First time attending DEFCON

[MisterMaple]

Hey all!

This year will be my first time attending DEFCON and I was wondering what you long-time DEFCON attendees recommend for a newbie like me.

Super stoked to go and looking forward to expanding my knowledge!

[number6]

Hey all!

This year will be my first time attending DEFCON and I was wondering what you long-time DEFCON attendees recommend for a newbie like me.

Super stoked to go and looking forward to expanding my knowledge!

For several years, one of the DEF CON Goons (volunteers that are part of the organizing and services offered by DEF CON -- not all volunteers at DEF CON are goons) has worked to curate a list of helpful links and data on a DEF CON Reddit space. ( qumqats ) on reddit has provided this:
URL1=https://www.reddit.com/r/Defcon/comm...ing_enjoyment/

It is a great first summary of things happening and links to find out about things that are happening, both official and unofficial.

It covers these:

Hacker Tracker - Android and IOS - the official DEF CON schedule app
The ONE! - A consolidated DEFCON 32 schedule - html, PDF, CSV, ICAL, Google calendar
info.defcon.org - the official DEF CON InfoBooth site

HackerTracker has many features, but as an app it runs code. If you trust HackerTracker (and many people do) there are many features to help you learn about and plan your DEF CON.

https://info.defcon.org/ is content from the web server, but that content requires enabling javaScript to display it. Maybe you do not trust JavaScript? Most people don't seem to care and are happy to use info.defcon.org.

As another option, qumqats provides "The One" ( https://defcon.outel.org which has had many options for download, including formats that are text with markup, for those that are truly paranoid. ("The One" may include unofficial things or things that are not officially part of DEF CON. )

From the above, you have information about how to find out what is planned to happen at DEF CON.

Review all schedules (some schedules are not yet available) and build a plan of everything you want to do every hour of every day, with 2 or 3 alternates in case the thing you want to do is canceled or moved to another time. You will want to have some idea what things are planned every hour so that you are not wasting any time at DEF CON trying to decide.

Next, be prepared to 100% abandon your plans. Do not become trapped by your plans. Your plans are not to tell you want you need to do! Your plans are to tell you about things you were interested in checking out. It is entirely possible something you never planned for may happen which is far superior to the things in your plan. Be ready to abandon your plans and follow what appears to be a better option.

Next, there are generally 2 choices at this point:

(1) Many people are strong proponents of doing one thing their whole DEF CON, especially a thing that encourages them to be on a team with other people, to get to know a small number of people really well, and have fun with them at DEF CON. 3 of the most common things which seem to meet this criteria have bee: (1) The Scavenger Hunt, (2) DC DarkNet, and (3) Badge Puzzle contests (when they are planned to happen.) All of these strongly encourage a team of attendees to work together to solve a puzzle, a mystery or complete an objective as a team.

(2) Many people strongly support the idea that all people new to DEF CON should try a little bit of everything to find out what they like, and then use that to inform their future visits to DEF CON.


Some people tell you to leave your tech at home, and be social. This has an element of truth: if you are emersed in social networking on a device, you are missing out on DEF CON. However, there are people that attend DEF CON and need their tech to help them compete in contests, or solve puzzles or mysteries. This then breaks this idea into 2: bring tech and use it to help you with your DEF CON experience, but spending time on social networking on devices wastes your DEF CON time.

There are often several "chill out" spaces and many DEF CON people will hang out in these spaces to talk. Many of them are happy to accept a new person to a conversation, if they are not going to be a jerk about it. There are a smaller number of groups that are more like cliques which do not welcome new members, but from my experience, groups that practice exclusivity in not allowing new members are often filled with gate-keepers and people that restrict information, relying on reciprocity. Some of the most brilliant people at DEF CON are happy and excited to talk about things they have discovered, and their hobbies. Make an effort to be social. A common technique is to walk up to a group of people talking and spend time listening to what they are talking about. If the topics interest you, and you find no evidence that group doesn't want you with them, and you have something to contribute to the topic, then try making a comment about it. You may often find introductions don't take place until after conversations.

Be honest with your capabilities. You do not need to volunteer PII, but you don't have to lie. For example, if you are in High School (in USA, usually grades 9-12 or 10-12 for people usually in the age of around 14-16 years old to 18 years old) and you presently work fast food service flipping burgers, it is okay to reduce that to, "I'm still in High Shool, and work in food services, but I am learning about $your_interest and $other_interest in my spare time." Being honest allows others to understand your skill level, and can sometimes open the door for a learning opportunity.

Lying about your skills can quickly be discovered, when you are asked questions about your claimed skills, and you don't answer event simple questions, or the answers expose your lies.

Be honest about who you are and what you know, but no need to provide details: general answers are usually fine. Want to only go by a nickname? Ok! Do that. If you don't want to say where you are from, you can be more general and go with "Earth" or "a planet in the Sol system" or "somewhere in the Milky Way galaxy." All of these are true but generalizations. You get the idea?

Do you know anyone that will be at DEF CON which has attended before? If they will be there again this year, and they know you well enough, ask them what they think you will enjoy the most.

Is there a DEF CON Group or 2600 group or Maker Group or HackerSpace near you? Get to know members, especially if any will be going to DEF CON, so you will know people at DEF CON before you go to DEF CON.

Another consideration? There has been a "Lonely Hackers Club" (see the reddit thread for links and https://forum.defcon.org/node/249761
It is basically a social thing at DEF CON for people that maybe are visiting alone, or have been abandoned by others. Establishing some kind of social involvement can introduce you to things at or around DEF CON that you may not have heard about.

Speaker tracks: many people will tell you, "oh, don't go to the speaker tracks if they are recorded: they will be online a few months later and you can watch them then." There is value to visiting a presentation in person. Not all presentations are recorded. In some cases, after a presentation, the speaker may ask if people have questions: this provides you an opportunity to ask them -- something a recorded video does not provide.

A comment on goons.... some goons have a very specific role at DEF CON and are unable to complete that role and also answer questions. Please don't be offended if a goon walking the halls is unable to answer a question you have. There are usually "Info Booths" at various locations around DEF CON. Those information booth goons are usually plugged into the latest information about what is happening at DEF CON, or can find answers to questions about DEF CON -- that is their specialization. Questions on-site are best taken to these information booth locations to ask goons that work them. (For example, there may be a goon working speaker support, and there is a technical problem with a presentation that requires their presence to fix... every moment they delay getting to the location they need to fix the problem harms the speaker and the audience. Delaying their goal harms more people than it helps.)

There are many volunteers at DEF CON who are not goons. People running villages, contests, events, parties, communities, DemoLabs, vendors, and more are often attended DEF CON to provide content to all of the attendees that have an interest in it. Actual goons have goon badges and goon shirts for the current year (in this case, for 2024, they would have "DEF CON 32" goon shirts) and goons have some indication of their name or nickname somewhere.

Last, DEF CON has become what it is as a result of attendees deciding they liked it and wanted to improve it. If you find problems and can offer suggestions on ways to address them, please let us know. We often have a thread on the forums or reddit or mastodon where we ask for feedback. That can help up make DEF CON better. Some people decide they want to run a contest or start a village. If that kind of things interests you , there is a "Call for $thing" for each different kind of thing. That historically starts as early as November or December of the previous year, and each call may close early in the same year of that DEF CON.

DEF CON is what you make of it: choose your own path, and learn what works for you.

Good luck!

[MisterMaple]

Thank you SO MUCH number6! This is very in-depth and informative! A large part of my plan is to network. I've recently returned to a more Cyber focused role and my skills have absolutely atrophied, so I'm hoping to attend talks and workshops that will help me regain a lot of what I've lost. Luckily, I do know a few people who will be attending and they did mention they have a few people for me to meet.

Again, thank you wholeheartedly for all this wonderful information. Can't wait for the conference!