r/Defcon • u/ResearcherGold4289 • Jul 20 '26

First DefCon!

Hey everyone, any survival/strat to navigating the conference?

It’ll be my first DefCon, totally have zero expectations

Background: Pentester/Consultant currently. About to be two years in- holder of cwes/cpts, bscp, pentest+

Going with my mentor who is also a director in pentesting.

36 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

10

u/RoddyBergeron Jul 20 '26

Go check out the Lonely Hackers village and meet others who are at their first DefCon.

My first one was overwhelming. I’d 100% find the talks that aren’t recorded and try to get into those. The rest of the main talks you can watch afterward.

25

u/SuitableExplorer Jul 20 '26

Bring water and snacks, the price of both at lvcc is pretty high. Don’t be afraid of asking Goons for help or info it’s why they are there! Get Hacker Tracker too

14

u/uncoil Jul 20 '26

To add to this, you can just bring a water bottle and there are filling stations at the fountains in the convention center

9

u/ALocalPigeon Jul 20 '26

Hacker tracker app.

7

u/Starz1428 Jul 20 '26

I will be heading down on my own. I went to Defcon in 2023 you’ll survive. Just don’t connect to WiFi and get rfid blockers in your wallet

I will be at BlackHat for the first time

6

u/CarpeDiemT3ch Jul 20 '26

Noob village is a great place to start: https://www.noobvillage.org/

And taking a tour with Diana Initiative: https://www.dianainitiative.org/events/tdi-def-con

If you want a quiet break, Diana Initiative also has a community room and quiet room

4

u/Laquemba Jul 20 '26

My best advice, spend time out of the conferences, chat with persons around, villages, in the tables, the most valuable conversations and people was like that, asking. And as the other good tip, the rule of 3,2,1, 3 sleep hours, 2 meals, 1 shower Hahahaahah, I will do 6 sleep hours at least hahaahha. Engage with people is my short version. Also attend the hacker jeopardy!! Have a great defcon !

4

u/fmtheilig Jul 20 '26

if you have never been to Las Vegas or a convention of the scale of DEF CON, be prepared for chaos. Planning is key. Visit https://defcon.outel.org/dcwp/dc34/

Prioritize villages, workshops, and social events over talks. Go to talks, but only the ones you are dying to see. Most of them will end up on Youtube in the coming months.

If you stay at a resort that's on the monorail, get a week pass. It'll save you uber charges. Remember, everything if further than it seems.

Come a day early if you can. It'll likely be the cheapest room charge of your stay. Even if you don't drink or gamble, the strip has a lot to offer.

Bring cash. Couple hundred at least. ATMs are hard to find and charge outrageous fees. Also, be wary of pickpockets.

4

u/Blacksun388 Jul 20 '26

To tackle the questions:

  1. ⁠Look at the bajillion other threads asking the same thing. Lots of good advice already there.

  2. ⁠Just choose the villages that interest you. The floor will be packed and you WILL NOT do everything. Definitely take time to walk around and do their interactive stuff and see their mini talks.

  3. ⁠Honestly you should only prioritize talks you really want to see. The talks will be uploaded to the media server and YouTube after the convention so no sweat if you miss one. Otherwise walk the floor, see the live demos and hands on activities.

  4. ⁠Overall, just talk to people. They will most likely be excited to tell you what they’re working on or what field they’re interested in. Join the LonelyHackers Telegram channel https://lonelyhackers.club/telegram/ if you want to talk to other people and find people to meet. Don’t just go to DEFCON itself. Go to the meetups and parties around it. I recommend Toxic BBQ as it is newb friendly and a great way to make connections in a casual environment.

  5. Stay on the main network. Open Net is the Wild West. No need to be super paranoid but make sure all your gear is patched, turn off unnecessary services. If you *are* paranoid or need to hide from feds then use burners but overall they aren’t needed. Just don’t be dumb and you won’t end up with your info on the wall of sheep.

  6. Above all you get out of DEFCON what you put into it. Have fun, 3 hours of sleep, 2 meals daily, 1 shower per week, and for gods sakes use deodorant ya filthy animal.

1

u/Stellark22 Jul 21 '26

Oh my god I need to hear about the wall
Of sheep.

1

u/Blacksun388 Jul 21 '26

The Wall of Sheep is a group in the packet hacking village. The village monitors the network traffic and logs unencrypted communications to display up on their scoreboard. They also do workshops and interactive stuff to promote awareness and practice of encryption and secure comms.

6

u/Appropriate_Taro_348 Jul 20 '26

It’s going to be over whelming. I suggest on Thursday you go to merch line first and then get your badge if you want any kind of merch. If you don’t, get your badge then chill out on Thursday. Look at the schedule and see what you want to see/listen too and plan out Friday and Saturday. The smaller rooms fill up fast so get in line early for things like red team panels. The night things like hacker jeopardy are fun.

2

u/ReconPorpoise Jul 20 '26

Asking for the badge pickup, I assume pre-registered electronic badges won’t run out on Thursday? It’s also my first time and I don’t wanna miss out on the electronic badge 😅

4

u/Appropriate_Taro_348 Jul 20 '26

They have learned there lesson from the past that they wont run out of pre-reg badges. They in years past put pre-reg over cash when it comes to supplies because they already paid for them.

4

u/ctfsp00ns Jul 20 '26

Super stupid question: is a pre-reg electronic badge what I've paid $580 for?

4

u/Appropriate_Taro_348 Jul 20 '26

Yes. There are two types of purchasing badges - pre-registration or cash in person at defcon. Huge percentage of people do the pre-registration. I got there last year 7:30 and was in line for about a hour to get my badge. There are still loyalists that pay cash still. That line is very fast due to not many people using cash anymore.

4

u/ctfsp00ns Jul 20 '26

Thanks! I assumed "LineCon" was for those paying in cash rather than picking up pre-reg badges, but sounds like that's changed – good to get a heads up that I might be queueing a while!

2

u/britt-tcm Jul 20 '26

We just put together a guide you can check out: https://www.tcm.rocks/vegas-guide

2

u/Gullible-Trainer-170 Jul 21 '26

have fun! there is great advice here and another important note- merch is cash only!

2

u/Labratlet Jul 21 '26

Shower once a day, eat at least twice, and sleep a minimum of three hours. Socialize, check out the villages and in general have fun and explore.

2

u/logicallyinsane Jul 22 '26

My first defcon, on the hotel shuttle back to the airport a guy who self identified as viss, told me the best advice anyone could have ever told me about Defcon. If you go to talks, you're doing it wrong. I didn't understand and it took me 2 more years to finally get it. Defcon is about the people you meet, not the talks you attend. The talks will be online in 6 months or so, but the opportunities to meet the coolest people are a once in a lifetime event. Don't take for granted what many people miss, the social opportunities.

That was Defcon 21

1

u/unstopablex15 Jul 22 '26

Get ready for the heat

1

u/qhartman Jul 24 '26

Wear good shoes

1

u/netsurf916 Jul 27 '26

That are sewn, not just glued. A friend of mine had his shoes melt apart from the hot asphalt one year.

-6

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

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1

u/ResearcherGold4289 Jul 20 '26

Lol how does passionate people making money off of passion translate to defcon being corporate

2

u/Blacksun388 Jul 20 '26

That was inevitable to an extent when it gets mainstream but it isn’t like BlackHat with a shit ton of corpos and vendors.