Talk on Nicole van der Hoeven

Let There Be Dashboards: Introducing Grafana Assistant

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 19:30:00 +0100

I gave this talk at the Grafana & Friends Lisbon Meetup in Lisbon, Portugal.

Abstract

This is a live demo of how to go from zero to a working Grafana dashboard using Assistant. Starting with a blank slate, we’ll use natural language to explore data and generate meaningful visualizations in minutes. Along the way, you’ll see how AI can accelerate dashboard creation without sacrificing control or understanding.

Thanks to everyone who came out! It was great to connect with the Lisbon tech community.

Do Androids Dream of Second Brains?

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 11:15:00 +0100

I gave this talk at PKM Summit 2026 in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Abstract

We often describe our PKM systems as “second brains”. But can we really say our systems think for themselves?

In Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, the inspiration for the movie Bladerunner, the boundary between humans and machines is tested through observation and subtle signals. In this talk, we’ll explore a similar question for our knowledge systems: what happens when we start observing them?

By instrumenting an Obsidian vault with an observability stack and layering AI tools on top, we can begin to see patterns in how ideas form, connect, and evolve. The result isn’t quite a thinking system… but it may be something closer than we’ve had before.

Slides

nicole.to/androids

Adobo & Avocados: Intersectionality in Tech and DevRel (Agile Testing Days 2023)

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 09:45:15 +0100

My friend Marie Cruz and I presented today at Agile Testing Days 2023 in Potsdam, Germany. Our talk was called Adobo & Avocados: Intersectionality in Tech and DevRel. We talked about what intersectionality is, shared our personal experiences regarding diversity and intersecting identities, and gave tips on how to think about intersectionality as we build and use software. You can find the slides here.