Re: Do you want to organize this?

[TheCotMan]

I'm not organizing this, and last year converge was really busy with organizing other things, or participating on other contests. We frequently have discussion about how this should work, if it should be part of the TBBQ (preventing many Goons from attending) or during the con. Some have suggested having this be an informal meeting at the pool, or at some place where something else is involved-- something other than sitting around introducing each other to everyone.

Converge has been sucked into the WoW thing. I think that we hear from him when he has to go pee. (This is only a guess.)

Since I don't want to organize anything while at defcon, and I think he is probably going to be busy again, this is probably open for another organizer. Anyone?

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

while i don't want to organize and run yet another defcon event, i'll put in my $0.02 and suggest now is as good a time as any (should we start a fresh thread in this sub-forum or just post here) to discuss potential dates and times. any form of consensus or good suggestions there may help to spur along some more top-down organization later. as for the related matter of location, i think that's less of a pressing matter... since people's biggest gripe always seems to be time frame.

as always, i'm of the opinion that once defcon gets fully underway everyone is running around like frightened rabbits (or horny rabbits, as the case may be) and impossible to nail down. post-con sunday is out since that's usually either a "last blast" party for people with leftover booze or a cool-down, mellow time for folks looking to get dinner at some nice restaurant.

in my mind, that leaves either sometime on thursday or an early-friday happening. my two notions there...

1. what about tying the forum meet to the Summit event? it's close by (major props on having it in the skybox last time, i hate going off-site for anything but the BBQ. and frankly, if there were a way to have that on the casino grounds or in a vacant lot next door i'd support it.) and tends to be late enough that a lot of goons are done most of their setup duties for the day.

2. there had been some success in the past regarding forum meets and shared homebrew. if the brew wars event happens again and if it coincides with the beverage cooling time slot (noon on friday) maybe that could be a decent possibility... i am happy to provide as much free beer as possible to whomever shows up and it's sort of a time slightly before defcon gets seriously hectic.

thoughts?

[Z^2]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

So what goes into organizing and running an event?

[TheCotMan]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

1. what about tying the forum meet to the Summit event? it's close by (major props on having it in the skybox last time, i hate going off-site for anything but the BBQ. and frankly, if there were a way to have that on the casino grounds or in a vacant lot next door i'd support it.) and tends to be late enough that a lot of goons are done most of their setup duties for the day.

2. there had been some success in the past regarding forum meets and shared homebrew. if the brew wars event happens again and if it coincides with the beverage cooling time slot (noon on friday) maybe that could be a decent possibility... i am happy to provide as much free beer as possible to whomever shows up and it's sort of a time slightly before defcon gets seriously hectic.

thoughts?

These are both good considerations for the forum meet, and really good for the organizer of this event to consider in planning. Providing a list of challenges in the hostory of this event could help any would-be organizer.

So what goes into organizing and running an event?

Generally, it is someone who likes an event or contest, and enjoys organizing the contest or event. Organizers often organize because they love the work they do, the topic at hand, or more:
Look at Lost with his Mystery Box, or Deviant Ollam with the BCCC. Look at the people the put together the phreaking challenge, and then look at the aCTF and CTF oranizers. Look at the previous organizers to the Lockpicking village and Lockpicking contest. Nearly every contests or event at Defcon that is well received, is popular partly because of the topic, and partly because of the organizers' love for their contests or events.

For large contests/event, a DCG is often best used to help organize the event, since it can easily be more than what one person can build and maintain. (Look at the aCTF, as an example.) Having a DCG run a contest or event allows the event to last through several leaders and transition through many hands without disappearing.

If you don't have the power of a DCG, consider pulling your friends in with you to help you organize a contest or event. (Lost did this at DC15, and he seemed to enjoy his con more at DC15 because of it.) You don't need to do everything, if you can get other people to help you. Share the burden, share the responsibility, share the accolades with your peers. Don't share any blame for anything; use problems as learning opportunities for next year.

Passion is contagious. When an organizer shows excitement in their contests or event, others tend to want to see what the excitement is, "all about," and join the contest or event. Combine excitement with an on-topic contest or event and you have something that can quickly become popular.

In addition to the above, an organizer needs to pay attention to timelines, dates and follow-up requests for resources with requests for resources. Assuming this is like previous years, when Grifter asks for Skybox requests, get your request in to Grifter early, and follow-up to make sure you have your allocation. If you need contest floor space, Russ will probably be the person to talk to. If you are happen to need vendor space for some reason, then Roamer needs to hear from you. Black Beetle will likely need to hear from you, so your information can make it into the program, and may be the person to talk to, in order to get your contest or event mentioned on the web site. (It is also possible you may need to answer a request from the WebMaster (neil) for this.)

If you are looking to run a contest for the first time, you should get a buy-in from Dark Tangent, but that is not the only thing you should do. All of the other above should be consulted once you get an OK from DT, to ensure you get an opportunity to have access to the resources you'll need. An OK from DT does not guarantee you floor space, or a skybox.

I'll create a subforum for any contest/event that is going to appear or appears on the main defcon website, but would like to hear from organizers on a description for discussion forums about their contest or event.

For contests that have happened before, I can create subforums before they are officially (or unofficially) listed on the main site. I've contacted several people or groups through phone, SMS, email, PM, IM, and more to ask them about their plans to run contests or events again, and have opened up forums for many of those.

Lastly, for people that have been around long enough with a paper-trail that shows mods they can trust the organizer to not be asshats, we sometimes will make the contest/event organizer a *forum* contest/event organizer for their contest. This lets them do things like set/unset stickies in the subfrum for their contest event, as well as open/close and edit some content in the same subforum. Of course they are not mods, and don't get to ban users, so shouldn't enforce rules, but we give them access to tools that help them promote their contest or event in the forums.

I've met you (Z^2) and you have been around for a while. If you end up as a contest leader/organizer, I'd nominate you for becoming a forum leader/organizer for your contest/event; I'm not the only one that has a say, on this, and it can take some time to complete the process.

[DJ Jackalope]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

1. what about tying the forum meet to the Summit event?

I DO hate to say it... but wouldn't that make the forum meet a mandatory $30+ donation? I am not against where it is going or anything, but we shouldn't have to donate to meet.

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

1. what about tying the forum meet to the Summit event?

I DO hate to say it... but wouldn't that make the forum meet a mandatory $30+ donation? I am not against where it is going or anything, but we shouldn't have to donate to meet.

heh... $30 unless you have your forum avatar badge should be a good policy. ;-)

that way, the event is populated with the cream of the defcon crop automatically... the real members who make this community great. not some whacky, unapproachable speaker types who have no grounding in our day-to-day lives.

(i was going to try to work in a joke along the lines of "nobody named kaminsky ever bought me a drink" but i think that the opposite may be true for the majority of us, especially if dan is the speaker being referenced.)

[Abby_Normal]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

Since I don't want to organize anything while at defcon, and I think he is probably going to be busy again, this is probably open for another organizer. Anyone?

I would be willing to help with something like this. What day are people thinking of?

The last time I tried to get to a forum meet it overlapped with something else I was doing and I when I got there I guess everyone else had left.

I do have space to host something.

[Chris]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

Whoever organizes this should work with DT/BlackBeetle to ensure that there aren't schedule conflicts. That has been part of the problem the last couple of years.

Also, trying to get the time and location set a week or two before Con would be a good idea so that people can plan on going. Nulltone did an excellent job of this when he was the primary organizer.

It wouldn't hurt to bring back the Avatar badges. They definitely helped people put faces with the names.

It wouldn't hurt if the mods and admins made a commitment to being there either. We have done a pretty shitty job of that the past couple of years.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

Whoever organizes this should work with DT/BlackBeetle to ensure that there aren't schedule conflicts. That has been part of the problem the last couple of years.

Start early, and get the space allocation done early too.

Also, trying to get the time and location set a week or two before Con would be a good idea so that people can plan on going. Nulltone did an excellent job of this when he was the primary organizer.

That is really more difficult, since many of the available spaces are allocated by then. It would be best to start asking about space about 2-5 months before con, and try to get everything setup and planned early.
To even get mentioned in the program you are looking at about 3 to 6 weeks of planning to know your location and time submitted early enough to make the printing.
The web site doesn't need planning as early, but it helps to get your information in early, because if you wait too long, people start getting too busy to apply your changes in a timely manner.

It wouldn't hurt to bring back the Avatar badges. They definitely helped people put faces with the names.

I've worn one a few years, especially at the TBBQ.

It wouldn't hurt if the mods and admins made a commitment to being there either. We have done a pretty shitty job of that the past couple of years.

Yeah, but you first. ]:>

I would be willing to help with something like this. What day are people thinking of?

In the past, it has been Friday nights. There was a window that existed years ago between the time the last speaker spoke, and HJ and other events started. This window has disappeared in recent years.

When Thursday is suggested, many say they don't arrive until Friday morning, and as a result, they wouldn't be able to make it.

Meeting at the TBBQ is the same as other Thursday suggestions, but is compounded by denying Goons opportunity to participate, since an off-site location like the TBBQ is too far away for them to go, visit and get back to work.

Meeting at the Summit (Thursday night?) is similar to the above, in that some people don't arrive until Friday, and there is a charge to enter, but Goons could attend if it happened at the Riv.

Thursday night has historically been, "SushiCon," night, and many forum members attend that too. Combining with SushiCon means Goons won't be able to attend, and the Sushi place probably could hold eveyone if they showed up.

Sunday is sometimes suggested, but like Thursday, many people are unable to make it because they are leaving before the evening.

When it is Friday, then there is a conflict when it is too late, with parties, and Hacker Jeopardy, night at the movies with DT, and other similar events. If the meeting is too early, then it interferes with the speaking tracks that many desire to see.

The last time I tried to get to a forum meet it overlapped with something else I was doing and I when I got there I guess everyone else had left.

I had the same problem, and I had a guest with me. We had something else to attend at the same time.

I think what happened last year, is nobody showed up to unlock the door, and so when people came by to drop in, they saw only a locked door and wandered off.

I do have space to host something.

Cool. :-)

I have no problem with several people organizing this together either. If you want to organize it, feel free. :-)
If you want to pull in Deviant Ollam and Jackalope to help, and they are also interested, that works too. Why should the planning of an event or meeting be the burden of just one person?

Converge isn't here right now, but I see his ethereal body hovering near a game of WoW. Let me attach ropes to his arms, and move his mouth:

hurmmmrumm hrumm nrruuhh muh muh

That was converge saying, "if you three want to run this meeting, go for it."*

* Obviously, he didn't really say that, but based on how busy he has been at con in the past, I suspect he would be happy to pass control on to any of you three or all three of you. This would allow him to actually spend time on LoST(boy)'s "LoST @ Con Mystery Contest" without worry.

[meee]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

I should be able to be of some logistical use this year. Count me in if you require assistance.

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

Thursday night has historically been, "SushiCon," night, and many forum members attend that too.

Unless i'm mistaken, that has been Wednesday night in recent memory. Thursday is ToxicBBQ during the afternoon/early evening and TheSummit at night.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

Unless i'm mistaken, that has been Wednesday night in recent memory. Thursday is ToxicBBQ during the afternoon/early evening and TheSummit at night.

Doh! I suck. Sorry about that. You are totally right. Thanks for catching it. :-)

[converge]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

Whoever organizes this should work with DT/BlackBeetle to ensure that there aren't schedule conflicts. That has been part of the problem the last couple of years.

to be a little antagonistic on this... scheduling conflicts with what? I have determined it is actually impossible to schedule this indepedent of 5+ other things going on. Even the prior cry to 'move it to Thursday' is flooded out by the ramping up of activities.

Also, trying to get the time and location set a week or two before Con would be a good idea so that people can plan on going. Nulltone did an excellent job of this when he was the primary organizer.

We had this last year, as did the year before, but things always tend to be locked down at the Riv until 10-15 minutes after hunting someone down. With all of the scheduling conflicts last year there wasn't really anyone to get that push for unlocking down, so everyone just migrated to the parties.

It wouldn't hurt to bring back the Avatar badges. They definitely helped people put faces with the names.

Indeed.

It wouldn't hurt if the mods and admins made a commitment to being there either. We have done a pretty shitty job of that the past couple of years.

Ya, I failed last year. Failed in a sense of completely enjoying myself at parties and completely neglecting the get-together. I can drink to that.


The general feel that I got last year was that folks were very lukewarm about the Meet, almost to the extent of it being a requirement more than an enjoyable thing. If people feel more strongly about it, then folks just have to help make it happen ;)

So here's the deal. If you want to help organize this and make it more fun that the ToxicBBQ .. please volunteer for the TBBQ first! .. then say aye and I will add you to the list of folks getting this together. Also, mention things that we want from the get-together. Just stand and talk? Food? Drink? Hugs? .. we'll start populating some planning on this and get the ball rolling early. DT has always been great to support the Forum Members with space and resources, we just need to enjoy them.

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

heh... how 'bout we just bribe the Ninja Networks folks and make the forum meet a pre-party for the Ninja party? No shortage of people who would show up then, if just an avatar badge gets you into the hottest ticket that evening.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Do you want to organize this?

heh... how 'bout we just bribe the Ninja Networks folks and make the forum meet a pre-party for the Ninja party? No shortage of people who would show up then, if just an avatar badge gets you into the hottest ticket that evening.

But how would I know which Deviant Ollam was the real Deviant Ollam?
"Would the real Deviant Ollam, please stand up?"