to lock in to the early bird price and ensure that you have the chance to listen to Deb, and the other keynotes and speakers at freenode #live this October.

*P.S. freenode will be at DEFCON25 this weekend (27-30th July 2017), do come find us in the vendor area and say hi, grab some stickers or get your hands on our limited edition freenode t-shirts!*
