Continuing +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ _____ ____ ___ ___ |__ /__ _ / ___|___ _ __ |_ _|_ _| / // _` | | / _ \| '_ \ | | | | / /| (_| | |__| (_) | | | | | | | | /____\__,_|\____\___/|_| |_| |___|___| /it's ZaCon, not Zacon, ZACon or ZACON, kthxbi/ http://www.zacon.org.za +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ This is not a Call for Papers, but rather an offer of assistance to aspiring submitters. So, if you're considering submitting to ZaCon then read on. If you're _not_ considering a submission, you should also read on; we'll try to sway you. -------------- Why ZaCon? -------------- Last year was the first ZaCon event in its current guise, and pulled together 16 speakers and an audience of over 9000 (sixty) people. It was deemed a roaring success by the organisers, based on feedback such as: * "Seating was cramped and uncomfortable." * "also the venue was cold" * "Website initially looked quite dodgy." * "You never made us tea" Mostly, the last comment convinced us that a repeat was necessary, in conjunction with the fact that the last talk had as sizeable an audience as the first. Let's recap: many other conferences exist to cater either to the strict- ly Academic or Professional individual. We want a simple community based forum that is completely free of corporate affiliation (or shilling). The intention behind this is that the passion for the field or of shar- ing knowledge should be the primary motivation of attending or speak- ing at this conference. We aim to fulfill these objectives: * Provide a platform for publication of infosec research * Showcase free locally-developed infosec tools * Support the interaction of industry, academia and the interested public * Encourage discussion on infosec / hackery / sec-related-geekery at large * Build the ZA infosec community * Provide a platform to up-n-coming talent Still keen? Check out the videos from last year's con: * http://www.vimeo.com/album/150132 ----------------- When is ZaCon? ----------------- 9 October 2010. University of Joburg. Joburg. ----------------- Is this a CFP? ----------------- No, no it's not. This is an offer for assistance. Community infosec is still fresh in.za. There may be potential speakers who have an interesting idea but are looking for guidance in turning the idea into a talk, or who would like to talk but are looking for a topic. The organisers have assembled a crack team of unemployed recruitment agents who, in previous times, have spoken at international conferences on infosec. The basic idea is that speakers who want to get a head start before the formal CFP can contact us and we'll pair them up with an ex- perienced researcher. The mentor (if you will) is there to advise, but final credit goes to the author and the mentor won't be involved in the talk. We should mention that taking advantage of this offer doesn't imply that your talk will be accepted come the CFP; each talk will be evaluated equally. However, this will stregthen your talk and thus your chances. ------------ What now? ------------ If you have a potential infosec-relevant speaking topic you'd like to explore, or are looking for topic suggestions, then drop a mail to: mechanicalturks@zacon.org.za or grab MH, singe, roelof, zonbi or mls on irc.atrum.org:#zacon ----------- Contact ----------- * Site: http://zacon.org.za * Research guidance: mechanicalturks@zacon.org.za * General queries: people at zacon.org.za * IRC: #zacon on irc.atrum.org