when: 2005 - January 2025
where: Washington D.C.
web: https://shmoocon.org
Farewell, ShmooCon
After a 20-year run, ShmooCon held its final event January 10-12, 2025 at the Washington Hilton. The organizers went out on their own terms and on a high note — as they always said they would.
ShmooCon was a small, low-key hacker conference in Washington D.C. with a near-cult following and a sense of humor. Its logo was a moose. In addition to the hackers who hung out there, a fair number of members of the military, intelligence, national law enforcement, and cyber policy community attended each year — making it one of the best places anywhere for the policy and hacker communities to mix.
ShmooCon tickets were notoriously hard to come by, selling out in seconds every year. Prospective attendees hit “F5” to refresh the page so much, it was practically a sport. Yet dozens to hundreds of people without tickets showed up anyway for Lobbycon, to eat, drink, and catch up with one another.
In the Build It, Belay It, and Bring It On tracks, talk topics were diverse and as likely to be cutting edge technical discussions as how to prepare final affairs in a digital society. One Track Mind talks on Friday tended to be of more universal interest and were presented as a plenary session. For evening amusement, Firetalks were short, funny, and informative talks, in the style of American Idol with participants rated on their performance and a winner declared.
ShmooCon was unique among hacker conferences in that it published Proceedings, a set of long-form writeups on the sessions — a fitting legacy for an event that always strived to keep information free.
Thanks for everything, Shmoos. The moose abides.