SANS Fire 2007 in Washington DC is well under way. I am participating there in 2 courses and since I am a huge fan of SANS Security conferences . The problem is that a lot of people do not know what to expect at the bigger conferences so I wrote a few lines regarding what goes on there.

First day
The first day you register at the registration desk. This can be done anytime after 7 am. If your class does not start until the day after, go to the desk around 10 am since then the rush is gone and you can interact with the staff easier with any questions you have. Also there are lots of signs telling you what other events are going on during the whole conference, such as the Vendor Expo, Lunch and Learns and SANS @ Night events.

Class Structure
All Sans classes are almost the same , in terms of structure and schedule. The breaks are regular and you get a lot of snacks which include soft drinks and coffee or tea. SANS Instructors are ordinary, working people and know their subjects extremely well. The classes are generally well planned though fast paced. It is therefore amazing that there is still plenty of open discussions and if there is not enough time for them, the instructors take the time to stay during breaks or after classes and make themselves available for any questions or just good on-topic conversation.

Vendor Exhibition
This is an event where a lot of security product vendors have live demos and people there for you to answer your questions. The good part about this is, that Vendors tend to send technical people along with the sales. This gives you a unique chance to actually ask really technical questions and get proper answers or even demos related to the questions. At the exhibition there is also normally the SANS raffle where you can win quite nice prices. This year included the famous “black superhero shirt”, a couple of WIIs and an iPhone.

Lunch and Learns
These sessions are usually Vendor events where, on different days or in different rooms, various vendors present their security related products while you get some food and drinks for free. These are very informational and sometimes prices can be won. Lunch and learn sessions are also a good way to ask questions to the vendors relating their products and they generally have very knowledgeable people there, not just plain marketing.

SANS@Night
these are the events that a lot of people that come to the conference enjoy a lot and many say that these events are one of the best parts of the SANS experience. SANS always manages to organize speakers for the evening events from well known organizations or then they touch subjects that are always about whats going on currently in the security field by real experts. This time they had people from the FBI speaking about cyber threats and Ed Skoudis and Tom Liston talking about security issues in virtual machines.

Networking
The best part though, outside the classes, is the chance to network with people. The people attending SANS conferences are all working in the same field. This makes networking very easy since everyone has some common base. This time I met people from al around the globe, including the United Arab Emirates. The time you spend there you have the chance to exchange experiences and different approaches and many discussions last until late at night simply because they are just so interesting and everyone is participating. It is contagious. Every night I have had either long discussions or, lucky me, got to go to dinner with some of the instructors and discuss interesting issues with them too.

If you ever want to go to a conference that is for professionals, from professionals with professionals, SANS is the way to go. The experience will stay with you and you might just find new friends that you stay in contact with, I know I have and will.

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