defcon 23 Sober Meetup Planning

[EdselDunstable]

So we turned the "first ever DEF CON Sober Meetup" (official defcon booklet, pg 14) from a complete failure into the beginnings of something that hopefully won't suck next year.

For those of you that left early, we went ahead and started planning for next year.

Since defcon isn't going to do it for us, we'll do if for defcon.

Below are my notes from the impromptu planning session. It is a list of things that would be great to have for next year, but we fully realize that many may not be possible and we'll have to do most of the work ourselves.

---

Things we want:

• Lights

Things to do:

• games
  1. Hackers Against Humanity (I have a set)
  2. Boardgames
  3. Cards Against Humanity (again, I have a set)
  4. Munchkins
  5. Dartboard
  6. Gaming system

Chairs, tables, bean-bag chairs.

Drinks:

• Soft drinks
• Smoothies
• Fruit juices
• Water
• Coffee
• Teas

Music: some quiet "chill-out" background music

Venue: Someplace where we don't have to walk through drunk alley in order to get there

Idea: off-site movie night, off-site bowling night, sober dinner night

Sober Badge (we'll make this and distribute it ourselves)

T-Shirts (again, we'll make and distribute these ourselves):

• "I'm Sober: You Can Trust Me With Your Wallet & Keys"
• "Trust Me - I'm Sober"

---

Again, the above was the start of an idea, with the recognition that many items on the list may not be possible and we'll have to do most of the work ourselves.

If you want to contribute, we'll use this thread for now, and move elsewhere if needed.

[TheCotMan]

Re: defcon 23 Sober Meetup Planning

So we turned the "first ever DEF CON Sober Meetup" (official defcon booklet, pg 14) from a complete failure into the beginnings of something that hopefully won't suck next year.

For those of you that left early, we went ahead and started planning for next year.

Since defcon isn't going to do it for us, we'll do if for defcon.

Below are my notes from the impromptu planning session. It is a list of things that would be great to have for next year, but we fully realize that many may not be possible and we'll have to do most of the work ourselves.

---

Things we want:

• Lights

Things to do:

• games
  1. Hackers Against Humanity (I have a set)
  2. Boardgames
  3. Cards Against Humanity (again, I have a set)
  4. Munchkins
  5. Dartboard
  6. Gaming system

Chairs, tables, bean-bag chairs.

Drinks:

• Soft drinks
• Smoothies
• Fruit juices
• Water
• Coffee
• Teas

Music: some quiet "chill-out" background music

Venue: Someplace where we don't have to walk through drunk alley in order to get there

Idea: off-site movie night, off-site bowling night, sober dinner night

Sober Badge (we'll make this and distribute it ourselves)

T-Shirts (again, we'll make and distribute these ourselves):

• "I'm Sober: You Can Trust Me With Your Wallet & Keys"
• "Trust Me - I'm Sober"

---

Again, the above was the start of an idea, with the recognition that many items on the list may not be possible and we'll have to do most of the work ourselves.

If you want to contribute, we'll use this thread for now, and move elsewhere if needed.

Keep planning, engage in collaboration, and be ready to submit your idea with the RFI from C/E goes live. Consider starting a twitter account now, and begin discussion on twitter and/or facebook to engage people while memories of DEF CON are still fresh in their minds.

Glad you decided to post this idea, and planning on the forums.

Good luck!
-Cot

[blocked]

Re: defcon 23 Sober Meetup Planning

After the "Meetup", I spoke to someone within the DC22 planning group that was sympathetic to our cause. If we are willing to do the work (have chair-people for each day) he is willing to find us a meeting room space for a daily (noonish?, evening?) meeting.

If we don't think we can pull off a daily meeting, I think it would be good to move the meetup earlier in the week (maybe opening night?) so that we can connect earlier in the con.

[spacy]

Re: defcon 23 Sober Meetup Planning

I'm willing to pitch in, having been there at the previous meetup.

[Nikita]

Re: defcon 23 Sober Meetup Planning

So we turned the "first ever DEF CON Sober Meetup" (official defcon booklet, pg 14) from a complete failure into the beginnings of something that hopefully won't suck next year.

For those of you that left early, we went ahead and started planning for next year.

Since defcon isn't going to do it for us, we'll do if for defcon.

Below are my notes from the impromptu planning session. It is a list of things that would be great to have for next year, but we fully realize that many may not be possible and we'll have to do most of the work ourselves.

---

Things we want:

• Lights

Things to do:

• games
  1. Hackers Against Humanity (I have a set)
  2. Boardgames
  3. Cards Against Humanity (again, I have a set)
  4. Munchkins
  5. Dartboard
  6. Gaming system

Chairs, tables, bean-bag chairs.

Drinks:

• Soft drinks
• Smoothies
• Fruit juices
• Water
• Coffee
• Teas

Music: some quiet "chill-out" background music

Venue: Someplace where we don't have to walk through drunk alley in order to get there

Idea: off-site movie night, off-site bowling night, sober dinner night

Sober Badge (we'll make this and distribute it ourselves)

T-Shirts (again, we'll make and distribute these ourselves):

• "I'm Sober: You Can Trust Me With Your Wallet & Keys"
• "Trust Me - I'm Sober"

---

Again, the above was the start of an idea, with the recognition that many items on the list may not be possible and we'll have to do most of the work ourselves.

If you want to contribute, we'll use this thread for now, and move elsewhere if needed.

Apologies, as I stated in the other thread: The person who was planning this, became very ill and last minute cancelled their attendance to DEF CON. The deployment of the signs was not adjusted for this, it should'nt have been up and perhaps we could have tried to "save" the space, but on the fly at DEFCON some things just can't be saved.

We did discuss having a meeting space available if someone wanted to hold a meeting ( 12 step support) if needed. There is no objection to this from an official standpoint. I'm happy to see that someone is wanting to run with it, and I am very sorry that it was a complete failure as far as set up for this year.

[blocked]

Re: defcon 23 Sober Meetup Planning

Apologies, as I stated in the other thread: The person who was planning this, became very ill and last minute cancelled their attendance to DEF CON. The deployment of the signs was not adjusted for this, it should'nt have been up and perhaps we could have tried to "save" the space, but on the fly at DEFCON some things just can't be saved.

We did discuss having a meeting space available if someone wanted to hold a meeting ( 12 step support) if needed. There is no objection to this from an official standpoint. I'm happy to see that someone is wanting to run with it, and I am very sorry that it was a complete failure as far as set up for this year.

Nikita,

Thank you for supporting this effort and I hope you don't think I was criticizing anyone at DEFCON. Part of any 12 step program is being "fully self-supporting." I hadn't expected there to be a sober space or I would have come better prepared. I appreciated that the DC leadership carved out a space for us. Next year it is on _us_ to make sure the meeting space servies it's purpose. That was the purpose of brainstorming ideas for next year.

Thank you,
blocked

[blocked]

Re: defcon 23 Sober Meetup Planning

I had a great call today with a person involved with DC23 planning and I believe we are on the path to having a space for a daily meeting (sometime around noon) with a coffee pot. The meeting room and meeting time will be included in the DC schedule.

-blocked

[blocked]

Just leaving this here to make sure everyone sees it. We will have a couple meetings each day. https://defcon.org/html/defcon-23/dc...tml#dc23aameet