WHYcast transcript episode 11

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Transcript episode 33

Chantal: Hi, and welcome to the WHYcast episode 33. I’m Chantal. And I’m Ad. And we are the host of the only podcast about a hacker camp in the universe. This volunteer run event will take place this year in the Netherlands, approximately 42 kilometers north of Amsterdam, from August 8th until the 12th of August in 2025. So, Ad, what are we talking about today?

Ad: Well, it’s going to be a quick one today, because there is not that much, as we don’t have an interview lined up, unfortunately. But we have news. We have a Where to Hack. We have listener questions. And there are still plenty of vacancies.

Chantal: We have listener questions.

Ad: Yeah. But first, but first, we’ll go into the news. Because last week we mentioned we were at around 3,000 tickets sold. But last Monday, at about 5 a.m. in the morning, someone bought ticket number 3,000. And by now we’re way past that already.

Chantal: Yeah, because on the day of recording, which is a few days before this actually airs, there were 3,018 tickets sold.

Ad: Yeah. Yeah. That was, yeah. But no early bird ticket. No. No. No.

Chantal: Talking about that, it’s not an early bird ticket, because we only have 90 days to go.

Ad: Yes. Yes. By the time this video goes out, the days counter will tick from 91 to 90. Well, technically, 90 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds. But who’s counting?

Chantal: Who’s counting? Less than 91 days.

Ad: Less than 91 days. So we’ll just call it 90 because we like round numbers. Yeah. Yeah. A lot still has to be done, but a lot already happened as well. And one of the things that happened was regarding Team:Volunteers.

Chantal: Team:Volunteers are requesting information from a lot of teams on how many volunteers they actually need during the event. During the event, we will be using the Angel system. We also use that in different versions of this event. And this time it’s happening again. Team:Volunteers is basically gathering information from all the teams to see how many shifts there need to be per team, per stage, per bar, and all that kind of stuff. So teams, check your email and give Team:Volunteers the information they need. They have made a very comprehensive guideline and some forms that the teams can use to determine what they need. I already read it, and it’s very comprehensive. So basically any information you need is in that guideline. So good job, Team:Volunteers. And for the people listening that don’t know what an Angel system is, we have talked about this in previous episodes, but yeah, nothing wrong with the…

Ad: It’s just sort of summary. I mean, there could be people who haven’t listened to the 32 episodes that came before. Yeah. So Angel system. Angels are people who help out during the event. There will be a roster based on the requests that the teams are sending in right now. And it could be that the bar needs people. It could be that the bar needs people to man the bars. Team:Info needs people to sit at the info desk. And those are shifts typically around two hours each. Yeah. Or an audio or camera Angel that helps with the recording of talks in the tents. That is usually just the duration of a talk. And then you just do multiple talks in a row. And for all those, well, jobs, in quotation marks, they need people. And you can write in on certain shifts on those time slots. And then you help out. And if you help out, you get food.

Chantal: Yeah. And that’s also one of the tasks. Help prepare the food for Angels. Yeah. It can be any odd job that needs to be done where we need volunteers for. Because, of course, this event is run by volunteers. So, yeah, if you have two hours to spare during the entire event, then you can sign up for those tasks using the Angel system. It is an online system, so you can access it via the Wiki at the moment. It’s not in operation right now. But during the event, it will be operational. And you can scroll through all the tasks that are needed. And you can sign up for a shift. Yeah. And by doing so, you help out everyone that is enjoying the festival. And we can make it a little bit better.

Ad: I did a shift each day during MCH, except for the day when I did my talk. But that was because… stress. Yeah. Preparation time was needed. Yeah. But it’s a really cool way to be part of the event, to make the event more yours. Because you’re actually actively making the event possible. It’s also a nice way to just get in contact with people who otherwise you might not have talked to. Yeah. It’s a way to hone some new skills in certain cases. Yeah. And you just get a lot of… credits. Credits. Yeah. And it’s a cool way to kind of peek behind the curtain to see what’s happening behind all the… behind the scenes. Yeah. With the different teams. Yeah. So it’s a really cool way to be part in the broadest sense of the word.

Chantal: Yeah. Yeah. And you get an exclusive Angel T-shirt.

Ad: Actually. Ah. Now that you mention it, people watching on YouTube, I have the Angel shirt from last time from MCH. Yeah. I’m wearing that right now. So yeah.

Chantal: Yeah. That is another perk. Yeah. No, it’s definitely cool to… And you don’t have to decide now. You can decide during the event, like, oh, I’ll do a shift and help people out for a couple of hours. Yeah. Or you can do multiple shifts. That’s entirely up to you. Okay. But just know that for the teams that are preparing for the event, Team:Volunteers is already working on it and…

Ad: They need your input.

Chantal: They need your input. Yes.

Ad: Yeah. There are some shifts, by the way, that you want to make your mind up about early on because, for example, the video and audio angels will get a little training. Yeah. And things will be explained how it works, which buttons to press and which buttons not to touch. Yeah.

Chantal: Yeah. Yeah. So most of these tasks, they may need a little training, but usually it’s just an info sheet where you can find all the information. Some of them are a little bit more difficult, so you need to actually do a little bit more comprehensive training. But it all depends on what it is. Of course, usually those trainings are a couple of times on day zero or day one, and maybe even on other days as well. It kind of depends on what the task is.

Ad: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And there’s always people from the team itself around to assist. It’s not like, well, there you go. That’s it. And now it’s your problem to deal with. You’re helping the teams out. Yeah.

Chantal: Yeah. You’re supporting the teams. Yeah. Yeah.

Ad: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. All right. With that, I think we’ll get the little Where to Hack intro right now.

Intro: Each week, we will share where you can find wise-minded people. Where to hack.

Chantal: Because soon, as in this evening, this episode goes out, you’ll have an event.

Ad: CF Pizza.

Chantal: We already talked about it multiple times on this podcast, of course. Yeah. But yeah, tonight we are having a CF Pizza, and that is a hands-on workshop where we’ll work together on CFP writing and presentation skills. It is going to be in person in Amersfoort at ONIX Cybersecurity, but we’re also doing it hybrid, so you can also join online. If you still want to join, check out the link in the description. The show notes. And you can join in.

Ad: Yeah. There will be a link to meet up, and we’ll put that down below in the show notes. Yeah. And where will people find the online link?

Chantal: Oh, yeah. Also in there?

Ad: If you sign up for the meet up, then you get the online link.

Chantal: Ah, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Sign ups are going pretty great. It’s not a big deal. It’s not a huge group, so you’ll probably get some individual attention because we have like 30 people that signed up at the moment, a little bit more, I think. But yeah, so yeah, it’s going to be really cool.

Chantal: I was supposed to do it together with Nancy. That didn’t happen, so I’m going to do it alone, but I have some other people that are joining from OrangeCon, for example. Mm-hmm. That will have some inputs. But also Dani. From Wicca? Yeah. No. Yeah. It is, of course, a Wicca and WHY collaboration. So yes, people from Wicca as well. So for example, Dani from Team:Cohesion and Content is also going to be there. But also lots more people that have some input. So yeah, it’s going to be fun. We’ll do a little bit of… Yeah. We’ll do a little bit of listening to some theory and like, yeah, some tips. And then we’ll just go on hands-on into the workshop.

Ad: Awesome. Yeah. Very cool. And now the next thing I see here on the list, Le Tour du Hac. Yeah. And I think, oh, that’s in France. No, it’s not. No, it’s in Edinburgh. Yeah. It’s at the Napier University.

Chantal: I actually found this. It’s a… I heard about this one before, but it’s a student-run cybersecurity conference. So it’s all put together by students from Napier University. It is going to be this weekend, so the 10th and 11th of May. They have one day full with talks and one day with a CTF. And it looks really cool. And I just wanted to give them a shout out because it’s cool that students actually organize this. It is.

Ad: Yes.

Chantal: Is it sold out?

Ad: Yes.

Chantal: Ah, good.

Ad: Of course. Tradition. Yes. So, yeah, we have another tradition in the show by now that we see very cool events and then at the last second we notice, oh, wait, they’re sold out.

Chantal: Yeah. No, it’s sold out.

Ad: I hope they will record some of the talks because there’s some good signing names in there.

Chantal: Yeah. It’s pretty cool. So, yeah. Have fun if you’re going this weekend.

Ad: Normally, we would have an interview right now. Unfortunately, there was an interview planned and that fell through for now. It will be recorded later at some point. So unfortunately, we don’t have an interview right now, but we do have some vacancies of the week. And I’ll keep that nice and short and just say, go to the Wiki. Click on vacancies. And there is an entire list. I mean, we could just call out parking, merch. Yeah. But we’ve done that a couple of times already. Accessibility. Been there. Shuttle. Team:Family. Could use a project owner. That seems to be still open. Team:Deco. Could use a builder. And Team:Content. Some reviewers. Yeah.

Chantal: We’re starting reviewing very soon. So, yeah, if you still want to do some reviews, please let us know.

Ad: Yeah. Go to the Wiki. Go to vacancies in the little menu on the left. And there you will find all the teams that are looking for people. And on the team pages, there will be contact links to all other teams.

Ad: With that, we go to the listener questions. And we got one on the info at email address. Someone said, I would really like to join a couple of days early to help with buildup and stay a little late for Teardown. Awesome. Is that possible? And where do I sign up? Well, currently, there is no signup list yet. But there is a timeline. It is actually wiki.WHY2025.org slash timeline with a caption. But I also put the link in the show notes. And that shows that there will be early buildup from day minus six. That’s the first of August. That’s on Friday. Because there is an event earlier, Liquisty. And they need time to get their stuff out. So, there will be some suppliers in the little overlap between those two events already coming up. But early buildup starts on the Friday before the event. And during that weekend, it will ramp up. And then on the Wednesday, that is when day minus one. That is when regular villages come to buildup. So that they have their stuff more or less organized for day zero. The arrival day. Before day one. The Friday that the event actually starts fully. If you have the chance to help with buildup and as important with the teardown. You’re very welcome to come early. Stay late. Do mind that facilities that need to be built by you are not there yet. So, it will be slightly Spartan. But as the days go by, it will be more and more. Yeah. And this hasn’t been a problem in the past. People I spoke to who did buildup stuff. They are always, almost always returning for the next event buildup and teardown. Because it’s so much fun. And having the teardown means that you’ll have a bit more of the event. Yeah. So, when people are already going home and crying in their car on the way back. The event isn’t over. You still have some more fun with your friends. Yeah. So, yeah. There is at the moment no list. But there probably will be also from Team:Volunteers. Who is now working on the Angel system. They will probably be the ones that also will coordinate during buildup and teardown. If there is a list. If there is a place they need you to sign up. We’ll mention that on all the socials and in the WHYcast and on the website. And that is a good excuse to make sure that you are subscribed to the YouTube. Follow us on all the social medias. Click all the like buttons. And if you have any feedback, you can always leave that down below. If you’re watching this on YouTube in the comment section. Or send us an email at WHYcast at WHY2025.org.

Ad: And then I scroll down. And I have a white page. My list is empty. So we have. Yeah. We have everything covered, I think.

Chantal: Yeah. I think we do for this week.

Ad: Yeah. Thank you for joining me on episode 33. Thank you all for listening and for watching. And we hope to see you next Friday.

Chantal: Friday.