HOPE 2020 Fulfilled - Debrief Overview

by Various HOPE 2020 Attendees

[The outline for this debrief was compiled in the "How To Get Published in 2600" workshop during HOPE 2020, through the help of BigBlueButton conference software.  The list of contributors from the workshop and editors who turned the outline into this article can be seen at the end.]

Our Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE) community rescued this year's HOPE 2020 conference in some exciting ways - kudos to the many volunteers who became HOPE 2020 rescuers.  Attendees contributed to the effort as well with their enthusiastic presence at events and the exhibition of their many talents.

The China COVID-19 virus caused fatal system crashes on conferences around the world by attacking the ability to meet in person.  Queens, the planned location of the conference, was hit the hardest in all of New York City.  However, HOPE 2020 refused to admit defeat.  Hackers to their core, 2600 organizers took HOPE online and became trailblazers for a new future of how the minds of the globe unite.  But was it a future we want to embrace?  Let's examine what we did to hack the conference, what worked and what didn't work, and how the attendees thought it measured up.

The decision to take the conference online was not easy, but it was necessary.  Many people would not have been able to attend due to border closings, not having two weeks to quarantine upon their return home, or not wanting to stress their loved ones about the China COVID-19 danger to themselves.  It would also have created a completely avoidable risk for attendees already at-risk due to health issues.  While it was clearly the right thing to do, it was nonetheless quite scary.

The biggest fear was uncertainty.  Because the event occurred before Black Hat and DEFCON, and most other events scheduled to take place before HOPE 2020 were canceled entirely, nobody knew what to expect.  How would the various technologies work together, and in what ways would things break?  It turns out that finding solutions to problems like these is an essential hacker behavior.  While moving the conference online stretched its duration from three days to nine, it also allowed for innovative ways to bring new projects online, like the short film contest.  By being a trailblazer, HOPE 2020 was inevitably on the front lines of discovering stumbling blocks and figuring out solutions.

The most obvious downside to going online was that everyone was looking forward to an event at a brand new venue that they worked so hard to find after the debacle with the Hotel Pennsylvania.  In addition, many people missed the adventure of visiting New York City and exploring areas outside of the conference.  As for the conference itself, a number of issues arose.  Hands-on workshops like lockpicking were much more difficult to manage, and sometimes people would be dealing with environmental issues such as children and pets while participating.  The inability to meet face-to-face created many hindrances: the "hallway chat" rooms did not manage to fully replace real-time) hallway discussions, and many people found it harder to make new friends.

On the other hand, HOPE 2020 became the most accessible HOPE conference ever.  It was more affordable to many people who would normally be unable to attend, and the audience was more diverse, as people who couldn't attend in person due to distance, personal obligations, disabilities, and other reasons, were now able to participate.  Above all, there were more first-time attendees.  Phrases like "This is my first HOPE - I wouldn't have been able to attend if it wasn't online" were mentioned throughout the event.

No conference is without its hiccups, and this goes double for one duct-taped together a mere two months before it began.  A number of new issues cropped up that nobody had encountered before.  For example, some workshops, especially those with many participants, could not be recorded due to the difficulty of getting consent from everyone.  In addition, debugging hands-on technical exercises in workshops proved a greater challenge for presenters because they couldn't easily look at the attendees' systems to see inputs and error messages.  Some other signature elements of in-person conferences were missing, like merchandise (no stickers!), and no group dance parties.  In general, the experience was not as immersive as an in-person event.  However, valuable lessons were learned that can be applied to any future HOPE virtual conference.

There were also a lot of logistical changes to take into account.  Bringing an in-person conference online is a feat in itself, but doing it on very short notice is almost impossible.  By trading the regular three days plus travel time for nine days, engagement was lower because most people, including conference organizers, had to work during the week.  Both attendees and presenters were in different time zones scattered literally around the world, and aggregating this into a manageable system was difficult.

That said, the tech worked sufficiently well.  One immediate benefit was the ability to record everything on one's own device, as it can be awkward holding up a camera all the time in person.  Also, the single track simplified a lot of things and allowed people to attend more talks, because there were no conflicts.  One attendee did mention a talk which conflicted with a workshop they attended, but because they could record the talk on their phone, they simply watched it later.  Things like this just aren't possible in person.  Finally, the use of Matrix for a chat system enabled better discussion between attendees during the talks, while also providing the ability for attendees to ask presenters questions.  In many ways, HOPE 2020 was more efficient online than it might have been otherwise.

No matter how well an online conference is implemented, nothing can replace the vibe of being in a crowded conference center in person.  But HOPE 2020 came up with some great ways to overcome the loss of in-person.  In spite of some early technical issues that were quickly resolved, the event managed not only to capture the spirit of a traditional HOPE conference as much as possible given current limitations, but also brought people a much needed reprieve from the horrors of the year of China COVID-19.  And most importantly, it gave us hope for the future.

The future of online meetings is something many of us would embrace; alternating between in-person and online is just one option.

We welcome your opinions.

Contributors

Editors

Deepest thanks to Robert Caro.

References

HOPE 2020 video time machine: archive.org/details/hopeconf2020
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