At DerbyCon this year, I spoke about improv comedy. More specifically, how it applies to “social engineering” (talking your way out of trouble, or more maliciously tricking someone into giving up information that should be kept secret).

I didn’t even notice until posting the link here, but it amuses me that the video preview shows the demo slide that I often use, with the magic rabbit and the demolition reference.

DerbyCon

“Hackers” get a bad name in popular media, but at its core, a hacker is just someone who wants to know how something works. That could be a program, a gadget, a policy, or anything else. Sometimes that includes taking something apart or breaking it or looking for a loophole.

Several hackers founded the infosec (information security) conference known as DerbyCon in Louisville seven years ago. I’ve attended five or six (I forget), but this is the first time I’ve spoken there. The founders are all a great group of folks, and love giving back to the community and putting everyone at ease.

The conference has four main tracks — Red Team (offense), Blue Team (defense), Purple Team (bit o’ both), and 3-Way (miscellaneous topics) — plus Stable Talks (shorter sessions on a variety of topics). There are also several other areas and events, like a social engineering village, a car hacking village, a capture the flag contest, and more. It’s very popular — in fact the 2500(ish) tickets this year sold out in just 3 minutes! If I hadn’t been speaking there, I wouldn’t have been able to go.

Improv

My presentation was a Stable Talk, so I only had 25 minutes to speak. I wanted to leave time for some audience participation and exercises, so I sped through some things faster than I’d like, and there wasn’t as much detail as I’d have liked, but them’s the breaks.

Here are the salient points that I covered:

• “Rules”
  • Accept:  Yes, and…
  • Connect:  Relate to your audience
  • Respect:  Support your partner
  • Direct:  Focus on action
  • Project:  Follow the fear
  • Expect:  Mistakes are gifts

• Stay Creative
  • Local Improv Groups
  • 48-Hour Film Project, Startup Weekend, Hackathons
  • Games (Who Would Win, Once Upon a Time)
  • Toastmasters International, Pecha Kucha
  • Learn, Travel, Meet – Engage!
  • www.sharpen.design

• References
  • ImprovEncyclopedia.org/references/rules_of_improv.html
  • ImprovEverywhere.com
  • SplitSider.com/2012/04/john-cleese-on-creativity
  • tcat.tc/1kmYnKY
  • read.bi/29sSqsr
  • youtu.be/nIgMUO5PwMQ

Download

You can download the slides here.

in remembrance of Kemp