No other city in North America has a similar amount of space or options for low cost block booking.
Also, plenty of DefCon attendees and sponsors are also attending BlackHat at around the same time, so it makes it easier to justify expensing most of the cost as an employee.
Not even in Mexico? You know, the country that's part of North America? Why not just say America?
Yep. Not even in Mexico. The largest expo center in Mexico is Expo Guadalajara, which is smaller than Salt Lake City's Salt Palace Expo Center.
> You know, the country that's part of North America
Ik it is. I'm usually the one who reminds people about that on HN
I'm sure the other places suggested would have been nice, but you turn one flight into 2, maybe even 3, have to search for a venue and accommodation for 100s/1000s persons (even if they self book), etc
Conference tourism is big business and the big conferences want friendly places that fit their budget and make it possible for people to attend it
Yes, it's hot, but you can still walk outside without becoming a sweaty mess because it's so dry. And you're probably not going to be walking outside very far, it's a very unfriendly place to walk outside of the prescribed separated paths on the strip.
The fact that it js now at the convention center and likely all under one roof is an improvement, IMO
Others have said August is off-peak for Vegas (perhaps because of the weather), which means its a good time for a conference as space should be less expensive.
Frankfurt also has the most international destinations (just not volume).
(Probably not Dubai, considering a few speakers would be thrown out at the border - or worse if they get though. It's also artificially inflated because it's almost all transit traffic).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_airports_by_in...
Dubai is a center for large conferences and Expos.
The row of High rise hotels along Sheik Zayed Road across from Dubai World Trade Center (the largest exhibition hall in Dubai) is astounding.
Gitex, Gulfood and Arab Health are all conference that are largest in their class world wide.
And while A lot of DXBs traffic is transfers, the city does see 15 million international visitors a year, putting it in the top 5 most visited cities.
They can easily accommodate Def Con.
There’s a lot to criticize Dubai for, but they literally built the city to be a center for international conferences.
Aimed largely at the MENA, SAARC, and a bit of the APJ market.
Most DefCon attendees are in North America, which makes the flight to the UAE hellishly long and expensive.
Most attendees are also expensing the trip, so a $700-900 round trip ticket plus an additional $500-700 for hotels makes Managers balk, as that's a major expense coming out of your yearly budget.
Also, DefCon sponsors largely showed up because it was occuring around the same time and same location as BlackHat
Source: travelled a lot for corporate tech conferences in my PM days.
Terrible location for any conference that cares about everyone being able to attend. While one could argue about "hiding the gay" (I'd still say that's hard to impossible), I would never be able to attend as visibly trans.
Well, they literally enslaved foreign men to work as indentured workers, stripping their human rights, in order to build the city...
Cheap flights too.
And that is precisely why DEFCON is there in August - demand is weak so prices are low. They even state as much in their FAQ.
The heat sucks but it’s not like it’s that hard to avoid on a conference trip. It’s when you live here and have to hop in your plasma generating car that makes you wonder what the fuck is wrong with you
The whole damn strip is air conditioned and misted so it's not really a problem. A few years back I participated in a scavenger hunt during DEF CON and it was taxing but I would do it again.
New Orleans is hell on earth that time of year though -- never again.
I thought the same until visiting Kyoto and Rome in August.
A high of 40C / 104F is not generally considered "nice".
But that is beside the point; is it "generally considered nice" ? - emphasis added to the words that I chose with care above.
It is not.
Checking climate for Barbados, I rate that as factually incorrect. And of little relevance.
It’s very relevant because that’s what qualifies my “considered generally nice” statement.
Your useless pedantry about beaches is becoming boring now.
The average high in Kodiak Alaska is 60F.
(But your parent was mostly being silly.)