Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

[Quiet]

Re: News about the Rio

The Internets are up in a rumor storm that the Rio has been sold. Here's a great travel forum posting:

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/for...ad.php?t=57696

Still a rumor.

Harrah’s Denies Rio Las Vegas Sale Rumors

I kinda like how the poker people spreading the rumor calls the Rio a "dump/dive" and we consider it an upgrade.


Harrah's Entertainment owns the following Las Vegas area casinos:
Caesars Palace, Bally's Las Vegas, Harrah's Las Vegas, Bill's Gambling Hall & Saloon, Flamingo Las Vegas, Imperial Palace, Paris Las Vegas, Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino and Planet Hollywood Casino & Resort.

Kinda interesting that both Blackhat (Caesars Palace) and Defcon (Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino) will be at locations owned by Harrah's Entertainment.

[quo]

News about the Rio

The Internets are up in a rumor storm that the Rio has been sold. Here's a great travel forum posting:

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/for...ad.php?t=57696

[MisterVandal]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

Actually, the impression I am under from some post-con recon is that the Rio appears to be much more...easy-going and less crotchety than the Riviera despite the Rio's venue being bigger/newer/shinier. In that regard, I don't see much of a correlation between change-of-venue and hijinks. The hijinks is in the peoples' hearts, not the venue ;) Though perhaps there's something about ghettofab environments that turns on one's inner-tomfoolery.

I always get concerned when there's talk of us going into a real casino. I realize some may think of the Riv like that, but it's a small casino area, not to mention, the place is kind of a dive. A lot of time has passed, but I still remember the Monte Carlo and the fiasco that became. Though, I will say the older hackers have grown up a bit and tend to be less destructive, spending more time focusing on drinking rather than coming up with creative ways to get the place leveled.

I am wondering what the drink costs are going to be? that was one of the things that made the parties in house so awesome this year, you weren't paying 6 bucks a beer or shitty mixed drink, so you didn't have a ton of hackers hanging out front drinking beer bought from the AM/PM.

[greatscott]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

What sucks is that Defcon is turning into a corporate event, ie BlackHat lite. What happened to the hijinks? The stolen GTE doors, the phone system hacking? Unfortunately I think that the Rio will be better for sitting in talks (bigger rooms, less lines) but far worse for having fun. For me, the talks are the LEAST important part of con, they all end up online anyway!

Actually, the impression I am under from some post-con recon is that the Rio appears to be much more...easy-going and less crotchety than the Riviera despite the Rio's venue being bigger/newer/shinier. In that regard, I don't see much of a correlation between change-of-venue and hijinks. The hijinks is in the peoples' hearts, not the venue ;) Though perhaps there's something about ghettofab environments that turns on one's inner-tomfoolery.

[kallahar]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

What sucks is that Defcon is turning into a corporate event, ie BlackHat lite. What happened to the hijinks? The stolen GTE doors, the phone system hacking? Unfortunately I think that the Rio will be better for sitting in talks (bigger rooms, less lines) but far worse for having fun. For me, the talks are the LEAST important part of con, they all end up online anyway!

[arahel_jazz]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

My bet is that both properties would be hungry for an event with 10-12K attendees. Has the planning committe even floated the idea past the Rio folks?

DC18 was probably the best behaved DC I've been to soo far. Either the Goons are getting better at keeping folks under reign, or we are all getting older and slowing down a bit... nah...

+1 for the Rio in my book... better Poker room too. :-)

One thing to consider is that rooms at the Rio are a bit more than the Riv.

July 2011 rates: (average per night - weekend rate - 2 nights)
Deluxe studio suite: $119 to $180
Premium studio suite: $159 to $229
Masquerade suite: $669 to $739
Carioca suite: $1,119 to $1,189

Combine that with a possible increase in registration fees due to the change of venue, and we may have to do a trade-off study to see if we could still get 10K attendance.

Would you attend DC19 if the registration was $250? Hell yes, I would. I may not stay at the Rio, but would still pay the higher price.

[Club81]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

<good points>

So, what are your predictions for what they're going to do with all this extra space? Same number of room, just more space in each one? More contests? Multiple "skybox"-like smaller talks? I imagine more tracks would be a negative, given that some of the track 1 talks had huge lines.

I'm looking forward to seeing it though.

Mel

My #1 guess (and hope) is to just add more sq feet to the main four or five speaker rooms. More room for every event would be great, but that is #1 on my list.

[tweek]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

Friend and I did a walk around on Sunday night of the conf area at the Rio. It is huge, even the hallway leading to it is big (we had an idea for segway races down it). Lots of areas for swag sales, vendor area, etc and the good thing is its sort of separate to the hotel so pretty self contained.

The problems I see we will face is the fact it is in the Rio, a more 'legit' casino. There will be A LOT more of the general public to deal with rather than the 30 odd old people at the Riv which means the security maybe a lot less lenient, no more scooter jousting at 3am. Dont know how the hotel staff will cope with the Goons doing the policing, the Riv seems to have an understanding but the Rio may not. We also have to walk through more of the casino from the room towers to the conf area.

But there are about a dozen places to eat inside with all sorts of cuisine, one of the pools has sand (so I was told), some good drinking establishments and the one by the main enterance has a VERY nice waitress and MS tablet tables to play with. There is also a sort of back access road between the Rio and Ceasers for those doing BlackHat.

Oh and I was there for about 20 mins and someone tried to nick my wallet.

[Melesse]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

I was looking at the sizes the other day, myself. They both advertise similar amounts of space, but if you hit up their websites for dimensions and sq. footage, it looks like a significant difference. All sq. feet are approximate.

Riviera -
Two main rooms that are divided for contests, speakers
Grande Ballroom - 44,000 sq. feet
Royale Pavilion - 46,000 sq. feet

Smaller side rooms for lockpicking village, EFF fundraiser, speaker, etc. (totals)
Skyboxes - ~10,000 sq. feet
Capri 101+102 (chillout) - ~6,000 sq. feet
Capri 103-116 (misc) - ~13,300 sq. feet

Total used - 120,000 sq. feet (approx)

Rio -

Pavilion - 64,000 sq. feet
Amazon - 39,000 sq. feet
Brasilia - 20,000 sq. feet
Miranda - 11,000 sq. feet
Smaller meeting rooms - ~17,000 sq. feet (quick add, errors abound!)

Total - 152,000 sq. feet (approx)

The Riv space included the Top of the Riv rooms, but that's not THAT big. I feel like they must have included hallways in their count.

So, what are your predictions for what they're going to do with all this extra space? Same number of room, just more space in each one? More contests? Multiple "skybox"-like smaller talks? I imagine more tracks would be a negative, given that some of the track 1 talks had huge lines.

I'm looking forward to seeing it though.

Mel

[Clutch]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

I am hoping they have a reliable shuttle to and from the airport... That is something I really think would benefit a lot of us.

[BlackOrchid]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

POOLS!!! I'm sold! Now we need to control at least ONE!

[LupusMaximus]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

This came up in another discussion space and was answered by another person with the following URL and news stories:

Metro: Prostitution, drug activity found at topless Rio Pool Published Wednesday, July 29, 2009 | 1:37 p.m.

Shortly before that...

Rio closes topless pool after Metro Police checkPublished Tuesday, July 28, 2009 | 5:28 p.m.

This was 2009. Maybe things have changed.

Google search for more: Google: topless pool prostitution rio closed arrest drugs

Who needs naked boobies when you have Defcon?

Oh well. I was speaking more on behalf of the defcon girls who liked to skinny dip at the riviera, who were quickly chased off by security. I was hoping they'd have a safer place to venture. :)

[TheCotMan]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

...Aaand, one of the pools is topless, as in, they ENCOURAGE bare boobies. Yeah, I think we'll fit in just fine.

This came up in another discussion space and was answered by another person with the following URL and news stories:

Metro: Prostitution, drug activity found at topless Rio Pool Published Wednesday, July 29, 2009 | 1:37 p.m.

Shortly before that...

Rio closes topless pool after Metro Police checkPublished Tuesday, July 28, 2009 | 5:28 p.m.

This was 2009. Maybe things have changed.

Google search for more: Google: topless pool prostitution rio closed arrest drugs

Who needs naked boobies when you have Defcon?

[LupusMaximus]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

The pools are way nicer:

The Rio Pools:

...Aaand, one of the pools is topless, as in, they ENCOURAGE bare boobies. Yeah, I think we'll fit in just fine.

[greatscott]

Re: Defcon 19: [So tell me about the Rio] (recon and intel)

The pools are way nicer:

The Rio Pools: