E3 was an annual trade event for the video game industry organized and presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It was held principally in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2019, with its final iteration held virtually in 2021. The event hosted developers, publishers, hardware manufacturers, and other industry professionals who used the occasion to introduce and advertise upcoming games, hardware, and merchandise to the press. During its existence, E3 was the world's largest and most prestigious annual gaming expo.
DEF CON is a hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993 and today many attendees at DEF CON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyers, federal government employees, security researchers, students, and hackers with a general interest in software, computer architecture, hardware modification, conference badges, and anything else that can be "hacked". The event consists of several tracks of speakers about computer- and hacking-related subjects, as well as cyber-security challenges and competitions. Contests held during the event are extremely varied and can range from creating the longest Wi-Fi connection to finding the most effective way to cool a beer in the Nevada heat.
Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, and strategy games. Gen Con also features computer games. Attendees engage in a variety of tournament and interactive game sessions. In 2019, Gen Con had nearly 70,000 unique attendees.
The Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference series is a hacker convention sponsored by the security hacker magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly that until 2020 was typically held at Hotel Pennsylvania, in Manhattan, New York City. Occurring biennially in the summer, there have been fourteen conferences to date. HOPE 2020, originally planned to be held at St. John's University, was instead held as a nine-day virtual event from July 25 to August 2, 2020. The fourteenth HOPE, "A New HOPE," was held at St. John's University in Queens from July 22 to 24, 2022. HOPE features talks, workshops, demonstrations, tours, and movie screenings.
PhreakNIC is an annual hacker and technology convention held in Nashville, Tennessee. It is organized by the Nashville 2600 Organization and draws upon resources from SouthEastern 2600 (se2600). The Nashville Linux User Group was closely tied with PhreakNIC for the first 10 years, but is no longer an active participant in the planning. First held in 1997, PhreakNIC continues to be a long-time favorite among hackers, security experts and technology enthusiasts. PhreakNIC currently holds claim as the oldest regional hacker con and is one of the few hacker cons run by a 501(c)(3) tax-free charity. The conference attracts about 350 attendees.
MegaCon, short for Mega Convention, is a large speculative fiction convention that caters to the comic book, sci-fi, anime, fantasy, RPG, and gaming communities, often occurring in spring at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The convention is the largest fan convention event in the Southern United States and second largest in North America with an attendance of 160,000 recorded in 2023.
BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch.
The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. With an attendance of 200,000 in 2022, it is North America's most attended fan convention.
PAX is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston, and Philadelphia in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia. PAX was previously held annually in San Antonio in the United States.
Jeff Moss, also known as Dark Tangent, is an American hacker, computer and internet security expert who founded the Black Hat and DEF CON computer security conferences.
Creation Entertainment is an American for-profit entertainment company located in Glendale, California, which produces fan conventions for fans of various films and television series, mainly in the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres. Creation Entertainment hosts about 20 conventions annually in various locations such as Chicago, Illinois; and Burbank, California. Creation was founded in 1971 by comic book fans Gary Berman and Adam Malin in New York City. Since then, it has organized over 2,300 conventions.
Kiwicon is a New Zealand computer security conference held annually in Wellington from 2007. It brings together a variety of people interested in information security. Representatives of government agencies and corporations attend, along with hackers.
BrickCon is a LEGO convention and exhibition in North America. It is held annually for adult fans of LEGO and hobbyists in Seattle, Washington. BrickCon runs 2–4 days, generally Thursday through Sunday, and is usually held the first weekend in October. The event brings together the fan community that has evolved as a result of the Internet and helps them explore and develop their LEGO hobby. BrickCon is not affiliated to the LEGO company. BrickCon is made up of two parts: the private convention and the public exhibition.
As the #1 event for electrical professionals, the NECA annual convention and trade show, National Electrical Contractors Association draws attendees and exhibitors involved in all aspects of the electrical construction and integrated building systems industries. The NECA Show is open to the entire industry, and it is held in conjunction with the NECA Convention, which is primarily for NECA member firms.
A computer security conference is a convention for individuals involved in computer security. They generally serve as meeting places for system and network administrators, hackers, and computer security experts.
AVCon is an Australian anime and video games festival held in Adelaide, South Australia and organised by the registered not for profit charity Team AVCon Inc. The festival is traditionally held annually in June or July, spanning two full days. AVCon was first held at the University of Adelaide in 2002, followed by the Adelaide Convention Centre between 2009 and 2023. In 2024 the festival will be held at the Adelaide Showground. AVCon was not held between 2020 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, but returned in 2023.
Rhode Island Comic Con (RICC) is a three-day comic convention held during November at the Rhode Island Convention Center, Amica Mutual Pavilion, and Omni Providence Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. The convention was Rhode Island's first Comic Con. Organizers also run Terror Con, a horror convention at the same location, and starting in 2023, the Rhode Island Anime Con was held at the same location as well.
A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels, or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Comic book conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which publishers, distributors, and retailers represent their comic-related releases. Comic book conventions may be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s.
Anime NYC is an annual three-day anime convention held during November at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.
Robert E. Joyce is an American cybersecurity official who served as special assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator on the U.S. National Security Council. He also began serving as White House Homeland Security Adviser to President Donald Trump on an acting basis after the resignation of Tom Bossert from April 10, 2018 to May 31, 2018. He completed his detail to the White House in May 2018 and returned to the National Security Agency. where he is now the Senior Advisor to the Director NSA for Cyber Security Strategy, Joyce previously performed as acting Deputy Homeland Security Advisor since October 13, 2017. On January 15, 2021 the NSA announced that Joyce would replace Anne Neuberger as its Director of Cybersecurity.
