At RSA Conference, we are hyper-focused on our attendees’ experience. What works for them? What doesn’t work for them? What do they want more of—or less? We scrutinize the feedback from our attendees and challenge ourselves to make every RSA Conference experience energizing, empowering, and enjoyable.

From an education content standpoint, I listened and learned a lot from our delegates this year (and I’m still listening—suggestions always welcome!). I have strived to balance “traditional” with “new” on the 2015 agenda so that we can meet our delegates’ individual needs. As part of this quest, we’re testing a few new things this year that aim to increase engagement and networking opportunities, chief among them is Learning Labs.

Pure and simple, each Learning Lab aims to provide attendees with a concentrated, in-depth learning experience. These are two-hour deep dive facilitated experiences led by some of the luminaries in the industry. Attendance is capped at 40 participants, assuring that each and every person in the room has the opportunity to engage with the facilitator and get the most out of the experience. Unlike a traditional track session with the “sage on the stage,” the Lab facilitator is a “guide on the side” leading the group through the content and exercises, while challenging them to apply what they are learning and engage with one another.

We are offering four Learning Labs at RSA Conference this year and they are open to full Conference badge holders, with a limit of one Lab per attendee. Information and sign up for all of our Learning Labs is available on the Learning Labs page.

As you’ll see, these Labs are facilitated by some of our industry’s rock stars.  Here’s a quick tour of the offerings—sign up quickly as space will fill and attendance is firmly capped at 40. 

• Dmitri Alperovitch and Jason Healey are facilitating the first Learning Lab on Tuesday: National Cyber Crisis—Live Exercise Scenario. The Lab guides participants in groups of five through a simulated national attack, challenging government and industry to work together.
• Stephen McCombie and Azeem Aleem’s Tuesday Lab, Cyber-shock 2015: Corporate Breach Role Play, provides a hands-on wargame exercise from within a corporation, challenging all of the different departments within a company to work together in a growing breach response.
• Wednesday morning’s Lab track kicks off with Insider Threat and the Dark Web: Cyber-Response Mini-Wargame, facilitated by Booz Allen experts Mike McConnell, Nicole Monteforte, and Ronald Sanders. This hands-on game board Lab challenges attendees to identify and successfully mitigate different risk categories following a breach.
• DevOps devotees will appreciate the final Lab, led by the Securosis team of Rich Mogull, Mike Rothman, and Adrian Lane. Pragmatic SecDevOps guides attendees through a series of demonstrations and exercises as they pursue real-world security automation.  

The learning experience for a Learning Lab attendee doesn’t end with after two hours in the Lab. The facilitators will provide attendees with a detailed write-up of the experience, lessons learned, and key takeaways from the discussions. This will help attendees instill what they’ve experienced in the Lab in their workplace. All of the Lab participants will reconvene a few months after RSA Conference via a focused webcast. The facilitator will discuss what issues have come up since the Lab—what did participants encounter as they applied what they learned? What new questions and ideas have developed? The idea is to provide a longer term learning opportunity and engagement with peers facing similar issues.

Learning Labs promise to be one of the most engaging and interactive elements at RSA Conference this year. Sign up now to secure your seat.