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I've done this once, each year, so let's start it up again this year:
(Example from last year)
How would you make Defcon better?
Please provide constructive criticism for things you think are not as good as they could be, and suggest ways that these things could be improved. It is possible that your ideas may have been considered and maybe dismissed before. It is also possible that you have a new and original idea.
Please, no flaming, or complaining unless you contribute to solutions and ideas.
Thanks!
Some examples:
Raise cost of Defcon badge to be evenly divisible by $20 bills: ATM spit out $20 dollar bills, and the only denomination needed to make change if two $100 are offered is $20 bills -- no need for $50 dollar bills or $10 dollar bills. Simplifying currency and what is needed to make change could help speed the registration process. (People paying with $20 dollar bills provide denominations necessary for change when $100 bills are provided.) Move it to $160 instead of $150.
Consider closing registration Saturday and not open on Sunday, then open for a few hours Wed. night for people that arrive early. This creates several complications:
* Staffing people to work on Wednesday, and dealing with the return of black badges -- this would likely mean at least one person working on Sunday. :-/
* Who would want to also work Sunday if Wed. night sales is added?
* For goons that are at BlackHat, moving operation for Wed. night sales would likely be quite a bit of a crunch, and may not even be possible.
For black badge token to get a free badge, consider taking $20 and a snail mail address for those that fail to pick up their black badges. The $20 goes to shipping and handling for those that forget, and those that remember get their badge and the $20 back. If the last day to buy badges is Saturday, then arrangements could be made to let people pick up their black badges after badge sales close on Saturday.
SmartPhones are an effective replacement for radios when there is a need to broadcast an announcement to many "Human" attendees. With these, twitter provides attendees with a way to receive announcements....
Speaker tracks and clearing rooms:
If it does not exist, create a new twitter feed like, "Defcon_Talks," and announce through that as soon as it is known a room will have to be cleared of existing audience members before letting the next audience in.
The same twitter feed could also announce last-minute changes in rooms, swaps in speakers, or other speaker-related content. Last-minute speaker-track changes were announced in the Information booth twitter feed, but maybe these could go into a separate feed?
Information Booth: https://twitter.com/#!/dcib
This was a good idea for last year, and I'd like to see it return. Maybe announce answers to questions that become FAQ, as well as the existing content. It would also be good for its existence to be announced long before Defcon and be in the program. It is a useful source of information.
Security goons, or dispatch or both:
Is there useful information that attendees could use as a twitter feed from one or both of these? Instead of repeating the same request in hallways, verbally, would it make sense to save your voices, and tweet directions to people on how they should line up, and what they should not do? Is there any kind of information that could be announced to decrease the distances you all have to walk while at Defcon? I totally understand how many security goons have a strong distaste of twitter, and when the crap hits the fan, your first thoughts are not, "OMG! I need to send out a tweet about this!" your first thoughts are resolution of problems, but not all problems are like this. Some problems are the same every year, with a need to re-educate the slow, or new, or uninformed.
When video feed to rooms broke (as a result of power problem or network being unplugged, or something like this) last year, Lockheed tweeted an update on the feed being broken and let people know someone was working on fixing it. Without updates like this, and notices and updates, people watching presentations in their rooms may choose to visit the speaking track in-person, and further clog the hallways, or force the need to empty rooms between talks. Don't get me wrong here, when the video feeds broke, Lock was pretty responsive on twitter, but few people even knew to follow him to get updates, and without knowing that work was being done and a fix was coming soon. Without knowing the problem was being addressed, Defcon shut-ins might have left their rooms to grow the crowds in the public spaces, causing the problems we associate with, "too many people." (There is no need to break off a tangent here as complain about these people missing out on Defcon, or suggest that it might be good for these shut-ins to get out and socialize. We've discussed this before.)
What are your ideas on how Defcon could be improved?
What did you find as new from last year that you think should return?
Is there anything that you saw last year, which could be improved, and you have ideas on how to improve it?
What would make Defcon better, and how would you implement it?
Do the suggestions above suck? If so, how do they suck, and how would you change them or improve them?
(Example from last year)
How would you make Defcon better?
Please provide constructive criticism for things you think are not as good as they could be, and suggest ways that these things could be improved. It is possible that your ideas may have been considered and maybe dismissed before. It is also possible that you have a new and original idea.
Please, no flaming, or complaining unless you contribute to solutions and ideas.
Thanks!
Some examples:
Raise cost of Defcon badge to be evenly divisible by $20 bills: ATM spit out $20 dollar bills, and the only denomination needed to make change if two $100 are offered is $20 bills -- no need for $50 dollar bills or $10 dollar bills. Simplifying currency and what is needed to make change could help speed the registration process. (People paying with $20 dollar bills provide denominations necessary for change when $100 bills are provided.) Move it to $160 instead of $150.
Consider closing registration Saturday and not open on Sunday, then open for a few hours Wed. night for people that arrive early. This creates several complications:
* Staffing people to work on Wednesday, and dealing with the return of black badges -- this would likely mean at least one person working on Sunday. :-/
* Who would want to also work Sunday if Wed. night sales is added?
* For goons that are at BlackHat, moving operation for Wed. night sales would likely be quite a bit of a crunch, and may not even be possible.
For black badge token to get a free badge, consider taking $20 and a snail mail address for those that fail to pick up their black badges. The $20 goes to shipping and handling for those that forget, and those that remember get their badge and the $20 back. If the last day to buy badges is Saturday, then arrangements could be made to let people pick up their black badges after badge sales close on Saturday.
SmartPhones are an effective replacement for radios when there is a need to broadcast an announcement to many "Human" attendees. With these, twitter provides attendees with a way to receive announcements....
Speaker tracks and clearing rooms:
If it does not exist, create a new twitter feed like, "Defcon_Talks," and announce through that as soon as it is known a room will have to be cleared of existing audience members before letting the next audience in.
The same twitter feed could also announce last-minute changes in rooms, swaps in speakers, or other speaker-related content. Last-minute speaker-track changes were announced in the Information booth twitter feed, but maybe these could go into a separate feed?
Information Booth: https://twitter.com/#!/dcib
This was a good idea for last year, and I'd like to see it return. Maybe announce answers to questions that become FAQ, as well as the existing content. It would also be good for its existence to be announced long before Defcon and be in the program. It is a useful source of information.
Security goons, or dispatch or both:
Is there useful information that attendees could use as a twitter feed from one or both of these? Instead of repeating the same request in hallways, verbally, would it make sense to save your voices, and tweet directions to people on how they should line up, and what they should not do? Is there any kind of information that could be announced to decrease the distances you all have to walk while at Defcon? I totally understand how many security goons have a strong distaste of twitter, and when the crap hits the fan, your first thoughts are not, "OMG! I need to send out a tweet about this!" your first thoughts are resolution of problems, but not all problems are like this. Some problems are the same every year, with a need to re-educate the slow, or new, or uninformed.
When video feed to rooms broke (as a result of power problem or network being unplugged, or something like this) last year, Lockheed tweeted an update on the feed being broken and let people know someone was working on fixing it. Without updates like this, and notices and updates, people watching presentations in their rooms may choose to visit the speaking track in-person, and further clog the hallways, or force the need to empty rooms between talks. Don't get me wrong here, when the video feeds broke, Lock was pretty responsive on twitter, but few people even knew to follow him to get updates, and without knowing that work was being done and a fix was coming soon. Without knowing the problem was being addressed, Defcon shut-ins might have left their rooms to grow the crowds in the public spaces, causing the problems we associate with, "too many people." (There is no need to break off a tangent here as complain about these people missing out on Defcon, or suggest that it might be good for these shut-ins to get out and socialize. We've discussed this before.)
What are your ideas on how Defcon could be improved?
What did you find as new from last year that you think should return?
Is there anything that you saw last year, which could be improved, and you have ideas on how to improve it?
What would make Defcon better, and how would you implement it?
Do the suggestions above suck? If so, how do they suck, and how would you change them or improve them?
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