The art and effort that have gone into the official badges have spawned a cultural trend called #badgelife, where dozens of unofficial electronic badges and digital ecosystems have sprung up.Conference admission is cash-only, and comes with a custom designed badge, unique each year.DEF CON is one of the few conferences that drafts its own all-volunteer security staff from among its attendees, called the Goons, who always wear red shirts for easy identification.The vendor hall is more akin to a techno-bazaar than a trade show floor, with storefronts selling tools or knowledge, civil society groups engaging directly with their stakeholders, and universities recruiting students.The DEF CON “Villages” are self-contained spaces dedicated to single issues, such as privacy, social engineering, lockpicking, voting machines, and vehicles - that tend toward highly interactive demonstrations and hands-on hacking.

Now in its 30th year, DEF CON draws 25,000-30,000 people and is usually held the first full weekend in August, is unlike typical conventions or trade shows. DEF CON remains an open space for intellectual exploration, open to all those who want to participate in good faith. The talks at the first event resemble what you might hear today: Talks from lawyers and law enforcement, gender and social issues in technology, technical explainers, and warnings about issues that would manifest in the future. The party got out of hand before it even started, as dozens of other groups were invited, and the organizers remodeled it based on other hacker conferences that had come before. The DEF CON ( conference began in 1993 as a party to celebrate the closing of a popular online network.

Defcon convention 2019