Re: Public conferences

[Paul Robertson <proberts () patriot net>]

On Thu, 31 Jul 2003, Kang Choo Kai wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I am really getting bored with the public user conferences, the organiser is
> kind of like hard selling their products and keep on sharing about their own
> products. Can't they come out something more interesting to really benefit
> all the participants?

I tend to avoid most vendor-sponsored conferences for this reason, unless 
teh vendor has significant technical information to impart that's actually 
useful (for instance, I went to Guidance's conference last year and that 
was very useful.  But then, I've yet to go to a computer forensics 
conference that sucked.)

> We would like to know more about the trends of the technology, strength and
> weakness of the technology, the benefits of the technology and so on. Isn't
> this much more interesting rather than just product information?
>
> Anything interesting to share?
>
> how you wan the conference to be like?

Most conferences get people to talk who are with vendors and who have 
products or services to sell.  That tips the utility in quite a strange 
way.  There are conferences which don't do that, such as USENIX Security, 
and you should consider those.  You might also consider user's groups 
where the presentations are not 90% vendor performed, often that's a good 
way to get real information.

The other option is to provide feedback both before the conference starts, 
and after it's over.  Most conference organizers will take feedback into 
account when booking speakers and when requesting topics.  

When I spoke at CeBIT America recently, they were more than happy that 
my Common Criteria presentation was basically a long rant about what 
sucked in Common Criteria.  I remember several years ago, someone on this 
list let me be the "Anti-VPN" speaker on a VPN panel at NISSC, which was 
a great deal of fun, because those with vested interested at the time had 
trouble defending a lot of their enthusiasm for the then-immature 
technology.

I've gotten a lot of feedback about how refreshing it was to not have 
someone pushing the program speaking, so I don't believe you're alone in 
your frustration.  

When I was approached for CeBit, I was told they were looking for "someone 
who's opinionated and independent.[0]"  My employer gave me the time, I 
came back with some leads, and I didn't spew the vendor line[1], so 
everyone was happy.

Finally, if there's a Q&A session, or better yet, if the persenters will 
take questions while they're presenting- asking the tough questions and 
about the downsides of particular technologies is a great way to find 
things out.  Sometimes you can catch them beforehand and say "Hey, I 
really hope you're going to cover some of the downsides too!"

Paul
[0] Me?  Opinionated?  The shock!
[1] ICSA Labs basically competes with Common Criteria certification, I 
discussed that up-front, but I'm not a marketingdroid or salesreptile, so 
I can get away without doing the evangelical dance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul D. Robertson      "My statements in this message are personal opinions
proberts () patriot net      which may have no basis whatsoever in fact."
probertson () trusecure com Director of Risk Assessment TruSecure Corporation

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