Conference Badges I've Known and Loved
Short talk
Time
June 20, 2025 12:00-12:20 PM
Location
Talk Track Two
Ben goes through his personal collection of PCB-based badges from various conferences he’s attended since 1999, as well as some famous examples posted online. The first example I’ve got is from PhreakNic 1999 where they found surplus modem PCBs and silkscreened the conference logo it it. He will present the artifacts and talk about the capabilities of each, pointing out when new badge features started to be common. When did they start being puzzles? When did badge hacking start to be common? When have they been controversial? What about SAOs? What differentiates corporate conferences versus hacker conferences? How has modern electronics manufacturing played a role in making these more ambitious?