You know what's annoying?

That the InfoSec show thing had the stupidest setup for people giving talks about stuff ever.

1) You had to be done in 20 minutes or less.

Twenty freaking minutes.

If you want do anything other than a lame product pitch, you have to either talk at breakneck speed and babble like a maniac, OR slow things right down and navel gaze at 3 powerpoint slides.

This. Is. Stupid.

2) They can afford to hire the entire Olympia building to host the event, yet they devote a room the size of a broom cupboard for the presentations. There was at least one presentation that fell apart because the speaker couldn't handle the squashed-like-sardines audience standing about four feet away from them. If you're going to even bother having people talk, it might be a good idea to make a fraction less money from selling floor space to exhibition booths and give people something decent to work with?

3) While I'm on the subject of "stupid places to have talks in", what's the deal with the GREAT BIG AIR CONDITIONING UNIT approximately ten inches away from the speakers head? I could barely hear myself think, never mind speak.

Frankly, the talky part of this show looks like a disaster, and it was vaguely embarrassing to have to try and do something interesting for people when it looked more like we were going for the world record for people crammed into a phonebox.

Feel free to pile in with your conference related disaster stories through the years here. Or, you know, just talk about stuff. Whatever you feel like.