This may be a blessing in disguise. DEF CON has grown massively to the point where the number of attendees who want to go to the various villages all day equals or even surpasses the attendees interested in the main talks. However, those villages have historically been given very small spaces. This past DEF CON, the Cloud Securitt village had a line down the hallway and escalator pretty much all of Friday and Saturday. Even the vendor area had to be carefully managed to ensure not too many people were inside at the same time.
Hope this allows them to really spread their wings a bit more.
I would say the blessing isn't even in disguise. I've gone twice, in 2017 and last year, and last year the crowds in the main hallways and village lines were suffocating and I'm not usually claustrophobic. An extra couple of hundred thousand square feet is a big deal and should have happened regardless. I just feel bad for the folks who have to make it happen in 7 months.
Yeah, this might actually change my mind about skipping DEFCON.
I started going to DEFCON in 2017 (DEFCON 25). After last year's event, I had decided I wasn't going to go anymore. The villages were always extremely crowded, so trying to actually participate would be a huge wait. The talks were nice, but I can just watch them on YouTube a month or so later. Hacker Jeopardy is always a blast, but I'm not going to spend $2,500 to fly and stay in Vegas just for that.
The fact that Red Team village would only be given this tiny conference room with only like 50 chairs to listen to talks was just bullshit.
If the new venue has more room and solves all my complaints, maybe I'll still go.
Hope this allows them to really spread their wings a bit more.