Welcome to Black Hat USA 2018. Black Hat Briefings are August 8-9 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. This page covers general information associated with being a speaker at the event, as well as role-specific information to help you prepare.
Need Assistance? Please email speakerhelp@blackhat.com with any questions regarding your presentation.
The Black Hat team has prepared a brochure detailing tips and recommendations to help you earn a high audience rating as a Black Hat Speaker. Download the Black Hat Speaker Tips & Recommendations here.
The Black Hat Quick Tips – Incorporate these Tips into Any Presentation
Watch these Black Hat presentations and use them as examples as ways to engage with your audience. Speakers that receive positive feedback on their evaluations engage with the audience with lots of eye contact and conduct their presentation in a casual conversational style of delivery. To earn high marks, you should avoid staring at the screen and or reading your notes/slides.
Check out these slide decks from previous Black Hat conferences to get a sense of the presentation materials that work best. Please notice the font size, background colors, use of images, and lack of text heavy slides.
All Speakers are strongly encouraged to end their session with a final presentation slide titled, "Black Hat Sound Bytes." Black Hat Sound Bytes detail three key takeaways from your presentation that your want audience members to remember and share with fellow attendees or via social media.
Here is the presentation template branded with this year's Black Hat look and feel. This template is provided as a resource and is not required to be used.
Please note: An employer logo is only allowed on two presentation slides: The introduction slide and biography page (or the first and last slide).
All presentation materials are due to Black Hat no later than July 30, 2018.
As a Black Hat speaker, you do NOT need to register in advance of the conference. All Speakers will be pre-registered. However, all Speakers will need to pick up their badge at Main Registration. Main Registration is on Level Two of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. A Speaker Badge will allow you to attend all the Briefings (including the Keynote) as well as enter the Business Hall.
Speaker Registration will be open during these hours:
| Friday, August 3 | 14:00 – 18:00 |
| Saturday, August 4 | 7:00 – 16:00 |
| Sunday, August 5 | 8:00 – 18:30 |
| Monday, August 6 | 7:00 – 17:00 |
| Tuesday, August 7 | 8:00 – 18:00 |
| Wednesday, August 8 | 6:30 – 19:00 |
| Thursday, August 9 | 8:30 – 17:00 |
There will be a Speaker Rehearsal Room available for use by Briefings Speakers ONLY if you would like to run through your presentation slides before your scheduled session time. The Speaker Rehearsal Room will be in Surf A and will be available on Wednesday, August 8 and Thursday, August 9 from 08:00 – 18:00. A projector and screen will be provided in the room. This room is first come, first serve but please limit to 30 minutes if someone is waiting.
Lunch will be provided for all Briefings Speakers on Wednesday, August 8 from 12:00-14:00 and on Thursday, August 9 from 12:30-14:30 in Surf J. Light refreshments will also be available in the room throughout the day. Your badge will be checked at the door for Speaker credentials, no guests please.
You will be assigned a Speaker Liaison to help ensure that your experience as a speaker is as trouble-free as possible. Speaker Liaisons are a resource to help you on-site at the conference before, during, and after your presentation. These liaisons are also seasoned professionals.
Please meet your liaison in the Speaker Operations Room (located in Surf B, on the 2nd Floor) 45 minutes before your scheduled briefings session.
If you'd like to extend Q&A after your session, invite attendees to meet you in the Wrap Up Room on the floor your session is located on. No reservation is required. The space will be available as an opportunity to further interact with your session's attendees.
Three Locations:
Hours: Wednesday - Thursday: 10:00-18:15
Attendee feedback is very valuable and important to the Black Hat event. Evaluations will be emailed to your attendees 15 minutes before the end of your session if they chose to be scanned by the door monitor when entering the room. Please remind and encourage attendees at the end of your session to provide feedback as we will be awarding the "Best of Briefings" Award this year.
Black Hat strongly supports and encourages responsible disclosure. To this end, Black Hat has a strong partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to provide pro-bono legal consultations to security researchers on the legality of any research or data they plan to present at the event.
If you have questions about the legal implications of your security research or presentation, contact Electronic Frontier Foundation at info@eff.org.
Highlight the key points of your Briefing presentation in a short video that the Black Hat audience can watch right on the Black Hat website. Our Marketing Team will use these clips to promote your Talk via our various social media channels, as well as feature them in emails. This is a great way to drive interest and increase session attendance.
Requirements:
Recommendations:
Black Hat annually attracts top-tier press, analysts and bloggers from around the world. In order to maximize publicity for the content presented at the event, the Black Hat PR team is eager to assist you. If you have any questions regarding media inquiries/strategy, please contact Black Hat PR Manager, Kimberly Samra.
Want to talk to the press about your talk? Don't want to talk to the press at all? If you haven't already, we kindly ask that you fill out the following short public relations survey to ensure we are meeting your individual needs/requirements in regards to publicity. View Survey.
If there is a specific public/media relations coordinator we need to work directly with for scheduling and approvals, please provide this information at your earliest convenience.
Please note, Black Hat policy is to never share attendee lists with anyone, including the media list with sponsors or speakers. In case you'd like to see who is covering the event, and create your own media list, please scan our press page.
