Search results are saying that defcon sees some 30k people. The 2023 Chicago Auto Show had 300k. Major city with all the amenities.
https://www.chicagoautoshow.com/the-2023-chicago-auto-show-c...
It's very capable to handle large conferences and does throughout the year.
Historically, Vegas had a cost advantage. I don't know if that's still the case.
Let's look at San Francisco. A city that is not as well-suited for conventions as Las Vegas. Dreamforce (Salesforce's annual conference) draws 40,000 people. DEFCON drew 30,000 this year. DEFCON could easily be held in SF. I'm not suggesting they'd want to or should move to SF, but it would be... fine.
As someone who (very) occasionally goes to conferences, Vegas is fun! I get that. I enjoy Vegas, at least for a few days before I get sick of it. There are good restaurants and shows, and virtually no puritanical laws around alcohol consumption like you find in nearly all other places in the US. It's a 24/7 city, the only one in the US. I see the appeal. (And also get why many people dislike it, largely for the same reasons many people like it.)
But c'mon, there are plenty of other US cities that have the infrastructure to support a conference like DEFCON. Conference organizers pick Vegas because they like it, not because other cities can't support them.
I would be happy if the location or date of all 3 changed. The peak temperature outside was around 110° all week this year.
Also understand that, the conference, no matter which conference mind, is half the draw, the other half is being in vegas itself. Move it elsewhere and it'll be much, much smaller for that reason alone.
Also, it’s always been in Vegas, so there’s inertia, and part of the draw is the attendance synergy with the rest of the hacker summer camp events like black hat, bsides, and others. There’s no good reason to change, and a lot of good reasons to stay.
Why can't they just move these conferences out of the US? Dmitry Sklyarov was arrested at one of these Vegas hacker conventions, in case people have forgotten after all these years. There are many other countries where these conferences could be held, and where all this security BS isn't much of a factor.
You mention Dmitry Sklyarov but more recently Marcus Hutchins (MalwareTech) has been also arrested by the FBI following its appearance at Blackhat or Defcon
If you're going to make such a wild statement where the laws are against you any any Google search of hours is against you, you've got to give a much longer and in depth explanation.
Are there any huge advantages to staying in Vegas? Why not another city, perhaps with negotiated privacy for rooms at choice hotels?