Cas Anvar “The Expanse”

[MaVanwolf]

How does one go about inviting such a prestigious person to DEFCON? I ask because in conversation earlier today, he stated if he were to be invited to DEFCON in Vegas, he would be much obliged to see my fan built Roci pilot chair build that was sponsored by a vendor and will be at their booth. Would be interesting to invite him as a guest speaker. He’s pretty much well versed in a myriad of subjects.
Thank you

[number6]

How does one go about inviting such a prestigious person to DEFCON? I ask because in conversation earlier today, he stated if he were to be invited to DEFCON in Vegas, he would be much obliged to see my fan built Roci pilot chair build that was sponsored by a vendor and will be at their booth. Would be interesting to invite him as a guest speaker. He’s pretty much well versed in a myriad of subjects.
Thank you

* The normal process:
People are invited to submit a talk during the "CFP" (Call for Papers) when it is announced.

People interested in presenting as a speaker at DEF CON then complete the process to create a paper on what they plan to discuss with details on how it i relevant to people attending DEF CON and then the CFP review board considers it with all of the other papers submitted, and then they provide feedback to the submitter on their submission.

Some times the feedback is provided with encouragement to resubmit with changes, and the would-be speaker acts upon by the feedback, and they re-submit with changes.
Sometimes it is then accepted.

* The less normal process:
There are rare cases where an individual associated with topics that have a high correlation with people interested in hacking which might not flow entirely through the normal process. One example might have been Adam Savage (from Mythbusters) in a presentation on "failure" and how to gain advantage from them and not let them hold you back. Often, exploits happen as a result of a failure in expectations, assumptions, implementation, or concept. The idea of gaining an advantage when there is failure makes sense as a topic, whether the failure of your own doing, or someone else's. He was known to be from a show which included entertainment and often used a scientific process to test hypothesis -- something fairly common when looking for security issues, or trying find ways to use something in ways which they were not designed.

Speaking as someone NOT in the group that reviews CFP or makes decisions about content for the con, the best advice for getting an invitation is consider a topic of presentation which has to do with hacking, computer security, etc. and be of interest to the attendees of DEF CON and then take that as a suggestion for topic.

More advice? Find a topic which is of interest to the attendees of DEF CON *and* which the would-be speaker is passionate about. Maybe elements of social engineering and attempting to exploit a social network to get a new job? Maybe a hobby in disassembling tech to repair it? Maybe an interest in old technology and working to keep it running with non-standard parts because standard parts are no longer available; for this case, a description of the process used to make the non-standard parts or re-purpose them, and how they were made to work would be preferred over just telling what was done.

It can also be a collection of personal items which demonstrate hacking in their own life, to help them get to where they are.

The above is a general collection of information.

I won't speak for the CFP board, or people that can select speakers outside of the CFP process, but some of them read these forums. They may respond to you directly or in PM.

Sorry I can't be more specific.

[MaVanwolf]

Thank you so much for that. I’m hoping for a pm because I honestly wouldn’t even know where to start in writing and coordinating a proposal and invitation and explain the CFP process to him. I can toss this out there to him and hope he sees it in time.

[MaVanwolf]

I just talked to Cas again this time through Zoom. I just emailed his agent with all the information pertinent to the con, I’m guessing now I just wait for a reply or you guys get his CFP maybe.

[Dark Tangent]

Fantastic, let us know his interest please.

[MaVanwolf]

I haven't heard anything yet. I think everything is hinging on travel restrictions and/or if he will be in the area at the time. He did say he will be traveling around that particular time of the year which is fantastic. Also I suck at trying to convey messages or directions to anyone... Hopefully all is going good

[MaVanwolf]

Well, thats hard news. But also at the same time, I've had to put my chair build on hold because of working for the Medical Reserve Corps. Every day this week I've been working at a testing site in various positions (assisting the doc with symptomatics that show up to Asymptomatic testing, or menial positions like handing out exit review paperwork). The week before was all prep and taking reservations, correcting errors in data. Next two weeks are call backs for results and again reviewing data. I just want to get back to my chair build.