Ideas for Defcon 15

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

If none of the other ideas work, we could use sandwich boards...

sandwich boards would (in my humble prediction) be almost instantly knocked over and would be hardly readable unless you're right in front of them. i feel very strongly that we should look into solutions that would result in large signage being prominently displayed above head height on the walls, preferably over the doorways.

this could be accomplished either with banners strung between poles or with my "projection" idea (which i feel didn't get enough love)

seriously, how hard could these things be to make? i've seen them used by small stores in order to project a cup of coffee or a running shoe onto a city sidewalk outside their business. if a mom and pop footwear company can slap one of these things up, surely we can score/make some. i just can't google for them effectively yet because i don't know the appropriate name that they actually are given.

[artistic_chaos]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

i know that the hotel didn't want anything affixed to the walls, however.

If none of the other ideas work, we could use sandwich boards...

[Voltage Spike]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

But could the talks be in closer rooms?

It may not jibe with the hacker do-it-yourself approach, but I prefer that the talks be spaced as far apart as possible. The setup provides an excellent opportunity to pass through the do-ing areas (contests, social gatherings) whilst enjoying the see-ing areas (talks). If track 1, 2, and 3 were together, then I, personally, would probably end up walking more due to frequent out-and-back trips between presentations. Furthermore, it can sometimes be difficult to convince friends to leave only to come back, and I like the fact that the two essentially different crowds are forced to interact with each other (it was what helped me get into the con all those years back.)

[TheCotMan]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

So I found myself not knowing quite where to go - I mean, there were things that I wanted to go to, but stuff was spaced so far apart that if I stayed for, say, half a lecture to see what it was about, I might as well stay for the whole thing because by the time that I'd get up and go to another one if I didn't find it interesting, the others would be over. I hear this won't be an issue next year if we do get the rooms that were the dart convension this year, so that will be good. But could the talks be in closer rooms? Track 3 was very far from the others, where we might get more people going to talks if they can float around a general 'presentation area'. Then people in a general 'doing stuff' or 'buying stuff' area can make piles of noise without bothering presenters. (This was my first con, so I don't know if that's how stuff has been in the past or not.)

One of the side-effects of growing, means more space to use, and greater distances to walk.

(Ouch my feet.)

At the Alexis Park, there was opportunity for presentations to be spread even further apart, due to use of portable tents in parking lots, or on the roof, and use of rooms, several twists and turns down hallways away from another room.

Distance to walk from one presentation to another is about the same, but distance to chiil-out spaces, vendor rooms, an Sky Boxes is much further at the Riv.

Even though this extra walking (and bad shoes) lead to sore feet, I'd keep my sore feet and the Riv, just so I didn't have to deal with the lines of the AP, and the risks associated with them, such as not being able to get into a really good presentation.

The best advice for people new to Defcon is hook up with people you knew before Defcon, and who have been to Defcon before. This can be done by visiting you local Defcon Groups.

The main thing is why are things scheduled for the day? I'm running under the assumption that most of the other con-goers hold similar hours to mine, and that most people aren't really awake for any 'morning' sessions of anything, barring of course people who don't sleep. I'm sure people who run, for example, LPcon don't want to hang out there all night long while the parties are going, but 10AM starting time? Could we schedule things for later in the day? People will be awake until 3 or 6AM anyway, and dragging them out of bed earlier in the day to catch various talks/events might just be wasting precious coffee/redbull (at least in my case). Or possibly, for example with the presentations, have more tracks of talks for shorter periods of time (like from noon until five or something)?

There was a time when Defcon was one track, with very little else in the way of official stuff going on, on the side. I am not a goon, or organizer, but as a casual observer, I can say it appears as though there is an attempt to pack as much as possible into the 3 days defcon officially takes place.
So much stuff is packed into Defcon, that new stuff overflows the previous boundaries.
Defcon now "kind of" starts on Thursday, with badges being sold, The Toxic BBQ, and other unofficial pre-con events like The Summit, and other gatherings, which have increased in size.

Just like everyone else, you have to set your priorities. Some people skip sleep for 3 days. Some people plan on visiting a few key presentations, and let everything else happen as they find interest. Some people spend each day in a contest, or multiple contests, or just lounge around, or sleep until the parties warm up.

On the plus side, in the past, certain presentations and topic come up year, after year. This means, the more conferences you attend, and the more Defcons you attend, the fewer the number of presentations that you have not seen in some shape or form. This gives you more time for other Defcon events , contests or parties.

Overwhelming for first timers? Sure, but that leaves more for next year.

[Z^2]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

So I found myself not knowing quite where to go - I mean, there were things that I wanted to go to, but stuff was spaced so far apart that if I stayed for, say, half a lecture to see what it was about, I might as well stay for the whole thing because by the time that I'd get up and go to another one if I didn't find it interesting, the others would be over. I hear this won't be an issue next year if we do get the rooms that were the dart convension this year, so that will be good. But could the talks be in closer rooms? Track 3 was very far from the others, where we might get more people going to talks if they can float around a general 'presentation area'. Then people in a general 'doing stuff' or 'buying stuff' area can make piles of noise without bothering presenters. (This was my first con, so I don't know if that's how stuff has been in the past or not.)

The main thing is why are things scheduled for the day? I'm running under the assumption that most of the other con-goers hold similar hours to mine, and that most people aren't really awake for any 'morning' sessions of anything, barring of course people who don't sleep. I'm sure people who run, for example, LPcon don't want to hang out there all night long while the parties are going, but 10AM starting time? Could we schedule things for later in the day? People will be awake until 3 or 6AM anyway, and dragging them out of bed earlier in the day to catch various talks/events might just be wasting precious coffee/redbull (at least in my case). Or possibly, for example with the presentations, have more tracks of talks for shorter periods of time (like from noon until five or something)?

[Voltage Spike]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

They didn't seem to have a problem serving alcohol with <21s in the room during the day so I don't see why it would be diff at night.

This is an excellent question, and perhaps one that should be brought up in discussion next year (with regards to the B&W). It is a more sensitive issue for the random parties, but it should be obvious why the hotel relaxes the rules when they are the ones selling the booze.

If you can't find it on the MAIN PAGE of defcon.org, in a HIGHLITED section, you probably don't deserve to be reimbursed.

To be fair to the guy, I believe he posted well before the link was up. Heck, the timestamp on the PDF is 16:19 while that of the post is 10:29 which, even considering likely time zones, is quite a difference.

[octalpus]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

How about having receipts printed for people to take back home with them like in previous years. When I picked up my badge I was told that a receipt would be put up on defcon.org immediately following the convention...

Well, if it's there I can't find it. I've looked through the faq, forums and Google searched the site and still no luck.

Anyone have any ideas as I have to turn in my trip expenses today in order to get reimbursed.

Thanks!

-Brand

If you can't find it on the MAIN PAGE of defcon.org, in a HIGHLITED section, you probably don't deserve to be reimbursed.

[remad]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

This was also my first defcon. If I didn't have friends who had been to a few before I would have been lost when it can to the parties at night. One idea I had was to announce that the hangout areas inside and out would be open at night. This would give a big area to hang out and have a few drinks. They didn't seem to have a problem serving alcohol with <21s in the room during the day so I don't see why it would be diff at night. You could even have the filler videos running on the wall in the room. This would even give more entertainment to the private parties in the skyboxes being able to watch the crowd below. Maybe some mardi gras style action would even start up. Maybe market it as a defcon mardi gras party and encourage costumes?

Just a randumb thought.

Remad

[dYn4mic]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

[...snip...]
As it was, I had a great time, but ended up meeting only single-serving friends. Had there been a designated place for the varied specific interests, I probably would have enjoyed it that much more.

Thanks for the good reply, and clever fight club quote usage. I'd encorage other defcon first timers to respond to this thread especially because of its nature.
Your perspective on things is something that many of us may have trouble thinking of. We can all work to improve the con experiance, but first we must know what should be fixed or improved (if much).

[Kai]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

They had pre-printed receipts on Thursday, maybe they just ran out?

[Grendel]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

How about base jumping off of famous casinos?

Pass. I choose life.

I would like to chime in a bit, since this was my first time to defcon (which was awesome, btw... thanks for a great time!!). One thing that I expected more of was breakout rooms covering different topics, or at least areas where I could meet people with the same interest. Some topics that come to mind would be pentest tools/techniques, OS-specific issues, network-related issues (VPN, VOIP, etc.), and probably rooms designated for local DC groups (I know, there was one such time slot for this, but I missed it, unfortunately). I could add more to this list, but I hope I've provided a general idea of what I was looking for.

I mention this because even though there were many thousands of people there, I had no idea what I had in common with these people, other than speaker topics. I would have liked to been able to find a place to meet with others that had similar interests in a convenient manner. Even if there had been tables in the common area for this, that would have helped. As it was, I had a great time, but ended up meeting only single-serving friends. Had there been a designated place for the varied specific interests, I probably would have enjoyed it that much more.

[DJ Jackalope]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

How about base jumping off of famous casinos?

[mfreeck]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

That would be a pretty cool sight. One huge room would have obvious advantages such as ease of movement, lots of things to look at, lots of people, lots of room.
But also its harder to keep things centralized, harder to do security, maybe noise issues... It would be cool though. Maybe try it out pre-con and see...

Actually, I like the enclosed "village" idea. There are some disadvantages, such as fixed space, but the advantages are they can maximize their space usage without worrying about encroaching on others and a crowd from another area won't spill out and obstruct an unrelated area. Perhaps if you found a way to partition areas, so it still had a "village" feel but was still visible, that would work.

[dYn4mic]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

I think having Kenshoto share a room would really make it suck for the people associated with the whole CTF business, mainly due to all the audio/video in the room and how things are usually pretty dark...

Yeah.. the CTF is the only thing that may not be "compatible".
But, if I was on the CTF (and I plan on it someday soon) I'd want it to be fairly dark.
Helps me focus at least...

[sammo]

Re: Ideas for Defcon 15

That would be a pretty cool sight. One huge room would have obvious advantages such as ease of movement, lots of things to look at, lots of people, lots of room.
But also its harder to keep things centralized, harder to do security, maybe noise issues... It would be cool though. Maybe try it out pre-con and see...

I think having Kenshoto share a room would really make it suck for the people associated with the whole CTF business, mainly due to all the audio/video in the room and how things are usually pretty dark...