The festival for IT specialists and their loved ones was held in Moscow on August 8.

On August 8, the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve hosted the IT Picnic, a festival for the IT community from T-Bank, for the fourth time. It was attended by 30,000 people — developers, engineers, analysts, designers, project and product managers and other IT specialists, as well as their friends and families.

The festival program includes lectures and master classes, booths and interactive events from IT partners, sports, gaming and creative activities for adults and children, as well as a music program. The lecture program consisted of eight thematic tracks: "Engineering Productivity", "Bigtech in a helmet", "Generative AI", "From data to Solutions", "Products from and to", "Cybersecurity", "Science Pop" and "Education".

The lectures were attended by experts from T-Bank, Yandex, Sberbank, Norilsk Nickel, VK Tech, MIPT and other companies and educational organizations. They talked about working with generative AI as the business grows, the use of AI agents to protect banks from attacks, and approaches to assessing the impact of artificial intelligence on development.

The popular science track was dedicated to topics outside of IT. Bioinformatician Mikhail Gelfand spoke about ancient DNA and human evolution, and teacher Anastasia Chetverikova spoke about the influence of art on the brain and emotions. In the educational track, the participants also solved math problems for speed.

The companies presented their technologies and developments, held workshops and prepared interactive activities. The guests could compete with an AI chess player, learn about robotics and humanoid robot training, find hidden parts of the code using a metal detector and follow how in 20 years T-Bank has gone from a classic bank to a technology company with its own engineering platforms and an AI center.

There were sports, gaming and creative areas for the guests. At the festival, you could practice hatha yoga and relaxation practices with Organic People, try Pilates, boxing and acrobatics in Fitmost classes, play table tennis and do stretching. Board games were held in the gaming areas, and the Museum of Soviet Slot Machines brought arcades and game consoles to the IT Picnic.

The event featured chess tournaments and rapid battles, as well as chess dating. Participants could play a game at custom boards and get to know each other, and question cards helped start a conversation. The festival also featured creative and lounge areas. Guests could try out musical instruments, take part in workshops or sit on the grass.

A separate program has been prepared for children and teenagers. The young guests participated in master classes on programming, robotics and 3D modeling, conducted scientific experiments and got acquainted with astronomy. Among the activities were flying sharks, which could be controlled with the power of thought.

The children also operated robotic arms, played robofootball, participated in robot races and explored the VR world. In scientific classes, they studied plants under a microscope, worked with bone samples, and experimented with color-changing substances.

IOWA, Cream Soda, Martin, Pompeya and Owl performed on the main stage. He completed the music program of Anton Belyaev's LAB, a musical show in which famous artists perform popular songs in new arrangements accompanied by an orchestra and choir.

For the second year in a row, the IT Picnic hosted a musical IT Apartment, where groups from teams of developers, analysts, and engineers performed their own compositions.