On the very positive side, however, the conference is indeed a fabulous networking event. Despite the charging masses, you do get to meet people whom you haven’t seen for years and you are introduced to all sorts of eminent folks. For me, the highlight of the conference networking was talking with Donn Parker, whose book Fighting Computer Crime (Scribner, 1983) is (in my opinion) the definitive work on information security and did much to launch the infosec profession. [Incidentally, Donn Parker wrote both the foreword and a chapter in the book which I recently co-edited, namely, Enterprise Information Security and Privacy (Artech House, 2009).] You can buy a used copy of Donn’s book on Amazon.com for 1 cent, plus shipping, but note that they give the author as Timothy, not Donn, Parker … a common error that condemns many items to the vast Web lost and found. Incidentally, I discussed the impact of Web errors in my March 1, 2010 bloginfosec column “A-Buzz About Google.”
As a speaker, I went through a completely different experience. The program organizers and presentation reviewers are the strictest whom I have come across, having presented at some 70 conferences. They told us that they had accepted only 16 percent of presentation proposals this year, so one has reason to feel somewhat special … except for the little red stars on the program agenda next to speakers whom they consider outstanding, based on prior performances. I think that it makes the rest of us speakers feel somewhat second class, although clearly it is there to encourage speakers to aspire to greatness.
There are very strict rules about not promoting any particular vendor or product in one’s presentation. I think that this is ironic given that the RSA Conference is the only major event, of which I am aware, that has a vendor name in its title, excluding those that are held by and for specific vendors. They insist that presentations follow a strict format and sequence of content. They carefully review the presentations and make suggestions, which you must adopt under the threat of them pulling your presentation if you do not conform. They even censored one of my slides … which is a whole other story.
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