In the years 2017-2019 the brand of the Warsaw Security Forum was further developed and gained additional popularity among policy-makers, experts and wider public as the number of participants and partners was constantly growing. The level of the conference was also raised as more heads of states and governments, ministers, senior diplomats and renowned experts attended the event. With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 the organisers had to adapt the 2020 edition to the existing circumstances, therefore the conference was held online, which in turn affected its scope. In 2021 the WSF partially returned to its usual offline format, however the ongoing pandemic still was imposing certain restrictions on the participants. In order to minimise the spread of the virus the organisers implemented strict regulations, including proof of vaccination for in-person participants. The in-person participation was limited to 500 on-site participants, whereas over a thousand people could join the conference online. On the first day of the conference a keynote speech was held by Andrzej Duda. After the COVID-related restrictions were fully lifted, the biggest edition so far in terms of numbers and media coverage took place in October 4–5, 2022. More than 2100 participants from 60 countries registered for the event. The agenda of the conference was largely determined by the outbreak of the full-scale Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but also addressed the issues of energy dependency, future of NATO, regional security et al. Among the distinguished speakers and guests were Olena Zelenska, Mateusz Morawiecki, Egils Levits, Ingrida Šimonytė, François Bausch, Annalena Baerbock, Ben Wallace, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Olha Stefinishyna, Rafał Trzaskowski and other top representatives. Structure The conference's agenda is divided into four tracks: defence, global outlook, energy security & climate and democratic resilience. High-level panel discussions which draw the most attention take place on the two main stages – the so-called Warsaw and Chicago rooms. Apart from that, a vast number of Chatham House rules-based roundtables, bilateral meetings, including closed-door ones dedicated for senior lawmakers and business partners are held during the two-day conference. International Advisory Council is a supervising body which consists of internationally renowned experts in the field of politics and defence such as Catherine Ashton, Gen. (R) Mark Carleton Smith, Jacek Czaputowicz, Ben Hodges, Hanna Hopko, Linas Linkevičius, David H. Petraeus and Norbert Röttgen. The Knight of Freedom Award The Knight of Freedom Award is presented by the Casimir Pulaski Foundation