The Infoz Who: ToorCon supporters and local hackers. What: ToorCon Seattle (Beta), need we say more? When: May 11th-13th Where: Pioneer Square, Seattle, WA Why: Seemed like a good idea at the time How: We've just reached 150 RSVPs so ToorCon Seattle is now full.
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ToorCon Seattle (Beta) a Success!

We just wanted to thank everyone for coming and participating this year. It is definitely one of the best and most fun events that we've thrown. Also, in addition to our sponsors, DJs, and attendees, we would like to thank all of the people that helped with organizing the different aspects of the conference. Especially, 3ric Johanson, Bre Pettis, Beth Kolko, dkp, Eleanor Saitta, Pablos, and all of the other PNA people for helping us organize an awesome Saturday night partyand robot hacking lab as well as Divide, Jacuqeline, and Brian Retford for making the Sunday scavenger hunt a total success.

Also, here's some pictures that people took during the conference, check them out and email me a link to yours!

And, here's some reviews!

Introduction

This year ToorCon is organizing an informal free & invite-only get together of around 100 security professionals and hackers that have helped make ToorCon what it is today. ToorCon Seattle (Beta) will be happening on May 11th-13th in Seattle, WA and will take place at a nightclub during the day on Saturday, May 12th where a single track of 20 minute talks and 5 minute lightning talks will allow almost everyone attending to demonstrate what types of research they're up to, which will be followed up by a party at Seattle's own Public N3rd Area (PNA) community warehouse space, after which hardware hacking, sightseeing, and creative drinking festivities will take place on Sunday, May 13th.

The Goal

Ever since ToorCon 1, 8 years ago, we have used the same old conference format which is similar to almost every other hacker conference out there. We thought it would be cool to mix it up a bit and experiment with other formats. What would you do if you had 100+ hackers in town? We'd like to test out this new format and see what sort of crazy ideas you have for ToorCon Seattle next year. Our hope is that we'll throw a ToorCon Seattle every spring (in addition to the normal ToorCon in San Diego in the fall) and each year experiment with different formats and ideas. When you come out in May, please provide feedback on the conference so we know what ideas worked, and which ones fell short so we can make ToorCon Seattle 2008 even better.

Friday, May 11th

On Friday we are co-sponsoring an event with the Bluehat organizers at The Trinity Night Club in Pioneer Square. Feel free to stop by and mingle with other ToorCon Seattle (Beta) goers and Microsoftites. Trinity has a cover of $10 after 10pm, so make sure to show up early!

Saturday, May 12th

For the location please refer to your invite email. We will be opening the doors at 10:00am and starting talks at 10:30am so please get there on time. We have filled all of our 20 min talking slots, but if you are interested in giving a 5 minute lightning talk please email h1kari so he can add you to the lineup, otherwise you're welcome to sign up to give a talk at the event assuming all of the 5 min spots aren't already taken. The current talk lineup is listed below.

The Saturday night party will be held at the Public N3rd Area (PNA) starting at 9:30pm and will end whenever everyone's had enough. ToorCon will be providing free alcohol for this event and there is a full DJ lineup being scheduled at the moment. If you are interested in DJing please email h1kari. Currently we have the following DJs lined up for your listening pleasure:

Sunday, May 13th

On Sunday we are planning on working on some hardware hacking projects at the Public N3rd Area (PNA) throughout the day. To get an idea of what sort of projects we'd be wokring on check out some of the previous projects we've thrown together on the Make Video Podcast Blog. Some PNA project highlights are:

Anyway, we'll put together some cool project ideas and put you to work if you're willing. Unfortunately the PNA is unable to accomodate everyone, so if you are interested in participating, please notify h1kari in your RSVP.

For everyone else we will be planning some other festivities to keep you entertained and intoxicated throughout the day. Information on the festivities will be posted here as they're organized. If you are interested in organizing an outing, please email h1kari with the information so he can post it on the website.

Accomodations

The nightclub that the Saturday talks will be held at will be located in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square area where there are numerous hotels nearby. Here's a quick list of hotels within a mile of Pioneer Square:

There are also many hackers in Seattle that may have extra crash space, so bug your Seattle friends if you need a place to stay. If all else fails, please email h1kari and he'll probably be able to find you a place to stay.

The PNA is located roughly 3 miles south of Pioneer Square in the South Downtown (SODO) industrial district. A cab ride there should be less than $10 each way. All of the Sunday festivities will happen in or close to Downtown Seattle.

Bluehat

It turns out that Bluehat will be taking place earlier in the week to ToorCon which may make it more convenient for people with Bluehat invitations to justify coming.

Invitations

We've done our best to make sure we've included all of the people we've felt have greatly contributed to ToorCon and would possibly be able to make it to the conference. If you think that we have forgotten to include you or that our invite didn't get to you somehow, please email h1kari and we'll see if we can figure out what happened.