Lesley Carhart 
I had a mentoring session last night with a poc I’ve been working with who went to his first local cybersecurity con, recently. He had such a bad experience with people being cliquey there and ignoring him that he’s ready to stop trying to get into the industry. 😥😰 I knew there are some cultural issues at that con and area but had no idea they were so bad, and encouraged him to maybe look at other cities in the US and their cons. Pitch your city’s infosec community and scene and I’ll share with him?
JJ@hacks4pancakes I think @1o57 said it best at Thotcon one year. During his keynote, he said something to the effect of, "If you're at a con, and one of your heroes won't give you the time of day, tell them to fuck off. We don't need people like that in this industry anymore."
g-clef@guitarfosec @hacks4pancakes @1o57 This is terrible advice. Even heros are people who can have bad days.
Dan Kaminsky blew me off when I asked him a question at Defcon once. I just walked away.
He may have been having a bad day, been overwhelmed with other people asking him for stuff, dunno. But I'm *sure* that coming after Dan Kaminsky for ignoring me would have been a terrible idea on my part.
@guitarfosec @gclef @1o57 I see both points. I have definitely been totally overwhelmed by people asking me for stuff at cons.