DEF CON 25 planning forum is open

[TheCotMan]

Usually I do not open the planning forum for the following DEF CON until it is announced and a few weeks or months have passed since closing last DEF CON. I'm guessing it makes more sens to open up the new forum for DEF CON 25 planning now, since reservations for rooms are now open.

Forum opened!

[mimi83]

Awesome. Quick question, how does one become a DEFCON Volunteer for 2017? I am moving to Vegas in December and would love to help out where needed. Thanks!

[TheCotMan]

Awesome. Quick question, how does one become a DEFCON Volunteer for 2017? I am moving to Vegas in December and would love to help out where needed. Thanks!

Find a village, contest, event, party or goon department that you would really enjoy working with, and contact the person or people that run that, and ask them if they need help.

Another option? Start a new contest, event, village, or party and run through the usual process to get it approved with DEF CON resources (space, etc) at DEF CON, and then you can run your own thing, and recruit your own volunteers.

Think hard about becoming a volunteer. A huge majority of volunteers are not paid. Many first-year volunteers gain no free bonuses (no free badges, etc.) the first year they volunteer. This means may first year volunteers pay for their own badge and hotel room to volunteer. Some volunteers spend a majority of their con entire con in a village, or other locations, they often miss out on many other events.

HTH,
-Cot

[sg024847!]

Calling all village, contest, event, party or goon departments! I am a Masters student in Cyber Security and I will be attending Blackhat for the first time this year and am so excited. I would really love to stay for Def Con as well but I don't know that I would have the extra money to do so but I would love to be a volunteer! Is anyone looking for a very helpful, eager to learn, fun volunteer to help them out at Def Con 2017? I will pay my own accomodations etc., I'm just looking for a pass to the event for free in exchange for slave labor. :) Please send me a direct message if so! Thanks so much.

[TheCotMan]

Calling all village, contest, event, party or goon departments! I am a Masters student in Cyber Security and I will be attending Blackhat for the first time this year and am so excited. I would really love to stay for Def Con as well but I don't know that I would have the extra money to do so but I would love to be a volunteer! Is anyone looking for a very helpful, eager to learn, fun volunteer to help them out at Def Con 2017? I will pay my own accomodations etc., I'm just looking for a pass to the event for free in exchange for slave labor. :) Please send me a direct message if so! Thanks so much.

Volunteering at DEF CON is easy enough -- find people running things that need your help and help them or start your own thing. Most volunteers do not get any free passes. They sometimes get swag or a tee shirt. Some volunteers pay for a badge and then volunteer to work after paying to attend.

The usual method for recruitment in most spaces (villages, contest, vendors, DEF CON departmental goons) is through friend-of-a-friend. A known volunteer with a reasonably good reputation knows you and of your skills, and when there is a need for more help, they suggest their friend. It is very much like a resume or C.V. through oral tradition. This is how things grow organically. This is why you almost never see job postings for volunteers at any space in DEF CON.

Do you know anyone personally that is running something at DEF CON? If so, ask them directly.
If you do not know anyone, consider joining a local DCG and get to know people and let other people know you. If any of them are running or ever plan to run something at DEF CON, you can express your interest to them.
Be sure that volunteering is really for you. Many volunteers work most of the DEF CON leaving little room to enjoy some of the other social items. If your volunteer work forces you to choose between a talk, or event, or party and the volunteer work, which will you choose? How will you feel about that choice?
Have you been to DEF CON before? If not, your lack of experience with how things run, and your lack of knowledge in answering *some* questions will make you a less desirable volunteer than someone else that has your same skills but the experience of volunteering before, or attending before.

Good luck!
-Cot

[KaliWithMints]

Hey where do you we pay for entrance to DefCon? And how much?

[TheCotMan]

Hey where do you we pay for entrance to DefCon? And how much?

If you check the FAQ:

URL1=https://defcon.org/html/links/dc-faq/dc-faq.html

How much is admission DEF CON, and do you take credit cards?

DEF CON 25 costs (TBA) USD cash. Do we take credit cards? Are you JOKING? No, we only accept cash - no checks, no money orders, no travelers checks. We don't want to be a target of any State or Federal fishing expeditions.

You can see the price of DEF CON 25 is TBD (To Be Determined) but if you search for the "$" char in the FAQ, you can see the price last year was:

DEF CON is too expensive, how can I afford it?
[chop]
Entrance: $240 can be saved
[chop]

The $240 quoted there was for last year. Prices usually stay the same or go up in price, so you can assume prices for next year at DEF CON 25 will be at least $240, but may be more.

Where will DEF CON 25 badges be available for sale? That is also TBD. Usually, they are made available near where the convention is located. If the convention is going to be in Caesars Palace, then badge sales will probably take place near the Caesar's Palace Convention Center.

Since this is the first year at the Caesar's Palace Convention Center, details on badge sales are likely still being worked out. Since there was an estimate of over 20,000 people last year, the process of processing the sales of badges to ~20,000 people is a difficult one. Is there any place that 20,000 people can be "stored" while also setting up spaces for use?

The FAQ should contain answers to both of these questions as we get closer to con. Earliest I would expect answers would be January. Try checking back then.

Good luck!
-Cot

[mimi83]

Find a village, contest, event, party or goon department that you would really enjoy working with, and contact the person or people that run that, and ask them if they need help.

Another option? Start a new contest, event, village, or party and run through the usual process to get it approved with DEF CON resources (space, etc) at DEF CON, and then you can run your own thing, and recruit your own volunteers.

Think hard about becoming a volunteer. A huge majority of volunteers are not paid. Many first-year volunteers gain no free bonuses (no free badges, etc.) the first year they volunteer. This means may first year volunteers pay for their own badge and hotel room to volunteer. Some volunteers spend a majority of their con entire con in a village, or other locations, they often miss out on many other events.

HTH,
-Cot

Awesome. Not to worried about accommodations. I am local. I have volunteered at other conferences so missing something won't be an issue. I will look into finding a local group here in Vegas.

Thanks so much for responding.