(ISC)2 Security Congress Will Be Virtual This Year

[AndreaMoore]

The 10th annual (ISC)² Security Congress will take place as a virtual conference in recognition of the health concerns and many corporate travel restrictions this year associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The renowned three-day conference, focused on industry discussion and continuing education for security professionals of all levels, will be held online from November 16-18.

Read more for information on early bird pricing.

We hope to "see" you there!

[denbesten]

Historically, it moved around from year to year.  A year or two ago, it was decided to host it exclusively in Orlando because it dramatically simplifies the organizing effort.  I suspect this to be related to proximity to the (ISC)² HQ  (2 hr drive), the efficiencies of repeatedly dealing with the same people and because Orlando is extremely well prepared for visitors/tourists.

Personally, I hope the lesson learned from this go-round is that adding a virtual component  is a great way to improve accessibility. If 2020 goes well, perhaps 2021 could have the option of both in-person and virtual.

[MikeGlassman]

Personally, for someone who travels to the US for the congress, the fact that it shifted from place to place allowed me the option of visiting different cities and areas, without having to add extra money.

I for one am not pleased with the "stick to Orlando" decision. It may be an area designed for conferences, but after you've been twice, it's boring and if you don't have a car, it is highly expensive to get around. For me, it will be a hard decision whether to continue coming to the ISC2 conference if it stays in one place, and I will start looking for other conferences.

Regarding the virtual component, although it is great for 2020, it is not at all useful for those of us who live around the world, where daytime US is nighttime for us. It does not allow us to participate in sessions as we could if it were live, and that is a major part of sessions. For me at least.

I have already had this issue with one conference that I took part in which was held in the US, and I ended up having to watch recordings of the sessions because I was not going to stay awake for work as well as all night for that. I had a lot of questions that I just threw away, as there was no way to ask them in this fashion.

I've already been over the agenda and all of the sessions are only US time-zones, so as for me, I won't be joining this conference. I wish all those that do though, an interesting and fun time.

[DHerrmann]

I much prefer virtual compared to going to Orlando.    I loved the first Congress in Philadelphia, and thought the pairing with the other bigger conference got us much stronger keynote speakers.

But overall, virtual is probably the way to go.   It saves my employer SO much money, and gets an easy approval versus a real challenge to get funding for airfare, parking, hotel, meals, etc.

Besides, I fear we'll be stuck with COVID restrictions until a critical mass of people are vaccinated.   With many choosing not to vaccinate, it could be a very long time.