Latest / Identity at the Center / #286 - Identiverse 2024: The Kim Cameron Award Winners
Transcript
- 0:00All of us clap same time. So 123.
- 0:08Let's try. That again, 123.
- 0:15OK. All right.
- 0:17We're off to a great start. This is identity at the center
- 0:27if it has anything to do with IAM.
- 0:30This is the go to podcast now your hosts Jim McDonald and Jeff
- 0:37Stedman. Welcome to the Identity at the
- 0:44Center podcast. I'm Jeff, and that's Jim.
- 0:46Hey, Jim. Hey, Jeff, how are you?
- 0:48Oh. Not too bad yourself.
- 0:49Doing great. All right, I've got a list of
- 0:51things that I want to talk about.
- 0:53So it's been great, great being at it, Diverse, seeing so many
- 0:58old friends, but meeting new friends.
- 1:01Here's things that people have come up and talk to me about #1
- 1:04so many people who are listening to podcaster here.
- 1:07People haven't been and listen all the times, you know, just
- 1:11coming up and introduce themselves.
- 1:13Number two was my jacket that I was wearing yesterday.
- 1:16You had a jacket. I'd like to put a link to the
- 1:19jacket in the show notes. Is that possible?
- 1:21I mean like what do you mean? Like so if someone has to buy
- 1:24it. They can like that jacket or.
- 1:26I mean like. No, no, I'm not reselling it.
- 1:28OK. If somebody wants to buy it the
- 1:30same jacket, I. I was concerned with my star,
- 1:32but it's not your Pathfinder or. Something but in that same vein,
- 1:37I guess no like one of the main things people remember about the
- 1:46podcast sort of said about the Atlanta airport yeah, yeah.
- 1:50Smelling like an open bathroom, I.
- 1:53Did not smoke that much after that.
- 1:55You probably weren't in the part that I was.
- 1:57Maybe it was you. People really liked that.
- 1:59They thought it was hilarious. OK.
- 2:03We're able to solve that dilemma.
- 2:05Atlanta, you smell great. I can subscribe.
- 2:10So why don't we get to it before we do that, Watch out to RSM
- 2:13Cybers defiance. So what's are making all those
- 2:15possible? They've got this extravagant
- 2:17room for us to be able to record in and RSM for weeks out here.
- 2:21I have found a lot of people don't really know that we work
- 2:23for RSM. Yeah.
- 2:24So a lot of people are like, oh, I thought you just did the
- 2:26podcast like I wish. Or no, no we.
- 2:29Work for RSM, so we do a good job of trying to keep this out.
- 2:32This is under neutral. We don't do commercials, that
- 2:33kind of thing. So why don't we get right to it?
- 2:36We've got a very big panel here, probably the largest show we've
- 2:39ever done, I believe. We've got directors for the
- 2:42Digital Identity Advancement Foundation, DIAF dot link.
- 2:45We've got Ian Blazer, Aaron Crowe and Alan Foster welcome
- 2:49guys. And then we've got the Kim
- 2:51Cameron Award winners. We've got Sophie, Benoni, Taylor
- 2:53and Matthew Spence welcome everybody to the show.
- 2:57Thanks for having us. Thanks for taking the time.
- 3:01We're going to get to you guys in a second and really the focus
- 3:04shows we're going to be kind of on your guys journey to get
- 3:06here. But to set the stage, let's talk
- 3:08about the Digital Identity Advancement Foundation.
- 3:11Why don't we just start with what is the Digital Identity
- 3:14Foundation? Do you want to take a crack?
- 3:15Sure. So thanks for having us.
- 3:18It means a lot. The support is really great.
- 3:21So Diop is a digital identity advancement foundation.
- 3:25It's a 5O1C3 non profit focused on creating more opportunities
- 3:30for people globally to study and learn and explore digital
- 3:34identity primarily, at least to start.
- 3:36The way we're doing that is through the removal of financial
- 3:39barriers, so being able to bring people to industry events that
- 3:42they normally wouldn't be able to.
- 3:44Otherwise, that's a great motion.
- 3:47I love it. I want to find out more about
- 3:49how we can contribute out and go to you next.
- 3:51We'll talk about that and we are recording live so we're going to
- 3:54come in. There's our friend Dave Heyday.
- 3:57So how do we contribute to diet? Well, basically get hold of us
- 4:02and give us money. Then there's ways to do that.
- 4:04So we've got a link if you go to DIF dot link slash donate that
- 4:09brings up a web page and we can get some money in that way.
- 4:12Also, if you have other ideas or other ways you want to be able
- 4:14to do it, you can always send us an e-mail and then we probably
- 4:18put the e-mail address into the the notes underneath because
- 4:22it's a nice long one. Turns out all of the identity
- 4:25domain names were sort of gone. Like.
- 4:31For all your money. But we do have an e-mail address
- 4:34that for those contending questions or comments or ideas
- 4:37for other rewards and things like that.
- 4:39And obviously the donate link up on the website is probably the
- 4:43easiest way to get into that. Alan deserve minimum donation.
- 4:47No, great question. We haven't gotten there yet.
- 4:55I mean, everything works right? And everything helps.
- 4:58Obviously too small of a donation becomes.
- 5:03Well, if someone would do $10 or something, they could do that.
- 5:06That's great. That's great.
- 5:07Yeah, that's great. OK.
- 5:10Aaron, what's the Kim Cameron Award?
- 5:12What does this say? So the Kim Cameron Award is one
- 5:14of our two awards and specifically designed to help
- 5:17people that are newer in their careers or maybe discovering
- 5:20identity at a later stage in their careers have access to
- 5:23great events like these identivers, which are
- 5:25foundational for so many people's professional networks
- 5:28that they build, as well as skill building access to a lot
- 5:31of other great resources here. But as he mentioned, these
- 5:34expenses can be quite costly, especially for folks that maybe
- 5:37they haven't landed their first job yet or they're in the first
- 5:39year, maybe they're the company isn't sponsoring them to go.
- 5:42So the Kim Cameron An Award is designed to remove the barriers
- 5:44so that more people can come and access these great resources.
- 5:47And this is the first of these awards.
- 5:49Or has. There been one, Was there one?
- 5:51Well, so Open ID Foundation about three years ago created
- 5:56the award. Yeah, it would have been about
- 5:57three years ago. And so they originally educated
- 5:59this award in in Kim's memory because he was such a big part
- 6:03of Open ID Foundation and his work.
- 6:06Last summer, the then executive director, Don Tebow approached
- 6:11Alan and I and said, hey, we want a proper home for this
- 6:13thing, right? Like Open ID Foundation's got a
- 6:15whole different mission. We love doing this, but it's not
- 6:18a focus. And so Ellen and I started
- 6:21talking to a bunch of other organizations like Penny Pro and
- 6:23WID, and Katara started to figure out like, what was the
- 6:26best way to structure this. And out of that, we've decided
- 6:28to create a new nonprofit charity, which is what we did.
- 6:31And so this is the first year that DAF has been operating the
- 6:35award and looking forward to many years to come.
- 6:38That's excellent. I think that, you know, Kim
- 6:41Cameron was just such a a legend within this piece.
- 6:44I knew that term gets overused sometimes, but I remember my
- 6:48first identity conference was the Digital ID World conference.
- 6:54And that was like O5 when he came, he just moved to Microsoft
- 6:57and just published the laws of identity.
- 7:00And it was like, I mean, I, I look at the laws of identity
- 7:03every couple of years just to, you know, get blown away by how
- 7:07relevant they still are. I mean, the guy was way ahead of
- 7:12the rest of us. Yeah.
- 7:18I I look at those laws every couple of years too, just in
- 7:20case there's a quiz, right? I just want to make sure it's
- 7:24cool. Don't remove my card.
- 7:26Do we need to update those laws with AI now?
- 7:29Not with AI, no. Although it is as you say, we're
- 7:36looking at it 15 years later and it's still very relevant for
- 7:41each and every one of the laws. It's still where what we need to
- 7:45be able to look at. And so it is amazing how
- 7:47relevant they have stayed all throughout the the 1520 years
- 7:52we've been working within the space.
- 7:53Yeah. Absolutely.
- 7:54So the focus of the episode is to talk to Matt and Sophie.
- 7:59And I'd like to kind of start with how did you, what's your
- 8:03origin story? How did you find yourself
- 8:05pursuing a career? A degree in cybersecurity and
- 8:11hopefully a career in digital identity.
- 8:16So I started out studying cyber security in university.
- 8:20I went to text Sam and was heavily involved in the
- 8:23burgeoning at the time, cyber security program there.
- 8:26And one summer I was an intern working in a security operations
- 8:32center and got really bored because I was waiting on the
- 8:35engineering team to get me like an API from an internal pool for
- 8:37like a month. And so I just started like
- 8:40researching things, cool things about security.
- 8:42And the one that stuck with me immediately was identity.
- 8:46So I kind of just was fascinated from there and ended up working
- 8:51at a digital identity startup called Everyone and eventually
- 8:55found my way into the United States Senate as a technology
- 9:00policy adviser, which was quite a journey.
- 9:03Yeah, definitely want to hear more about that, so.
- 9:07Yeah. So I fell into digital identity
- 9:10kind of by accident, which since being here I found out it was a
- 9:13very common journey. So I was working at a tech
- 9:16consultancy doing digital ethics consulting in a practice that I
- 9:21have Co found. And the company mentioned that
- 9:24they were kind of interested in this thing called digital
- 9:27identity. And I had the complete luxury of
- 9:31just having like several weeks for over a month just to kind of
- 9:36spend all my time figuring out like what it was, what standards
- 9:39were happening, what the regulation was, what kind of
- 9:42national case studies were looking like.
- 9:43And yeah, I was just completely hooked.
- 9:45I, I couldn't believe that was something I didn't know about
- 9:47before. So since then I've spent pretty
- 9:50much all my time kind of researching around this area of
- 9:53digital ID. That's awesome.
- 9:55And so now you're here at Identverse on the biggest
- 9:58conferences within the industry, wondering what kind of
- 10:01experience have you had so far on certain?
- 10:06Surprising welcoming. It's a lot bigger than what it
- 10:09was going to be, which has been awesome to see.
- 10:13And just the the the amazing degree to which this is such a
- 10:18welcoming community. Everybody's super nice.
- 10:20We're getting invited to things. People that we've never met
- 10:23before are just coming up and talking to us and they're
- 10:28telling us all these things and giving us so much awesome
- 10:30information. It's been really great.
- 10:34Have you picked up any of the swag and got ready to giveaways
- 10:37at the boots? So I actually won.
- 10:40There's the scratch off card. So I thought they're all losers.
- 10:45No, I actually bought hats and so yeah, I, I still need to pick
- 10:50that up. My scratch off card was a
- 10:51winner. And then I did I, I will admit
- 10:53to going a little bit of doing a little bit of swag hunting on
- 10:56the Expo floor. OK.
- 10:57Do you get anything really memorable?
- 11:00Some some good T-shirts and and I think a pair of socks.
- 11:03Yeah, for what I hear there's there's some fans sneakers
- 11:07floating out there, so. On my.
- 11:09Own best. Swag that I've picked up, I
- 11:11couldn't. You can't, Enrique, talk to me
- 11:13as that one for sure. I have a collection of of
- 11:15conference swag, so. OK, yeah.
- 11:18I mean, it's a, it's a life's journey and eventually you get
- 11:21to the point where you're to conferences and you don't want
- 11:24any of it. But Sophie, how have you enjoyed
- 11:27the conference so far? Yeah, I have to echo Matt.
- 11:29It's been so welcoming and from the start, like it's, it's a bit
- 11:33intimidating coming into such a big space, not really knowing
- 11:36many people at all. But it's just been such a
- 11:38friendly community. You know, I've really enjoyed
- 11:40the mix of having the kind of big stage keynotes, which are
- 11:43really exciting and kind of think a lot about the future in
- 11:46the big picture, and then these more intimate conversations
- 11:49about the kind of day-to-day and yeah, what people are doing on
- 11:52the ground. It's amazing how deep they get
- 11:54sometimes. You swag hunting as well.
- 11:57I'm sorry hunting but now I'm finding out I'm not being that
- 12:00successful. So yesterday, well yesterday I
- 12:05picked up a bag of coffee which I thought was like the best swag
- 12:08and I smelled like coffee all day.
- 12:09But now I'm in there's vans so. Important things.
- 12:13Did you leave space to bring this stuff home?
- 12:17That's the working mistake, right?
- 12:18Did you collect all the swag and then all of a sudden you're that
- 12:20person in the airport that has like the duct tape around their
- 12:24suitcase trying to get it all into the overhead that clearly
- 12:27is not gonna fit so that. Might end up being.
- 12:31What's been the most impactful or I guess important thing thing
- 12:34you wanna take away that you've heard throughout this entire
- 12:37conference? So for SO, let's stick with you.
- 12:40Yeah, I found for me, I don't come from a kind of
- 12:43cybersecurity background at all. I've thought a lot more about
- 12:46digital identity as a form of enablement, particularly in the
- 12:49kind of International Development sector.
- 12:51So it's been really interesting to learn more about the
- 12:53relationship between enablement and security and how you can
- 12:56make sure that people can access what they need to access,
- 12:59perhaps things they've never accessed before, but in a way
- 13:02that really protects them and protects the organization that's
- 13:04doing that so that it can be more sustainable.
- 13:07So yeah, that's been a really useful entry point for me.
- 13:09So someone who wasn't in Digital Identity and now you are, what
- 13:14did you think Digital Identity was before you attended this or
- 13:18got more involved with Digital Identity?
- 13:21I mean, before I knew about what it was, I think I really had no
- 13:23idea. And, and it's been interesting.
- 13:25I did a research Sprint two years ago now, I think with the
- 13:29Buckman Klein Center at Harvard. And then there were
- 13:33conversations around, you know, how you present yourself online,
- 13:36what information you share, what photos you have.
- 13:38And there can be this really philosophical view of what
- 13:41digital identity is. And I think that's still true.
- 13:45But there are also kind of much more grounded ways of thinking
- 13:47about it and what kind of innovations can come about to
- 13:51make sure that kind of verify trusted information can be
- 13:55shared in a really secure way. So I think relating those
- 13:58different levels is is kind of a useful thing to get from this.
- 14:02Matt, what's something that's really impacted you this week?
- 14:04I think listening to some of the talks, especially those that are
- 14:09about the direct impact and kind of the customer journeys that
- 14:12people go through with deploying some digital identity technology
- 14:16has been really impactful. I'm a technical guy, software
- 14:19engineering, cyber security analysts.
- 14:21It's really easy for me to get bogged down in the details of
- 14:24the implementation without and lose focus on the people that
- 14:30are at the end of the products and the services.
- 14:34So I think that's helped to really ground my understanding
- 14:38of why we do all of this, which is something that, you know, in
- 14:41the back of my mind is always there.
- 14:42It's kind of why I'm interested in this.
- 14:44But again, it's so easy to get. I mean, I'm a nerd, right?
- 14:48I really like the technical stuff.
- 14:50It's just so easy to lose sight of what this is all for.
- 14:54And so some of that has been very powerful.
- 14:57You guys were the award recipients for the Kim Cameron
- 15:02Award. And I'm wondering, and that will
- 15:04start with you, how did you hear about the award and what was the
- 15:07submission process of mocking kind of get detailed enough so
- 15:11that other folks figure out, OK, here's how I go about something
- 15:16like this? So in my case, like any good
- 15:21former congressional staffer, I have a crippling Twitter
- 15:23addiction. And so I heard about it because
- 15:28from some of my previous work in digital identity, I was just
- 15:32kind of, I was at the edge of a lot of those circles.
- 15:37And so it, it popped across my Twitter feed one day and I, I
- 15:42just clicked the link and I went to Twitter.
- 15:45I switched X now. Yeah.
- 15:47So I will always be calling you Twitter though.
- 15:51And I would just say that the application process was, was,
- 15:55was very, I think straightforward.
- 15:58You know, if you can find the link, you have all the resources
- 16:01that you really need. It's it's more about
- 16:04understanding what to put into the submission, talking about
- 16:07your journey and really what you'll get out of the out of the
- 16:12award. Great.
- 16:15Same question. Can you send me?
- 16:17Yeah, So most of the time I'm a PhD student focusing on digital
- 16:21ID, but part time. I also work with Oax and
- 16:23Identity Exchange. And part of that job is kind of
- 16:26scouring the news for what's happening in digital ID every
- 16:29day. So really luckily doing that.
- 16:32And then I also found out about this award.
- 16:34So similarly, I think I'd recommend just like having a
- 16:37list of accounts or people whose work you're inspired by to
- 16:41follow and look at on a on a regular basis.
- 16:45So yeah, kind of stumbled across it, but kind of by immersing
- 16:48myself in that space. And similarly, I think it was
- 16:51quite an an easy process. Like Matt, I also thought a lot
- 16:55about not only why I want to go, but what I can do with this.
- 16:59I mean, it's a huge privilege to get to come here.
- 17:01And so thinking about what we can do with this and get more
- 17:04people excited. Absolutely.
- 17:07So Matt, you had mentioned about this Senate fellowship.
- 17:12I'd like to dig into that a little bit more, maybe get more
- 17:14of an explanation. What was that all about?
- 17:16That sounds. Pretty unique, yeah.
- 17:18So going from a software engineer straight into being a
- 17:21policy advisor in the Senate is not a very typical journey.
- 17:24And I came into that through nonprofit program called Tech
- 17:30Congress that places early and mid career technologists in the
- 17:35United States Congress on for anywhere from about eight months
- 17:39to a year to help fill the knowledge gap that exists.
- 17:43Because, you know, a lot of the Congress is very old.
- 17:46Not a lot of them have technology backgrounds and not a
- 17:49lot of their staffers have technology backgrounds either.
- 17:52A lot of the staff tends to be people who are are are or have
- 17:57studied law and things like that, which is very useful.
- 17:59But when you're dealing with technology, there's no
- 18:01substitute for that real world expertise.
- 18:04And I wanted to try to address some of the barriers to digital
- 18:10identity adoption that come through the policy side.
- 18:12So that was kind of why I took that, that journey it's.
- 18:17Very good, very unique. And also, I should say, tech
- 18:21Congress hope opens up for applications at tech Congress
- 18:25dot IO on a regular basis. I think twice a year, not as
- 18:29much this year because it's an election year.
- 18:31And that ends up being really weird.
- 18:32If they put a fellowship, if your fellowship extends into the
- 18:35middle of an election, you could lose your job halfway through,
- 18:37which is not ideal. But starting next year, they'll
- 18:41be. They'll be doing those
- 18:42applications again regularly. And anybody from with any kind
- 18:46of a technology background can be there.
- 18:48It's a direct path to have a really big impact.
- 18:50Yeah, what I think is really cool about the whole thing is,
- 18:53so my son is a cyber major freshman, just finished his
- 18:57freshman year, and it feels like, you know, going from an
- 19:00engineering background to kind of feel like just like a regular
- 19:03person. Now all of a sudden you're in
- 19:05the Senate Fellowship. That's a pretty cool experience,
- 19:09right? It is.
- 19:10And it's what's cool about it is that is that it's like, it's
- 19:14crazy and it's wild and that you learn so much.
- 19:17But it's also like Tech Congress.
- 19:19There are lots of fellowship programs actually for people
- 19:23with different backgrounds to get involved in policy.
- 19:25But Tech Congress I think is a great one because they prepare
- 19:27you so well. You don't have to have any
- 19:29policy knowledge, any knowledge of how the US government works.
- 19:32They'll teach you. All of it.
- 19:33For a month or two, you know, like a boot camp style, and then
- 19:36you'll go in and you'll actually be more prepared than just about
- 19:39any staffer. Because it's one of the other
- 19:40things is that most congressional staffers get zero
- 19:43training going in. You actually do get two months.
- 19:45So you actually come in as one of the best prepared people,
- 19:48even if you have zero policy background at first.
- 19:51That's cool. No, Sophie, for somebody like my
- 19:53son freshman, you know, has this much soccer security knowledge
- 19:57now because it's like you're still getting your.
- 20:01Abcs in place, you know your intro writing, your algebra
- 20:05course, and then you have one cyber class.
- 20:08What kind of recommendations would you have for somebody in
- 20:11that point in the journey? Because it seems to me like you
- 20:13kind of become like the superstar student, if you will.
- 20:18Thank you. That's really kind.
- 20:21I think just kind of making the most of the resources.
- 20:24Loads of people in the identity space have really great blogs
- 20:27that you can read on a regular basis.
- 20:29Listening to the podcast. I was going to say that YouTube
- 20:35videos can be great. I mean, really just immersing
- 20:38yourself and perhaps also being kind of getting a sense of which
- 20:41part of the space really interests you.
- 20:43I think it's useful to to kind of become an expert in a
- 20:46particular area and I think that's the case for any domain.
- 20:49But it's really easy to do that. And, and the more you learn
- 20:52about the sector, the more you'll realise kind of what
- 20:54really suits your skill set and your interests and things like
- 20:57that. Awesome, I.
- 20:58Was reading for your bio and it mentioned that you pursued
- 21:01masters in digital sociology. I did, yes.
- 21:04What the heck is that? I think I know less where that
- 21:07is now than I did before. So it's kind of when you
- 21:13discipline the the masses. I did has only existed for about
- 21:165 years. And it's really kind of trying
- 21:19to get a sense of what's happening in the digital world
- 21:22for a sociological perspective and how it's reshaping
- 21:25relationships between different people, communities, people and
- 21:29their governments. And so actually to someone
- 21:31interested in digital ID, it's quite an an obvious space to go
- 21:34into. Yeah.
- 21:35Because digital ID I think is really all about relations and
- 21:39trust. So a sociological perspective is
- 21:42really helpful for that. Very interesting.
- 21:45Aaron, I want to come back to you for a second because we've
- 21:47got two award winners here and they talk about their submission
- 21:50process. And I guess maybe open question,
- 21:53we'll start here. What are what is the DIF looking
- 21:56for DIF looking for in submissions?
- 21:58How do we help people fulfill their dreams of being not only
- 22:03an Identiverse and other conferences, but maybe even
- 22:05someday on the Identity Center Podcast?
- 22:08Yeah, I think I was really happy to hear, you know, reflecting on
- 22:13like what is it that you want to get out of the conference?
- 22:14Because that was specifically one of the things that we wanted
- 22:16to assess is does somebody have a really specific goal where
- 22:19they want to attend that we can help them achieve through
- 22:23sponsoring and supporting their access to these events.
- 22:26Some of the other things that we look at just on a more like
- 22:28tactical basis is like what is the time of experience they had
- 22:31with identity? Are they totally new to the
- 22:32topic or students or the advanced graduate people that
- 22:35have been in the profession for a couple of different years?
- 22:37So we can kind of assess, you know, where they are and
- 22:40relatively speaking, like what is the benefit both that they
- 22:42can bring into the award through their determination and their
- 22:44skills that they want to build on and what we can return to
- 22:47them by offering them the resources to go.
- 22:49You have anything to add to that?
- 22:51No wonder, Ian. No, I mean, we, we were looking
- 22:55at what can they bring, you know, and, and did they have
- 22:58sort of an opinion about what they wanted to learn?
- 23:00And so we thought about impact and we thought about the
- 23:03problems that they were interested in.
- 23:04And we had dozens and dozens of applicants, and it was
- 23:10fascinating just to see. How?
- 23:14Mature. A lot of this was right, and I
- 23:15was thinking about myself at at a similar age.
- 23:17I was like, you know, I like macaroni, which is probably the
- 23:20best thing I could write in which do you spot macaroni?
- 23:22I do, actually, yeah, it came up last night.
- 23:24But to see like really very specific, sort of like I am
- 23:30interested in these real specific topics and this is what
- 23:32I wanna do with it. Like that blew me away because I
- 23:38was just getting into identity at that point and I was doing it
- 23:41through a product, right? So to see someone already having
- 23:44like well thought out opinions about it was really encouraging
- 23:48for all of us, right? Because we need more global
- 23:50talent in this space. I have one other thing to that.
- 23:53I knew that it was gonna be difficult to pick just as few
- 23:57winners as we could. I mean, this first year that we
- 23:59were doing this when I saw how many applications we got, but I
- 24:01didn't appreciate how difficult it was going to be until I
- 24:04started reading the applications because we had so many high
- 24:07quality applications. There were so many that I was
- 24:09like, I I wish that we could send more folks this year.
- 24:13Which is why if you're listening, you should contribute
- 24:16because we can't. Like really this is about
- 24:18outcomes. When we talk about organizations
- 24:19who are thinking about sponsoring, it's what this means
- 24:23every dollar means we are closer to bringing one more person to
- 24:25an event or as we start to get into other programs, you know,
- 24:29being able to bring one more participant into that.
- 24:31And and that's really, that's really gratifying to be able to
- 24:35say like, oh wow, this year we are bringing someone, not only
- 24:39two people to Identiverse 2, the EIC next week and then one to
- 24:44authenticate. So we're actually starting to
- 24:45grow the applicant pool or sorry, grow the winner pool.
- 24:48We only want that to continue. Thank you to you guys for
- 24:52starting this and donate. I'm sure there's so many hours
- 24:56that go into it, so I know doing a one hour podcast is like 10
- 25:00hours work on the back end so I can appreciate.
- 25:05So and and it's fun, right? When else can you get up at 7:00
- 25:08in the morning every week for Zoom calls?
- 25:13Well, I think it's just part of the culture we're right now,
- 25:14yeah, we're global economy, we're global organizations.
- 25:18Identity doesn't stop at 9:00 and 9:00 to 5:00 work nine to
- 25:21five hours, right. So.
- 25:23Wait, you don't log in? I'm not saying me.
- 25:26Personally, right, I think I'm just adding a little bit more
- 25:32about than the selection process that one of the things that I
- 25:35was looking for was this is a community to get involved in.
- 25:39And so the responses that come back, it's not so much
- 25:42attending, it's is this person coming in to get involved
- 25:46because if they're involved, then they're going to be part of
- 25:49the edge of the move forward into the next one.
- 25:51So that involvement, I think it's an important piece.
- 25:54I'm. Pretty sure all of you have been
- 25:55to Vegas because I think I've seen you here.
- 25:58Have you guys been to Vegas before?
- 25:59Not since I was like a small child.
- 26:02OK, so let's get into this. What do we think of Vegas?
- 26:07I was talking about this yesterday and realized Vegas, so
- 26:10I live in Oxford. Vegas is like the exact opposite
- 26:14of so it's a very crazy place. It's quite fascinating thing.
- 26:18Like obviously it's it's kind of I'm spending most of my time at
- 26:22the conference, but I feel so lucky to also be able to see
- 26:25this completely different environment to what I know.
- 26:30Yeah, just like lots of good showbiz and.
- 26:32It's as if like a. Theme park became a city.
- 26:36Is there a favorite thing that you've seen that it's not?
- 26:39I've done a verse related or experienced.
- 26:44Yesterday I got I went to the Bellagio and saw the fountain
- 26:48show, which was really cool, and the botanical gardens.
- 26:51And yeah, I mean, it's just, it's spectacular.
- 26:54Yeah, it's really cool to see. Matthew, what do you think?
- 26:58Yeah, Vegas is wild. It's just, it's a city of so
- 27:03much contrast where you're, you've got this, all these
- 27:06fountains and these fancy hotels and everything and on the strip
- 27:11right there and then, you know, you go a little far, a little
- 27:14outside, like you're in the desert.
- 27:17I, I think there's, there's a lot that I want to see here.
- 27:22There's I, I went on a run down the strip and it's like there's
- 27:25just too much to, you know, kind of take in and the Charmans that
- 27:30we have. Would you come back?
- 27:34I think I would come back. I want to bring my wife at some
- 27:37point. I don't think she's ever been to
- 27:38Vegas. I think it's the kind of thing
- 27:40you need to at least once, you know?
- 27:42I think it would be fun to get a circus dance when I don't have
- 27:46to be quite so professional. So.
- 27:50I think me too, yeah. I mean, the weather here is
- 27:53amazing. I know a lot of people complain
- 27:55about me, but I'm a bit jealous because it rains a lot where I'm
- 27:59from. So yeah, getting to kind of see
- 28:02more of that and more. I mean, I think you could just
- 28:04sit and people watch for like a week and it would be
- 28:06fascinating. It's world class here.
- 28:08I'm not sure things to do, the weather or not so much.
- 28:10I like to sit inside a more of an indoor cat.
- 28:12I like everything, but there's a window that I could watch the
- 28:14strip and different things happening.
- 28:16Yeah, for sure. You guys were talking about an
- 28:19escape room and I'm fascinated by, I've never actually done
- 28:23one, but I think there was one that took place last night.
- 28:25Was this I guess was it an idea for unknowing?
- 28:27And I'm an indoor cat. How many were never going to
- 28:33escape? And tell us about the escape
- 28:37room. What was this about?
- 28:39Why should I? Who's never done one.
- 28:42Would you recommend that? Give me some insight.
- 28:44Yeah, so we got invited by Sarah Cicchetti to go do an escape
- 28:50room with a bunch of other people attendees here at
- 28:53Universe. We we loaded into a party bus,
- 28:57which I've also never gone on party bus before, which was fun.
- 29:01And we we piled into this escape room and it was competitive.
- 29:05So it was two teams and we were all very sure that Sarah's team
- 29:09was going to win because she's like does a lot of escape rooms.
- 29:13But actually her team lost by that innocent margins because
- 29:17the, the team I was on, which was the other one at the end,
- 29:20just started brute forcing all of them, all of the big clues.
- 29:23And so like the last two or three in a row, we just, we got
- 29:26like halfway in and we're like, OK, there's only like 32
- 29:28possible combinations left. Let's just try them all.
- 29:30So then we got it with like it was an hour long.
- 29:33We, we got it. We, we had 57 minutes that it
- 29:36took. So we only just barely.
- 29:37Finished, but she finished and you applied real world attack.
- 29:43Credential stuff. This is what I learned.
- 29:46Yeah, and there was actually a lot of basketball too.
- 29:49At one point I was literally on a lot counting in binary because
- 29:53it's like we knew that the combination was one of two
- 29:55things. And so I was just ones and zeros
- 29:59just up until. And I got so close to getting
- 30:01that one right and I gave up literally 3 before I would.
- 30:06Tell me that you're perfect for identity, but not telling me
- 30:08you're. Perfect.
- 30:11It's going to be our promos. Sophia, what's your experience
- 30:16like? Yeah, it was super fun.
- 30:17Like the theme was 1940s casino, which was very up to the Vegas.
- 30:23So smoke filled. And.
- 30:26Holes in the desert the. Escaped convicts and all this
- 30:29kind of wanted signs. It was fun, but yeah, it was
- 30:32just cool to be able to we hang out like we were saying that the
- 30:35community's being really friendly, but to be able to hang
- 30:37out on a more personal level and get to know people, they do some
- 30:40problem solving, which is, yeah, it was really nice.
- 30:42Excellent. Did you guys take part in this
- 30:44at all? Do your own thing.
- 30:46No, I so I mean Sarah, for those of you who know are AWS Co
- 30:49founder ID pro Matthew under sells like she's like everywhere
- 30:55she goes, like any country, any city, like, and so the fact that
- 30:59you you actually meet her team is remarkable now.
- 31:02So Sarah had her arm clip go off and I was with other identity
- 31:07people. There was fun Eddie pro thing
- 31:08going on and going around and seeing everybody.
- 31:11So it was a good. Time What's the best thing you
- 31:13guys have eaten while you've been here?
- 31:15Cuz I think Las Vegas is world class or food.
- 31:19I had a pork roll at Momofuku last night, which I read about
- 31:24online, and it lived up to the honey.
- 31:26Yeah, it's really, really nice. That's good.
- 31:28I got takeout from Din Tai Fung and I got some the pork buns
- 31:37that were pretty amazing. Jim Levine.
- 31:40Just the wind buffet. So there were a lot of things
- 31:42that were on that buffet that were excellent.
- 31:44And you're a buffet guy. I'm a buffet guy is.
- 31:46It still Caesar's is the reigning champion because you
- 31:49were talking about. It's the reigning champion for
- 31:52seafood, but I think when and actually the Wicked spoon over
- 31:57the Cosmo, they've got some really good dishes that so
- 32:01that's my thing. Actually buffets, like I think
- 32:03some people go in and it's like competitive eating.
- 32:06I paid $90.00. I need to eat $90.00 in crab
- 32:10legs. That's not my approach.
- 32:12My approach is I want to have $90.00 worth of enjoyment.
- 32:17So I might have a piece of pizza.
- 32:20I'm going to eat a lot of desserts.
- 32:21Wait. Jim, can I just seafood buffet
- 32:25and landlocked state? I just, I'm, I'm struggling a
- 32:28little with that like. The air, drop it in.
- 32:31I get that, I know. That I know it's true.
- 32:33I know there are airports, but I know I think for some other oh
- 32:36for sure, but just. I have a hard time with seafood
- 32:38and landlocked states. Add buffet to it, I don't know.
- 32:42I did for a while. I used to take Sushi of Saint
- 32:45Louis, but yeah. Are you immortal?
- 32:50Anywhere you can go in the United States or Canada, there's
- 32:53many sushi restaurants in the world's ice and there's like,
- 32:57there's no fish living anywhere close by, but there is FedEx.
- 33:05The the thinking about it, there's probably the freshest
- 33:08seafood in Vegas than almost anywhere else in the country.
- 33:13And they have ice that they put it on, so that keeps it totally.
- 33:16Safe. What about?
- 33:18You guys what's what's the best thing you guys eaten here?
- 33:21Well, now I know we made the right a wordy choice because my
- 33:23favorite restaurants in Vegas are Momofuku and Din Tai Fung.
- 33:26I went to Din Tai Fung last night and Momofuku tonight.
- 33:28So those are my things. Right.
- 33:32Maybe it's been the people rather than.
- 33:35You ate people what I. No, I did not eat people.
- 33:38It was the people dinner with, but we did.
- 33:43There's one here in in the hotel.
- 33:44I think it's cathedral or cathedral or something like
- 33:47that. They had, there was and fish,
- 33:52the fish dish that was actually quite spectacular.
- 33:54So that was my enjoyment out of that one.
- 33:57So did you get the dessert where it's like a little Klondike bar
- 34:00on top and you break it? Now I need to go back.
- 34:04They've got. A commercial that they run over
- 34:07and over again for the restaurants and the head chef
- 34:12eats that during the during the commercial.
- 34:16Now I have to go back. Yeah, you have to go back now
- 34:18just for that you. Guys are all gonna like fancy
- 34:20stuff. I had the best curly fries, the
- 34:24proper eats, food hall. It was so simple, but they were
- 34:27fresh. Like right over here.
- 34:29I know. My conference, as I'm saying I'm
- 34:31gonna. Oh, it was the the chicken
- 34:33that's sold sold chicken. Oh.
- 34:35The Korean one, yes. And it was it's.
- 34:38Really good, I think we. Can all agree that.
- 34:39Curly fries tastes better than regular fries, but no one can
- 34:41explain why. It's the curl.
- 34:45It adds a flavor profile I can't get to a straight food.
- 34:49We got silly, but This is why we have fun at the end of the show.
- 34:52Anything else I want to bring up or should we represent?
- 34:54Ian, did you say what you're? I Best Buy, I'm going to change
- 34:59it up. I had We had a wonderful bottle
- 35:01of vintage champagne last night at dinner and it was absolutely.
- 35:04Share what you have. A Mark Hibrer 2018 and I'm
- 35:09probably mispronouncing his last name.
- 35:11And it was lovely and I was with good friends, which was nice in
- 35:15an incredibly loud place. That is the one thing, and I
- 35:18will admit maybe I need to, you know, get off the lawn here a
- 35:20little bit that I'm, it's a little bit harder now when it's
- 35:22like a really loud Vegas restaurant with weird acoustics
- 35:26of you guys, that they all have weird acoustics.
- 35:28And so I could at least focus on my champagne, and that was
- 35:31great. It's sometimes hard to hold the
- 35:34conversation. That's okay.
- 35:36Okay, let's go ahead and wrap things up.
- 35:38Thank you so much for being on the show.
- 35:40Congratulations and being here and the pinnacle of your career
- 35:45has been on this podcast. You'll come back.
- 35:47It's all. So far, bigger things coming.
- 35:51We hope so, for sure. Impossible.
- 35:53Come back. Maybe next time we're at a
- 35:55conference together we can do like a a what you know what's
- 35:59changed you know since then? Digital Identity Advancement
- 36:02Foundation DIF dot link. We'll have links in our show
- 36:05notes so people can find out more information, contribute.
- 36:10This is the result of people contributing to foundations and
- 36:13nonprofits and things like that to get people out to have these
- 36:16conversations and hopefully people enjoyed that out there
- 36:18who are watching and are listening.
- 36:20So you can visit us on the web. idacpodcast.com.
- 36:24Jim will slap me in the back of the head if I don't mention
- 36:26youtubeyoutube.com slash at IDAC podcast.
- 36:31If you go to our website, everything's like there too.
- 36:34Mastodon at at IBAC podcast at info site dot exchange, Twitter
- 36:40X whatever it's called. By the time you see or hear this
- 36:43at IBAC podcast, connect with us on LinkedIn.
- 36:45We'll have links in our show notes, everything we talked
- 36:47about today, including LinkedIn profiles.
- 36:49So people reach out and connect and be growing this community.
- 36:53So with that, we'll get later for this one.
- 36:55Thanks everybody for watching and or listening and we'll talk
- 36:58with you on the next one. Thanks.
- 37:01Thanks for having. US.
- 37:04On you've been listening to Identity at the Center.
- 37:08We hope you've enjoyed the show. Make sure to like rate and
- 37:12review and we'll be back soon. But in the meantime, hit the
- 37:15website at identity@thecenter.com.
- 37:19See you next time on Identity at the Center.