Run a local SecTalks!
SecTalks is organised locally by a team of volunteers. Our goal is to create a platform to connect like-minded people in security. We have a support network to support SecTalks organisers, share experiences, collaborate and run joint initiatives.
Start planing for a local SecTalks meetup. We help you with a quick leg-up on getting organised and get going.
Step 1 - Say ‘Hi!’
Send an email to guru@sectalks.org and lets us know more about you and the location where you want to run the meetup.
Step 2 - Start with a Ninja Night
Start thinking about format of your first meetup. The easiest is to start with a Ninja Night. You can run a Ninja Night in any public places like a pub or a bar which is not going to cost.
After the first session, you can think to have your upcoming sessions in a different format.
We will help you to create a CTF for your first session.
Step 3 - Venue, date and time
Start looking around for a venue. You don’t need to pay for the venue, there are many places that you can run a 2-3 hour event at no cost. Believe or not, since we started SecTalks, we haven’t paid for a venue. Here are some options for the venue: universities, a company’s meeting room that is always empty after business hours, hacker spaces, co-working place, a function room in a bar or a pub, …. Make sure venue is easy for people to get in.
If your first session is a Ninja Night, you don’t really need to book any venue, just agree with others to show up in a pub or a bar, find a big table and start the CTF (btw, that is how we started in Sydney!).
Choose a day in a month where you know there are not many other concurrent events. Historically, there are not many events running on Tuesdays. You can also choose weekends but avoid Friday nights.
If you are planing to run your event in the evening, 6pm is a good start. SecTalks normally takes 2 hours to finish.
Step 4 - Plan ahead and reach out
Start by creating a page in this website for your local meetup. Then make a link to your twitter account, mailing list, linkedin group or any other social platform. We also recommend to start a group in meetup.com, this gives you good publicity in your local area. Plan for your first meetup in a month or two.
Start reaching out to people. Start with your friends, colleagues, find people at other similar events. Don’t just email them, go and talk to people and let them know about the time and location of the meetup. Make sure to get their contact details so you can add them to the mailing list (with their consent of course) for follow ups.
It is very important to be in touch with people for your first few sessions so people start to schedule SecTalks in their schedule.
Advertise online, find related mailing list, linkedin groups, discussion boards, reddit, IRC and let people know about your local event.
We will also announce your upcoming meetup to get your message out.
Tips
- Once you setup, we will invite you to our Organiser Support Network. There are plenty of materials, content and tips for you to use. Through this network, you can also contact other organisers and ask about their experiences.
- Remember, it is not necessary to find a speaker for each meetup. You can always default to a Ninja Night.
- SecTalks CTFs are crowd sourced. This makes CTFs quite fun and evolving over the time. There is also an archive of past CTFs that you can use.