Formal Statement on Status of BSides PDX 2021 Event

[BSides Portland]

Note: this was originally emailed to folks on June 1st, 2021. This is being posted to the BSides PDX Google group for posterity. You can also find this statement on the BSides PDX website. We hope it finds you well, and we are eager to see you all next year in 2022.

Plans for 2021 and 2022:

The BSides Portland Board has decided not to hold an event in 2021 in the expectation that we’ll be back in full force with in-person events in 2022.

Why?

Spring is the time when BSides Portland volunteers start the process of preparing for the fall conference. Unfortunately, at this point in time there are too many unknowns for us to commit to holding an in-person event.

In 2020, we ran an online event. While it was a successful opportunity to continue our mission of cultivating the local information security community, it is difficult for us to differentiate our ‘local’ remote event from many others, and everyone is experiencing a bit of remote-event-fatigue at this point.

BSides Portland Organizers and volunteers are acutely aware of the amount of work involved in running any event, physical or virtual . Because of this, the board decided the best bet would be to take a break in 2021 and focus our effort on ‘rebooting’ the physical event in 2022.

Will BSides Portland do anything in 2021?

Depending on safety, conditions, and motivation, we will consider running one or more informal social events in the fall. If so, we’ll announce to this email list.

We still have some 2020 swag including masks and stickers. If you’d like any, reply with your mailing address and we’ll send some. (If you do, please do not reply all!!)

What’s coming in 2022?

HACKBOAT should return in Spring of 2022. Portland Spirit is allowing us to carry over our deposit until then. We’ll announce details by January 2022.

BSidesPDX should return as an in-person event in Fall 2022. We will announce dates and venue by May 2022