ShmooCon 2010 CFP

[Bruce Potter <gdead () shmoo com>]

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ShmooCon VI – Call for Papers
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February 5-7, 2010 - Wardman Park Marriott, Washington DC, USA

The Shmoo Group is soliciting papers and presentations for the sixth  
annual ShmooCon.

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About ShmooCon and The Shmoo Group
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The Shmoo Group (TSG) is an independent think-tank of security  
professionals from around the world who donate their time and energy  
towards information security research and development.  Six years ago  
TSG had an idea.  This idea has grown into a community recognized  
security conference attended by over 1500 people.

Although ShmooCon is primarily a security conference, we encourage  
innovative and interesting submissions on offbeat technology topics.  
Greatest consideration will be given to new presentations, but updates  
on existing work are also welcome. We are particularly interested in  
presentations from new faces, therefore we invite any individual who  
has not spoken at a conference before to submit a talk and make  
ShmooCon their inaugural event.

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Conference Format
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ShmooCon VI has 4 tracks to accommodate a variety of speaking styles  
and topics.

One Track Mind - Technical Tales in Twenty Minutes or Less
Break It! - Technology Exploitation

Build It! – Creating Inventive Software & Hardware

Bring It On! - Open Discussion of Technology & Security Topics

+++ One Track Mind (Friday Night Only) +++

In One Track Mind, presenters have 20 minutes on Friday night to give  
the entirety of ShmooCon a view into their mind.   Presenters beware:   
You need to be diligent about your use of time as ShmooCon staff  
strictly enforces the 20-minute timeline.  You will have just a few  
minutes for audience questions while we switch to the next talk.   If  
any questions can't be answered in that time, there is space set aside  
for further discussion while One Track Mind marches on.

Topics for One Track Mind may include, but are not limited to:

- Updates to talks given at other conferences
- Works in Progress
- Talks that are as much about fun as they are about technology
- Anything that doesn't need a full hour to explain

+++ Build It!, Break It!, Bring It On! (Saturday and Sunday) +++

All presentations & discussions are 50 minutes in length and presented  
to attendees on either Saturday or Sunday. It is the speaker's  
responsibility to budget time for audience participation and questions  
– 50 minutes is a hard limit

Presentations in the Build It! and Break It! tracks are strongly  
encouraged to include demonstrations of personally developed  
techniques, working code, and/or devices, with code and/or schematics  
being open-source and released to the public for free. We’re serious  
about this.  We want the community to get something from your  
presentation, not just 50 minutes of hot air.  So PLEASE, in your CFP  
response, indicate what you are releasing that will be of interest.   
If you can’t release code or something similar, be sure your  
techniques and methods are mind blowing.

Presentations in Bring It On! are more open-ended, but presenters are  
strongly encouraged to structure their talk in a way that engages or  
enrages the audience. Gauge for yourself if being pelted by ShmooBalls  
(see below) is positive or negative feedback.  The audience is armed  
and ready to fire.

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And Because We Just Can’t Say it Enough
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ShmooCon presentations should be focused on topics that are of  
interest to security and technology professionals who are paying  
attention to current trends and issues.  Presentations dealing with  
new technologies such as cloud computing or large-scale virtualization  
or new takes on existing methods and techniques are of interest.   
Presentations that are rehashes of old talks, primers on known  
technologies, or vendor pitches will be rejected and summarily panned.  
We want ShmooCon to be educational and entertaining to the attendees  
and the community at large.  We expect our speakers to be a part of  
that through talks that are well thought out and well presented.

If you feel you have a presentation that would be appropriate but that  
does not meet the guidelines in this CFP, feel free to submit it  
anyway but be sure to include information explaining your reasoning so  
we can better evaluate your proposal.

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ShmooBalls
=========================

ShmooCon VI continues the tradition of arming attendees with  
ShmooBalls.  One of the major objectives for ShmooCon is to facilitate  
a frank and open discussion of opinions rather than just a one-way  
flow of information from the speaker to the audience. Speakers are  
encouraged to present innovative ideas that not everyone agrees with.   
Audience members are encouraged to throw their ShmooBalls at the  
speakers if they disagree.  The balls are basically soft and light  
enough to not hurt but heavy enough to get range from the back of the  
conference rooms.

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Submission Procedure
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ShmooCon VI will continue to use a web based submission process.  This  
might be a bit different than what you are used to.  PLEASE don’t  
just mail us your CFP response.  Visit https://cfp.shmoocon.org and be  
prepared with the following information:

Speaker name(s) and contact information
Presentation Title
Track preference
Keywords and 2-3 sentence abstract
Document in Text or PDF format (got that? Text or PDF) which contains  
the following, preferably in order:

a.Presenter(s) Name
b.Bio limited to 100 words for you OR your group (not 100 words per  
person) – this limit will be strictly enforced.
c.Abstract of your presentation limited to 200 words or less.
d.Detailed outline/description of your topic.
e.List of other conferences at which submission has been presented
f.List of facilities requested beyond what is already provided (power,  
projector with VGA input, sound projection, and internet connectivity).

Accepted speakers will receive free admission to the conference, as  
well as a $100 (One Track Mind) or $200 (Build It!, Break It!, Bring  
it On!) honorarium after evaluation of their completed presentation.  
Several hot-alternates will also be chosen and will receive free  
admission. Hot-alternates should come to ShmooCon VI prepared to speak.

The Shmoo Group and select ShmooCon volunteers will review  
presentation proposals.

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Schedule
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Please check the web site for updates: http://www.shmoocon.org/news.html

September 11, 2009 - CFP opens.  Let’s get this party started!
November 1, 2009 - Papers for preferential first round consideration due
November 20, 2009 - Final due date for all papers
December 15, 2009 - All speakers notified

We look forward to receiving your submissions as well as seeing you at  
ShmooCon VI!

ShmooCon 2010 CFP v0.1