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BSides Orlando believes in transparent policies regarding expectations of our board, staff, volunteers, speakers, sponsors, and attendees. Specifically, by being abundantly clear about the intentions of how we operate and how we expect those we interact with to behave, we believe we will create a more inclusive, open, and inviting environment.
Below are the current policies BSides Orlando uses to guide the organization.
Our Code of Conduct is the core principle that must be followed by anyone that attendees. This includes the Board of Directors, Attendees, and everyone in between.
Our Ethics Agreement takes our Code of Conduct and extends it beyond BSides Orlando events for Board Members, Staff, and others that regularly work with BSides Orlando. It’s important to us that even when we are working, playing, and operating outside the confines of BSides Orlando events those that represent the events and conference behave in a that makes the entire community a more open and inclusive environment.
Our Call for Papers and Review Process is a blind process that encourages new voices and looks to improve merit based selection based on the overall quality of materials submitted for review. This process includes the engagement of a diverse and talented review board. We also use a unique ~80/20 split. Approximately 80% of talks are selected through our blind CFP process. The other 20% is selected by the BSides Orlando Board and Staff. This helps ensure the majority of talks are blind selection, while there is still the opportunity to present well known speakers with interesting topics that would benefit the conference after the blind review is complete.
We are very proud of our conference, team, and what we’ve built at BSides Orlando. However, in any organization with a large enough attendance there is the opportunity for the unfortunate, unwarranted, and unwanted to arise. To that end BSides Orlando has established procedures to report incidents that may be a violation of our Code of Conduct, Ethics Agreements, or impact the safety and well being of attendees.
As long-term advocates of harm reduction, we want to take reasonable measures to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 for our event and community. It has been difficult to decide how to approach conference planning that accommodates varying degrees of acceptable risk. Accordingly, we have updated our COVID-19 safety measures for in-person conferences.
Attendees are strongly advised to wear a mask at all times in the indoor conference spaces, except when actively eating or drinking, and for speakers while presenting. This includes the foyer and hallways. We strongly suggest everyone wear disposable N95, KN95, or KF94 respirators and use a fresh mask at least once a day. We understand that there is no local mandate regarding masks, but as a private event we recommend masking to reduce the risk of spreading illness.
While we are not requiring on-site testing, we do ask you to test yourself frequently while you are in Florida. Please follow CDC quarantine guidelines and do not attend BSides Orlando if you test positive for COVID or are experiencing COVID symptoms.
We also strongly encourage participants to be vaccinated. While we are not requiring proof of vaccination to attend, we believe that vaccination, including the recommended booster doses, is one of the most important tools we have in protecting ourselves and our community from COVID-19.
We ask that you use common sense. Please do not attend the conference if you are feeling any symptoms of illness or have reason to believe you have been exposed to someone who is ill. We encourage frequent testing when traveling or around large groups of people. If possible, please take a COVID-19 test in the day or days leading up to the conference. Please wash your hands frequently throughout the conference.
We may revisit this policy based on changing information. In case of changes to this policy, the published policy with the latest date is controlling.
For more information on masking, please see the links below:
[1] https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2110117118
[3] https://ehs.msu.edu/_assets/docs/don-doff-n95.pdf
[4] https://cybersect.substack.com/p/face-masks-for-defcon
This information on this page is a lightly modified version of BSides Las Vegas COVID Information page as displayed on July 21, 2023.