If anyone is into hardware in the mid-Atlantic region of the US, I'm super excited for this year's Central Pennsylvania Signal and Power Integrity Symposium at Penn State Harrisburg. It's a 1-day IEEE gathering, and I finally made it for the first time last year. I couldn't believe the caliber of both speakers and attendees. I was able to meet so many people who I've either messaged with or read publications of over the years. If you can't make it out to DesignCon (or even if you can) I highly recommend this gathering!
Edit: it'll be on Apr. 19 this year, here's the recent save-the-date email:
PyCon 2024 May 17-19 (ish). Went in 2023 for the first time and found it simply amazing. This year it’s in Pittsburg. Also a fantastic place to get a job for anyone looking.
I like to go for the people and satellite events, but Defcon itself is very poorly run in my opinion. It is insanely crowded to the point that most of the time you are just stuck in a sea of people. It also continues to get more and more expensive. The talks are nice, but it's tough to curate which ones to attend because that often requires getting in line early for that talk so you end up with a limited itinerary. Cost of admission is increasingly starting to feel not worth it and there is a lot to dislike about vegas which seems to amplify a lot of the worst things about America. Having said all that, if you've never been before, you would probably have a good time the first time around, especially if you are a little bit outgoing.