Previewing RSAC 2025 with Linda Gray Martin and Britta Glade

Hey everyone. Welcome back here to Techstrong tv. You know, whether you've been naughty or nice.

Next week is RSA conference and, and we've got, we are in full swing here in Techstrong. Very excited. I'm flying out Saturday.

Uh, we'll be there setting up Sunday, Monday. It was of course our DevSecOps event. And this year it's ai and of course it's ai, ai, cybersecurity, and app dev.

We've got some great speakers. Really, really excited. Um, I'm really excited to have these two ladies on though, because for those of you who know or have been to RSA or follow, what goes on at the RSA conference, you already know them.

For those of you who don't, these are the powerhouses who've run the RSA conference and have for, well, there are a, a lot. They're not as young as they look. They've been doing this a long time.

We Have. I know, but Yes. But let me introduce you to my friends, Linda Graymar, who is it?

Senior VP of RSAC. Is that the right title? That's correct, yeah.

Of the conference. So I look after the conference, but I'm also chief of staff at the company too. And let me introduce our next guest who is a powerhouse in her own rights, my friend Brita Glade.

Brita, welcome. It's so great to have you here. It is my pleasure.

Thank you Ellen. Always great to see you. So let me just make sure I got this right.

VP Content and curation for R-S-A-C-S-V-P, Senior Vice President for Service SVP. Yeah. And Alan, we actually changed the C because RSAC is all about, you know, the C is all the things it means, um, content and communities because we have so many different communities at conference.

Okay, that's fantastic. Britta and I, I think that's a perfect role for you. You know, I was kidding around about how long you guys have been involved in RSAC, but how it's gotta be 15 years, 18 years.

Oh yeah. Easily. More than I joined in 2006 when I was responsible for RSA conference Europe.

So back in those days. So yeah, 2000. So 19 years I've been at the company.

Yeah. And Bris, I think I've been about 11. Yeah.

So I got you beat. I've been going to RSA since 2002. Okay.

You're the veteran here. Uhhuh, I think what, when was, what year did we do San Jose? Do you remember it?

Was it 2003 or four? It was like in the middle of a downturn. It Used to rotate.

It used to be back and forth. San Francisco, San Jose's. I remember San Francisco because it was, it was right after nine 11 and there were more people handing me resumes than they were talking about my product.

And I was so bummed. But you know, that was a long time ago. Anyway, Britta, you mentioned the C in RSAC.

Right. It took me five years to always put the C on RSAC because I wanted to make sure people understood We were talking about RSA conference Conference. Absolutely.

But now the C is something else or it's more, Well, it can be many things. I think that's the beauty of it. I mean, obviously the conference is at the heart of, of what we do, you know, and it's definitely central to that kind of larger mission that we all feel.

But, um, you know, the SEA, I think is, it just kind of highlights that we've become more than a conference. There's this need for year-round learning and education and, you know, we are the epicenter of content, connection, culture, conversation, collaboration, I think. But mainly what it really means to all of us and in our hearts is community.

It's all about community. So absolutely. The C can be many things.

Very good. Um, let's talk a little bit about, Linda. You mentioned your SVP for the, OR for the, uh, conference, but chief of staff for the company?

Yes. For those people, maybe a little confused about that. It goes to the heart of the sea, if you will, but just, you know, make, let, let's close the, yeah, the loop on that one.

Let me close the loop. So, um, hopefully you will have seen that recently, uh, we announced the launch of RS A C'S membership platform. So, um, you know, it's gonna include capabilities that allow people to continuously learn, to collaborate and to communicate, um, you know, to help them on a, a daily basis.

Um, so we've kind of got two parts of the business at this point. Obviously the, the conference is the center of what we do and always will be. Um, but we do have this expanded membership platform now.

So obviously an expanded team that goes along, um, with kind of building, launching, maintaining, um, and, and working with the community on that. So our company has grown significantly in the last 18 months. You know, we have 75 employees now.

Wow. And it's really important that we maintain the very strong culture, um, you know, that we have on the conference as we build this company. And so really that is part of the role that I have as the chief of staff at the company.

You know, working together with the teams, um, you know, making sure that, um, everybody is collaborating effectively and coming together as we kind of go on this journey. Absolutely. You know, that was always one of the best kept secrets, I think in security.

It was kinda like Wizard of Artists wizard, like Wizard of Oz, you know, the behind the black curtain. There were like six people pulling the levers for this gigantic conference that the whole industry came to. And, you know, there were contractors and there was a lot of help.

'cause when you came to the event, there were, there was people all over. But the fact of the matter was, the RSA conference itself was only a handful of full-time employees, you know? That's right.

And back then you were putting on three shows, three different conferences a year. Crazy. I know.

I dunno how we did it when we look back. Maybe it's just that I've got older and um, my capacity is That, but no, there was a little kinda Wizard of Oz thing going on there. Yeah.

But it's, uh, You know, you know what I love about it though, Alan? Those you're talking Yeah. The full-time employees.

And yes, it was always surprising, however, to the heart of what Linda was talking about, community. We've always had a really large number of program committee members, folks from across the community who've, you know, they, they pick the sessions that are going to put, be put together. They go through them, they edit it, that they prepare, um, you know, recommendations for how can this be the best possible content.

And I've always loved that aspect about RSAC conference. Uh, you know, the, it really is of buy and for the community. It's always been the heart of what we do.

Yeah, Absolutely. So I'd love to sit and talk about this all day with you, but we we're under, you know, we have to within time here and it's the week before RSA conference. Indeed.

First of all, thank you both. 'cause I know you've both gotta be spinning up a million miles a minute right now. But let's talk about this year's conference.

Why someone looking out here saying, Hmm, should I go? Shouldn't I go? Yeah.

What do they have to look forward to? There is, there is so much. Where do we start?

I mean, first of all, I just wanna give a shout out to the theme of this year's conference, because I think it's one of the main reasons people should come. And it's all about community. So our theme this year is many voices, one community, and it re it's the heart of everything that we do.

And I know we've kind of mentioned that already, and that although people have different backgrounds and different perspectives and different strengths, we unified together in this mission to help make the world a safer society. And so, you know, and it's a very collaborative feeling. So of course we have 500, 600 sessions, 600 exhibitors, 700 speakers, all the stuff that you would expect, um, that people have come to know and love RSA conference for.

And we will have all of that again. But, you know, just being at the heart of this very passionate community where people wanna help, you know, they wanna lift their peers and colleagues up and they wanna share knowledge. It's just, it's such an opportunity.

We, you'll quite often hear Hugh call it, sorry, Hugh Thompson, Matt Executive chairman, the convening authority for the cybersecurity industry. And it, it really is. It's where everybody comes together.

Um, so just a few thoughts from me, Brit, you're SVP of Content and Communities Tell, talk to us about the content for this year's Event. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Um, I love all of the content. You, you, I mean, you're putting together a great seminar on Monday, right? And what I, what I love with what we put together, the experience across the week, there's a lot of things that happen publicly.

There's also a whole lot of content and gatherings and get togethers that happen for private communities, which is very important. You know, that collaboration, the, the conversations that happen at conference on, um, different challenging topics, right? Where different groups need to get together.

So we, as Linda mentioned, we have, uh, gosh, over 600 sessions, uh, spread across 29 different tracks. You know, starting on, we actually start Sunday with some closed door sessions run through Thursday with a great closing celebration. Uh, the, the sessions are available, you know, different things are open to different folks depending on what your past type is.

So that's, you know, guidance. I would give folks attending. Make sure, you know, when you're looking at the agenda, when you're picking the sessions you want to attend, be sure to reserve a seat.

Something that's really, really important to you. Reserve that seat, um, and make sure your pass type gets you into the session you want to attend. Um, and then, you know, it's a busy week.

Look forward to after the week as well, being able to go back into the library, be able to see those sessions that you're interested in. We talked about the membership platform. There's going to be some great live groups that are available.

Uh, you know, conversations that will start before the event, during the event, and continue well beyond after the event, hopefully weeks, months to follow people continuing to benefit from those conversations they have with one another. Guys, there are always fantastic keynotes. Some like, you know, non, non-cyber keynotes.

Last year was, last year was Alicia Keys, or was that the year before they started running into, That was last year. Yeah, Well, that was last year. Yeah.

I enjoyed that. Um, I, you know, I saw her there, then I went to see her in concert as a result. But anyway, um, who do we have this year lined up?

Kind of. Wow. Not your average cybersecurity person.

Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. And I can run you through some of the, the guest speakers, certainly on the West stage, and then maybe Bri can talk to the south stage. But, you know, just a, a note to that, um, what you said, I guess speakers aren't always to do with cybersecurity and there's a reason for that because they have other perspectives and other experiences that we can be inspired by or learn from.

And, you know, the closing celebration, which we started last year with Alicia Keys that you meant, who you mentioned, that's just re it is what it is. It, it's a celebration. We want people just to enjoy and sit back, relax with their colleagues, celebrate the week that we've just had, celebrate the work that everybody does, and just take an hour just to enjoy and have a different experience.

And, and that's, we, we are continuing that this year. Um, although we're going, we've gone in a slightly different direction, which I'll tell you about. So just some of the, um, guest speakers that people couldn't afford to.

On our West stage, we have Ron Howard, so famous, well-known movie director who's actually gonna be interviewed by his daughter, who's also an actress or actor and director. Bryce, Dallas, Howard. Mm-hmm.

Wow. We're so excited about this. He's, he's directed so many different movies and I think many of them will resonate with our, um, with our audience and with our attendees, you know, from a Beautiful Mind to one of the Star Wars adventures.

And I mean, there's just so much in his, He'll always be Richie Cunningham to me, Linda. I Know. Well, I was saying the other day, that's how, you know, I used to watch Happy Days when I was back in the UK when I was little.

That's how I first learned about the US and us culture. So it's mm-hmm. It's like a massive part of my childhood.

Um, but I think he's, he's gonna be absolutely fascinating. So we have, he's gonna be Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday morning, we have Magic Johnson, um, two time NBA Hall of Famer entrepreneur philanthropist.

A a very warm, charismatic guy who I think people are gonna love listening to. And we've, we've heard he is a fantastic speaker. I, yeah, I I've seen magic give keynotes.

Let me tell you something. The, the athlete is a very, very small part of his whole story. This man is from being a pioneer and frankly, living with aids.

Right? A hundred percent. And he likes to tell you, he, he made money as an athlete.

He became truly wealthy as an entrepreneur and all through it, the Starbucks, the movie theaters, the Dodgers. That's a, don't miss that. You know, I'll, I'll be there.

Yeah, yeah, I know exactly. We're super excited about him. And then our closing celebration this year, and like I said, we're going in a slightly different direction.

Um, award-winning actor, singer, comedian, Jamie Fox is gonna be in conversation with Hugh, which we Also has an amazing life story with what Amazing life story, but mm-hmm. With kicking off with, um, a dj, a guy called DJ Irie, um, who incidentally knows Jamie Fox. So there's a nice connection there.

And then we are having a, um, a musical set from a collective from San Francisco called Jazz Mafia, who I think are gonna blow people away. They're just, it's like 12 super talented musicians who are just gonna get that party started with some really interesting interpretations of songs. So again, I hope people can just enjoy that time.

Enjoy that last hour. It should. It's gonna be really Special.

V Excellent. Excellent. Yeah.

Linda, let's turn to you and talk South Stage. Do you mean Bria? Yes.

South Stage. Brenda, Brenda, you're Linda. I'm sorry.

I'm Linda. South stage is now YBCA. Um, so this is an exciting Oh goodness.

Part of RSAC this year is we've expanded our campus. Um, so if you're facing Moscone North, right to the side of it has been this beautiful Blue Cross, um, blue Cross Theater that you've seen Yes. Over the years.

You've walked past. We are taking over all of that area. It's called the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

It's a beautiful theater and, uh, you know, a proper theater, if you will. The ballet is there right now, so you'll imagine theater seating. So we've brought this, the goodness of these longer format, um, keynotes onto that stage.

We have a great lineup this year. We'll have us, uh, the always popular AI safety. Where do we go from here?

A panel with many different leaders from different AI platforms. Uh, you know, AI is, AI is getting harder versus easier. Right.

Which I know you're exploring at, at at your seminar. The cryptographers panel. Always a fan favorite.

Yes. That will be over on that stage as well. Uh, we have, Bruce Schneider will be joining us again.

We have, uh, you know, it's, it's a host of really great sessions. Rob Lee will be there. You know, if, if we look at how much has changed in this, um, you know, critical infrastructure, uh, threat landscape.

So we brought Rob Lee is going to be there on Thursday, delivering a, a really great keynote on that. And then many, many, many other great ones in between Kevin Mania will be back with us looking at. Okay.

Very cool. Um, yeah, the year in review of cybersecurity. So I am, I'm excited for this venue.

We're being able to introduce also over in the, the YBCA. DARPA is bringing their AI experience. And I think you're, you're gonna talk further with Cecilia about that.

That is also do not miss territory. Uh, you need to attend this interactive, immersive experience to see AI in the, you know, this, this, this imaginary city around us. And they've put together a fabulous experience for attendees.

Wow. It's great. So we finally have, we have a proper keynote space.

We had a, not that the keynote stages were bad, I mean, you know, over the years, well the, you know, the, The, the big one that Linda, you know, that's about 4,000 people in there. That is a huge, beautiful. And We've got in the West, that's in Moscone West.

In the West west, we have a production team that, you know, no one beats our team that puts together that, that that system. But yes, for our longer form keynote stage, we've got this, this larger theater, uh, that will, it'll blow people's socks off. So we're really, well, I can't wait.

I'm excited. We're excited about this, this campus expansion. And, you know, the sandbox is over in YBCA, there's a, you know, it's just additional space for people to, to spread out, um, to be able to consume content.

I will be in west at broadcast alley, usually right next door to the door there the whole week. So I pop in and outta west a lot, but I'll make it my business to get to YBCA. We Don't wanna Miss it.

For those of you who've not been to RSA, it's not just about the keynotes. There's what, 600 plus sessions? Mm-hmm.

If you have any interest in cyber and technology, there's a session there for you. There's probably six sessions there for you. A lot of them do get filled up.

'cause they're not all in 4,000 seat, uh, theaters. Right, right. There's 175 seats.

Sometimes when you're registering for the event, be sure to click in the ones you want to go to and get your seat, because otherwise you may find yourself shut out. Yes. Right.

And I'm not, I'm not here hawking tickets star. I say, I'm just telling you the facts. No, it's True.

I think coming with a plan, we always advise that for people because, you know, not only are there 600 sessions, there are 600 ex vendors in the, um, expo as well. Yes, there are. And it can be overwhelming.

So it's like, just take the time to do a little bit of planning before you get to the conference. I think it will really help, help your experience and help you get the most out of it. So rumor has it, this will be the biggest RSA conference ever.

You guys want to go out on the limb on that or? Uh, I think we just have to wait and see. It's just a few more days.

Okay. Again, things kick off Sunday. Monday is seminar day and a lot of other stuff going on.

Monday afternoon I think is opening keynotes around. Correct. 3 30, 4 o'clock something around Three 30 something three 30.

Yep. And then, and then the expo open the expo floor. Absolutely.

Right after The opening keynote. We're full swing. Yeah.

Very cool. Well, Linda and Brita, I look forward to seeing you in person. Always a Francisco.

I know you guys get busy. I, I get a little busy myself, but, um, I will make my business to come find you and say hello as usual. Amazing job.

Amazing job. Difficult job. You guys make it look easy, which is really the magic to the whole thing.

Um, so, so excited for this year. R you know what the, it's RSA conference is the website. Yes.

R Yes. com. R.

Perfect. I just wanted to make sure there's still time to register. By the way, if you just looking for expo passes, if you look online, you could probably find a free code for an expo pass.

There are Expo plus passes, which is I think what Brita was referring to. That gets you into some of the keynote notes and sessions. And then there's the full passes as well for rest.

We'll see you at RSAC. Linda Britta, thank you so much. Thank you.

We're gonna take a break here on Text Trunk. Thanks. Thanks for having us.

Thank you. Bye-Bye.