DEF CON 31 is over: How would you make DC 32 better?

[number6]

Hello,

It is that time again. Pretend you are Dark Tangent and you are considering changes for DEF CON 32 as a result of how DEF CON 31 worked.
What would you keep?
What would you dump?
What would you change and how would you change it, to make it better?

DEF CON is a community creation made with support and contributions from volunteers in our community. Almost everything you see at DEF CON was the result of someone thinking, "you know what would make this better?" then working with organizers to make their addition into a reality.

How would you make DEF CON 32 better than DEF CON 31?

[trill1990]

Totally loved DC31, so thank you to all involved, especially the unsung heroes whose names we never hear.

Please keep pre-registration tickets. Booking long haul flights to attend is way easier to justify when you know for certain you'll be able to get in when you arrive. If you want to make it fair to line con, I don't mind only getting a paper badge if you're stuck for supply, as long as I can get into the con. The badges are cool, but I'm really here for the con.

Dump the merch queue. If you moved merch to also do pre-orders with collection available throughout the event, you could save a lot of queuing. It might make stock control easier too?

Change the music - everyone with taste knows heavy metal is superior in every possible way to techno.

[brnz2thnk]

It was my first time at DEFCON and it was without a doubt, one of my most memorable life experiences. Being surrounded with so many talented and incredible individuals with passion for learning, sharing and helping- shout out to our loved goons - is definitely something I’ll remember forever.

For the next year, I’ll participate in one of the many contexts and dig deeper in a few subjects. My first time was for exploration and now I know what DEFCON has to offer, so I can focus more on a few things. Which will be great because one of the things I thought was not so great was the lines for the talks or activities in the villages.

RedTeam, Social Engineering, AI, definitely need more room space. I got the paper badge and was hoping to get the one handed out to pre-registered folks - as Dark Tangent mentioned that it would be swapped to - but I agree with @trill1990, the best part was to be part of it.

Overall, given the size and complexity of such an event, it was absolutely great but being prepared for the amount of people attending is definitely THE place to start and improve.

[sital]

This was my kid's first DC. The content for kids was great, we enjoyed the meetup, party, and the SEC Youth Challenge. As much as we enjoyed it, we'd love to see more kid's content.

[number6]

What content for kids did you child like? What did your child wish they would cover more, or provide more of when checking out content?

[sital]

number6 commented-

" What content for kids did you child like? What did your child wish they would cover more, or provide more of when checking out content?"

Soldering badges was the biggest hit, but we spent the majority of the con working on the SEC Youth Challenge, so that was clearly a winner. The kids' party and AIV/BTV Pool party '(not kids' content, but all-ages) were a lot of fun as well.
I think a little more technical content targeted for kids would be fantastic. Many of the villages had one or two activities that were appropriate for my child, but more would be even better. If they find something they like, it would be nice to be able to give them more to play with right away.

All in all we accomplished what I wanted for the trip, and that was to gauge interest in various topics, and now that I know they like soldering, we're working on some basic hardware projects.

[himple]

Hope VETCON continues on too. It was great to see other current and ex-members. Other than that, just keep DEFCON going and improving.

[Catblade]

WE NEED A KIDS FORUM, PLEASE. I have a bunch of suggestions for improvement and some general guidance in keeping everyone's sanity.

[sital]

This would be fantastic. I have heard the kids' content would be expanded this year, and I just came here looking for information on changes.

[mm00re]

I have to say that I wish Skytalks were going to be at DC32. There were so many interesting talks that I was able to manage in the past.

[number6]

Though not at DEF CON, they have announced plans to be at https://bsideslv.org/ from their website: https://skytalks.info/
With Bsides Las Vegas presently scheduled the Tuesday and Wednesday before DEF CON, you could make sure your travel plans allow to you to attend Bsides Las Vegas in 2024, and then see Bsides Las Vegas SkyTalks.

This can be a bonus for people that would watch them at DEF CON: now Skytalks are not in conflict with everything else happening on-site at DEF CON.