Newbie Track

[RuckusKnight]

Re: Newbie Track

Is DC18 going to be the same as Dc17, in that there won't be any speakers other than the newbie track thursday?

I got the boss to agree to having off 7/30 - would be a stretch to get off thursda (was told fr/mon was not a problem, don't want to push luck)...

Is there just newbie track, DC shoot, etc, or actual speakers Thursday?

[Club81]

Re: Newbie Track

Is DC18 going to be the same as Dc17, in that there won't be any speakers other than the newbie track thursday?

I got the boss to agree to having off 7/30 - would be a stretch to get off thursda (was told fr/mon was not a problem, don't want to push luck)...

Is there just newbie track, DC shoot, etc, or actual speakers Thursday?

Has there been an update on the official offerings on THUR? I may have missed it. Will there be the sessions like last year (101, lockpicking, etc....) or is it back to badges, swag, shoot, and other gatherings? It'd be great to have the vendor area open on THUR, too.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Newbie Track

Has there been an update on the official offerings on THUR? I may have missed it. Will there be the sessions like last year (101, lockpicking, etc....) or is it back to badges, swag, shoot, and other gatherings? It'd be great to have the vendor area open on THUR, too.

I heard that some of the Thursday events from last year would return in a discussion with organizers last year, but this year (2 months ago) I heard from at least three people that provided presentations on Thursday last year that they will not be coming back to present on Thursday this year. I think the last time I asked about this the murky answer was, "there will be Thursday events," but no firm description on what they will be.

As for the Vendor Area:

I thought the vendors begin setup *on* Thursday. With so many people coming from Black Hat, it would mean they would have to cut back their time at Black Hat a day and begin setup a day earlier than that, on Wednesday. It could seriously be a problem if the vendor area was being setup while people were trying to buy stuff from vendors. Consider last year or the year before when stuff was "stolen" (though there was disagreement on the actual events, and I think most the property was returned.) Adding non-vendors to the room during setup (or tear-down) could make risk for similar events even worse.

Considering the cost of Black Hat (Las Vegas), asking people from Black Hat to cut their day short one day to begin Vendor Area setup would likely be asking for trouble.

[LosT]

Re: Newbie Track

Last year it was a toss up for me deciding if Mystery Challenge should start on Thursday or not...

How was Defcon 101 received anyway? I didn't hang around after speaking...

LosT

[Chris]

Re: Newbie Track

Has there been an update on the official offerings on THUR? I may have missed it. Will there be the sessions like last year (101, lockpicking, etc....) or is it back to badges, swag, shoot, and other gatherings? It'd be great to have the vendor area open on THUR, too.

The Vendor Area will set up on Thursday and open for business on Friday morning.

[LosT]

Re: Newbie Track

Chris, so can I be guaranteed that nobody will be in the vendor area on Thursday?


Thanks,

LosT

[Chris]

Re: Newbie Track

Chris, so can I be guaranteed that nobody will be in the vendor area on Thursday?


Thanks,

LosT

Define nobody? The vendors, wad and I will be in there, but that area will be off limits to attendees until the next day.

[Club81]

Re: Newbie Track

Are the vendors areas filled with the the same vendors at Black Hat and DEFCON? I hadn't considered that they would be, I guess. Not exactly sure what I was expecting -- just that they'd be different.

[Chris]

Re: Newbie Track

Are the vendors areas filled with the the same vendors at Black Hat and DEFCON? I hadn't considered that they would be, I guess. Not exactly sure what I was expecting -- just that they'd be different.

There are typically only 2 overlapping vendors (Breakpoint Books and The Source of Knowledge) however that isn't set in stone. We take applications for vendors each year and approve them on an individual basis. If more BH vendors applied they'd be considered however since most BH vendors aren't really vendors but rather companies giving information out and/or hawking their products they typically don't fit in at DEF CON.

[Club81]

Re: Newbie Track

There are typically only 2 overlapping vendors (Breakpoint Books and The Source of Knowledge) however that isn't set in stone. We take applications for vendors each year and approve them on an individual basis. If more BH vendors applied they'd be considered however since most BH vendors aren't really vendors but rather companies giving information out and/or hawking their products they typically don't fit in at DEF CON.

That's exactly what I thought the difference would be between the two vendor areas, but didn't want to come out and say that BH vendors would be more "look at our awesome product! You can't live without it! You're company needs this thing badly!!", while the DC vendors are more into kickass t-shirts, books, stickers, hardware, etc...

[hexjunkie]

Re: Newbie Track

I did not attend the Newbie Track on Thursday last year but a lot of my friends that went with me did and they said they liked it a lot. They felt it gave them a better insight into what they were getting themselves into.

I hope it is offered again this year because I believe (from what they tell me) it gets people more comfertable with their attendance and helps to "include" them. I do know it creates a lot of overhead for the people presenting and it also eats up the "rest" time that people get before the con offically starts.

[HighWiz]

Re: Newbie Track

Tentatively I can say that DC101 will happen again this year. Though, beyond that I'm really not ready to talk about it.

I considered not posting, but wanted to put it out there in case it effects travel plans (It will be on Thursday).

It shouldn't be too long before I'm prepared to give more details.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Newbie Track

Tentatively I can say that DC101 will happen again this year. Though, beyond that I'm really not ready to talk about it.

I considered not posting, but wanted to put it out there in case it effects travel plans (It will be on Thursday).

It shouldn't be too long before I'm prepared to give more details.

After I went through all the trouble to track all 3 of you down to get an answer, and now you tell me it's probably going to happen. Dammit! I want my money back! :-)

Seriously though, it is good to hear that it might be coming back, as people have asked about it on the forums. Reviews posted on the forums by members that were new to Defcon were favorable, but a few people posted requests for next year.

Since this happened last year, it is easy enough to create a forum for it once you have finalized the name for it, a description, and/or made an announcement for it to exist at Defcon 18. Obviously, you'd still need to talk to whoever is in the charge of the room(s) you will want to use to make arrangements with them, but you knew that before I wrote this. So, why did I write it? To remind other people that just because they have a forum does not mean they have an okay to all the Defcon resources they will need.

A sample reference about DC101 from another thread:
(The image next to each name in the quoted sections below is a link to the original post in the thread where it appeared.

...
2. the CFP still lists "half day thursday" as one of the talk types... was that still happening or didn't it get scrapped in favor of thursday talks only being Val's DEFCON101 for Newbs.

...
For that, you will have to get word from the people that might be organizing a "Defcon 101: Introduction to Defcon" presentation. I've talked to 3 of the organizers from last year, but that was a few months ago. My information might be out of date.

See what happens? Time has made a liar out of me. What was once true no longer is. I curse you time!

[HighWiz]

Re: Newbie Track

After I went through all the trouble to track all 3 of you down to get an answer, and now you tell me it's probably going to happen. Dammit! I want my money back! :-)

Seriously though, it is good to hear that it might be coming back, as people have asked about it on the forums. Reviews posted on the forums by members that were new to Defcon were favorable, but a few people posted requests for next year.

If it involves specifically DefCon 101 in relation to the type of event I worked on last year, I probably can answer the question. If it has to do with something else that happen on Thursday or other "talks", I can't speak to it.

Since this happened last year, it is easy enough to create a forum for it once you have finalized the name for it, a description, and/or made an announcement for it to exist at Defcon 18. Obviously, you'd still need to talk to whoever is in the charge of the room(s) you will want to use to make arrangements with them, but you knew that before I wrote this. So, why did I write it? To remind other people that just because they have a forum does not mean they have an okay to all the Defcon resources they will need.

When it's ready I'll make the arrangements and the post, for now I just wanted to put it out there since nothings really be said on the matter and I know travel plans are being made.

[Club81]

Re: Newbie Track

I see on the new DC 18 site that it lists the official CON dates as July 30-Aug 1. Originally, it stated a July 29 start date. Does this mean there isn't a formalized plan for Thursday? Badges, swag, and a 101 session would be enough in my opinion. Anybody have anything to add re: Thursday? Our group of ~20 will be there sometime Wednesday and we're anticipating the badge line to get started before 8AM on Thursday. Then swag line, some 101 session, and a trip to the Hoffbrauhaus.

http://defcon.org/html/defcon-18/dc-18-index.html