BSides Newcastle is probably one the most anarchic of the BSides I’ve been to so far. So much so that the fascists organised a protest. Well, not really, but there was a far-right and counter-protest not far from where the conference was. Thankfully, the organisers were on top of it and kept is all up-to-date with advice: “Punch Nazis” (for the benefit of the tape, nobody endorsed violence). Aaanyway, aside from a really early start I was ready to dive in and hope to share some of the experiences with you.

After BSides Lancs and Leeds, Newcastle was my third BSides, both of the year and ever. I got up early in the morning for a road trip from Preston to Newcastle, and setting off at 5:30 on Saturday turned out to be atmospheric and straightforward. So I was a bit early and got a glimpse of the chaos that is putting together a BSides. Later I found out that BSides Newcastle was traditionally more chaotic than some of the other BSides.

It is a couple of weeks after my trip to Leeds to go speak at BSides. Now, if you’ve never been to a BSides - and I had only been to one prior - then hopefully this gives you a bit of a feel as to what to expect. In short, there’s lots of interesting people with great talks and insights and something that feels just right. A bit of community and some weird people.