My First Nullcon as a Speaker!

- [ ] Deliver a talk at Nullcon

Are you wondering what this is? This was one of the to-dos I defined for myself in the new year’s resolutions! Well new year’s resolutions are something that just motivates us till end of Jan! However, this time I managed to get it done❤️

Nullcon 2022 was my 2nd Nullcon and 1st time as a speaker! The first time I attended it, I was totally mesmerised that I did write a blog post that time too. And I feel the same today, as this one was a completely different experience!

Your submission has been accepted

I can’t describe that day in words. Both for Sheeraz and I, It was going to be our first conference talk. And getting the talk accepted in Asia’s biggest security conference is something to be proud of.

The Grand Hyatt

Another prime experience to talk about is the stay! The speaker benefits! The day we entered there, I remember telling my manager that please mark a leave for me as I just couldn’t get in front of the laptop to work! He was kind enough to give me one 🙂

Reason why?? You see it right there!

I bet you would have done the same!

The Speaker’s Networking Party

Well Again! Something that’s only there for speakers! So yea I would say that again “Speaker Benefits”. I met some amazing people there. Had a Null Bhopal re-union ❤️. Met the whole Chaleit team and it was fun talking to each of them! We all ended up breaking into groups and talking to some amazing people!! I just so love it that I think Networking is gonna be my hobby very soon!

I heard a lot of people saying “We are looking forward to your talk”. That was already a special moment for both of us. Got some nice feedback for the talk title as well 🤭

Met the “Amazing” Vandana Mam after so long ❤️!! It’s always amazing talking to her. And after the long wait of 2 years, finally met the Winja team with whom I used to talk every weekend but always virtually.

The night didn’t end for us yet! We had to practise our talk together. It was first time for both of us when we were delivering a talk as duo. And it does require some coordination. But yes, after we practised, we were very much confident and excited about the talk!

First day at Conference

It was the day of our talk. It started with our last rehearsal! And after that we were pretty much confident about actually doing it! I was roaming around in the venue meeting people I used to see online. Then I went to SALAO 2 for winjaCTF. The room was beautifully set by Ashwin, Riddhi and Siddhant. There were RGB lights all around along with cool music! The infra and CTF was all handled by Aravindha. Sneha and Riddhi owned the mics. It was fun interacting with people and getting to know their stories.

It was a coffee break and then it was action time! I was amazed to see the crowd as it was a full house with all our friends cheering for us. It started off great and every section just completed on time😃 The best moment in the whole talk was getting claps on this slide😍

Cant actually describe that in words. The idea to make that slide conversational did actually work! As of course, it was an achievement for both of us!

We both received some great feedback from the people who attended our talk. But yea this research is so far from being over and there is still so much to explore on different fronts.

The night was a full-on party time. DJ in rain was quite amazing.

Day 2 at Nullcon

As the talk was now over. I was feeling a bit more light. I decided to roam around and chat with people. Met my H1 colleagues for the first time and it was great talking to them. Then someone handed me the mic and asked me to talk about my day one. I don’t know where that clip will be published but if anyone finds it, please let me know.

We managed to go to the private beach of Hyatt. Yes, it was far away but totally worth it! Thanks, Sneha for insisting!

The closing ceremony was in the ballroom. It was a huge one! The closing notes, prize distribution and thank-giving were the agenda!

The winja team was also invited on the stage and everyone got introduced. It always feels nice to be on stage!

Well, that was the end of Nullcon Goa 2022 edition! It was super fun. I finally met the people with whom I have been working/ chatting for the last 2 years. Eagerly waiting for Nullcon Goa 2023 🙂

This post is incomplete without the photos. I have tried to add all of them that I managed to click 🙂