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ShmooCon 2006 CFP Announcement



ShmooCon [ www.shmoocon.org ]
March 23-25 2007
Wardman Park Marriott, Washington DC

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

+About ShmooCon 2007 and The Shmoo Group+

ShmooCon 2007 will be a highly-technical and entertaining East Coast hacker convention focused on technology exploitation, inventive software & hardware solutions, as well as open discussion on a variety of technology & security topics. ShmooCon 2007 is hosted by The Shmoo Group and will be held at the Wardman Park Marriott in Washington, D.C., just minutes from your choice of 3-letter agencies.

The Shmoo Group is comprised of security professionals from around the world who donate their time and energy towards information security research and development. TSG encourages speakers to perform new and interesting projects for ShmooCon and will give preferential treatment to submissions that have not been presented at other conferences. Further, TSG invites any individual who has not spoken at a conference before to submit a talk and attempt to make ShmooCon their inaugural event.

+Conference Format+

ShmooCon 2007 has 4 options for speaker submission.:
One Track Mind - Technical Tales in Twenty Minutes or Less
Break It! - Technology Exploitation
Build It! - Inventive Software & Hardware Solutions
Bring It On! - Open Discussion of Technology & Security Topics

Topics for the One Track Mind track 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

Topics for the Break It! track may include, but are not limited to, EXPLOITATION of:
• Consumer electronic devices
• Application, host, and network security
• Telephony
• Physical security

Topics for the Build It! track may include, but are not limited to, inventive software & hardware
SOLUTIONS in:
• Robotics
• Distributed computing
• Community wireless networking
• Mobile personal computing

Topics for the Bring It On! track may include, but are not limited to, open DISCUSSION of the following:
• Privacy and anonymity
• Exploit and vulnerability disclosure / databases
• DRM (Digital Rights Management), fair use, copyright infringement
• Open source software world domination strategies
• Controversial views on existing trends or technology (Trusted Computing, anyone?)
• Dan Kaminsky and Johnny Long

+Presentation Format - One Track Mind+

Presenters will have 20 minutes on Friday night to give the entirety of ShmooCon a view into their mind. Perhaps that's a 10,000-foot overview of a new, cool idea or an update or extension of a previous presentation at ShmooCon or another conference. Or maybe you have a twenty minute parody of Bruce Potter up on stage. We'll give you an additional 10 minutes for audience questions. If any questions can't be answered in that time, there is space set aside for further discussion while One Track Mind marches on.

+Presentation Format - Break It!, Build It!, Bring It On! +

All presentations & discussions will be 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. Presentations in the Break It! and Build 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. Presentations in the 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.

+ShmooBalls+

ShmooCon 2007 is continuing in the tradition of arming attendees with ShmooBalls (a soft aerodynamic object of some sort). This is in an effort to facilitate a frank and open discussion of opinions. Speakers are encouraged to present innovative ideas that not everyone agrees with. Audience members are encouraged to use their ShmooBalls if they disagree.

+Submission Procedure+

To submit, email cfp@xxxxxxxxxxxx with the following information:
1. Speaker name(s) and/or handle(s)
2. Presentation Title
3. Track preference
4. Two to three paragraph presentation description and/or outline
5. List of other conferences at which submission has been presented
6. List facilities required. Projector for use with VGA input, flipchart, sound projection, and Internet connectivity will be provided.
7. Speaker bio, limited to 75 words or less.
8. Contact info for speaker (email AND a phone number, please)

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. 6 runner-ups will receive free admission as hot-alternates. They should come to ShmooCon 2007 prepared to speak. If it becomes necessary for them to speak as an alternate, they too will receive a $200 honorarium after evaluation of their completed presentation. NOTE: Select presentation submissions which are not accepted will be awarded a 50% discounted admission to ShmooCon 2007. Preference will be given to presentations that plan to release source code / schematics. Additionally, speakers who indicate they will be releasing source code / schematics but do not provide them by presentation time will not receive an honorarium.

Presentation proposals will be reviewed by members of the Shmoo Group. A list of the reviewers will be posted on the ShmooCon 2007 web site.

If you feel you have a presentation that would be appropriate but that does not meet these guidelines, feel free to submit it anyway but be sure to include a cover letter explaining your reasoning so we can evaluate your proposal.

All questions regarding this call for papers should be addressed to cfp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Feel free to contact us if you have an idea for a talk but you're not sure how to present it at a conference.

+Schedule+

September 1, 2006 - CFP opens
December 1, 2006 – Papers for preferential first round consideration due
January 15, 2007 - Final due date for all papers
February 15, 2007 - All speakers notified

Submissions are due by January 15, 2007. Preference will be given to submissions received by December 1, 2006. Early selection speakers will be notified by December 31, 2006. All other speakers will be notified in early spring. We look forward to receiving your submissions as well as seeing you at ShmooCon 2007!