Storytellers Wanted: Tips On Creating A Winning Enigma Talk
Author’s Note: This post is about USENIX Enigma, an excellent conference that brings together people from industry, academia, and government to talk about how to improve security around the world. I spoke at the first Enigma in 2016. I served on the program committee for Enigma in 2017. And I’m co-chairing the program committee for the upcoming Enigma 2018.
After returning from Black Hat and DEF CON this year, I was once again reminded of why the USENIX Enigma Conference exists. For me, it strikes a unique balance of three important ideas:
- an inclusive group of organizers, speakers, attendees, and community
- ideas that help create a more secure world
- great storytelling
Interestingly, my conversations about Enigma have revealed that people are sometimes confused about what kind of talks we — the program committee — would like to see. With the Call for Participation closing on August 23rd, I wanted to take a moment to provide some additional details on the subject. Hopefully those of you pondering a submission will read this, understand how to best shape your talk, submit something amazing, and find yourself speaking on the Enigma stage in January!
Great People == All People
This first idea is simple. Are you wondering if you are a good person to consider speaking at Enigma? The answer is yes! No matter what sector you work in, what your background is, or who you are today, we welcome your participation in Enigma and will consider your talk proposal as an equal to all other submissions. Since we value diversity, the program committee will explicitly work to create a conference program that includes a wide variety of people, topics, and viewpoints. So there’s no need for hesitation. We want to hear your ideas.
Great Ideas Related To Security
Think about the last security conference you attended. How many talks left you with this impression: “This is interesting, but where are all of the people talking about how to respond to such attacks and actually make the world more secure”? At Enigma, we value hard-earned lessons about improving security over point flaws in systems. We value sharing the state of the art from your view of the world, so that others may learn and improve. The Call for Participation gets into a little more depth for completeness, but I’d like to keep it simple here. The talks that are the best fit for Enigma likely fall into one of two categories:
- security + <insert non-security topic here>
- building security into systems
There are plenty of other areas that could work as well. For example, last year’s talk from Sunny Consolvo on Privacy and Security Practices of Individuals Coping with Intimate Partner Abuse did an excellent job of highlighting a user group that hasn’t received much attention. Consider these categories as guidelines, but certainly not strict requirements!
The first point is an expression of the multidisciplinary nature of security. This field intersects with so many others, such as psychology, policy, ethnography, history, usability, engineering, mathematics, medicine, journalism, business, military, finance, and more. To be clear, the best talks in this category will be from people who can bring their knowledge of the non-security space to Enigma while highlighting how it intersects with security.
The second point is also intentionally broad. This is about people working to create systems that are more secure. And here we are talking about security broadly to include abuse prevention, too. Perhaps you are researching formal methods and want to discuss how that space will impact security over the next decade? Or perhaps you have experience building high assurance systems for a government? Or perhaps you can speak to how companies fight abuse of their systems while keeping their customers happy? All of these represent constructive security work, which is what we are looking for at Enigma. While sharing vulnerabilities and exploitation techniques is valuable, Enigma likely isn’t the best venue for that work (unless you are linking it back to constructive security!).
As a final point, it is worth mentioning that we do want talks that are deeply technical. We also want talks that aren’t technical. Both have value. The common thread is that each will need to be presented in a way that can be appreciated by a broad audience.
Great Storytelling
Someone recently told me that Enigma talks left him thinking differently for the long term whereas talks at other security conferences had a short term novelty. After thinking about it I had to agree. While it’s true that great content helps contribute to this, a presenter’s speaking style is what really drives it home.
Think back to a presentation that sucked you in from the opening words and kept you engaged throughout. What made it special? Chances are, the presenter was a great storyteller and found ways to incorporate humor throughout the talk. These powerful practices — combined with a variety of other tips — can elevate ordinary talks into something truly memorable. For Enigma, members of the PC will work closely with each speaker through a series of practice talks to coach them on how to give this kind of talk.
The important point here is that Enigma submissions by former TED speakers are potentially great (assuming they have the right content), but this level of speaking experience is not required. Whether you are a seasoned speaker or someone who is just getting started, if you are willing to commit the time and effort, we can help you prepare a powerful and memorable Enigma talk.
Putting It All Together
The third Enigma will be in January 2018. We are still a young community. Your participation will help shape how people are thinking about security for years to come! If you missed the first two Enigma Conferences, you can find all of the talks online for free — thanks to USENIX’s open access policy.
If you have a great idea to share with the security community, please consider submitting to Enigma before August 23rd! And whether as a speaker or an attendee, we hope to see you at Enigma 2018!
