Innovative CO2 Monitoring System Debuts at Kawaiicon to Combat Conference Illness

Hacker conferences, similar to other conventions, are often linked with a phenomenon known as 'con crud,' where attendees leave with an unspecified illness. In an innovative move to mitigate this, New Zealand's principal hacker conference, Kawaiicon, has quietly rolled out a real-time CO₂ monitoring system, providing room-by-room air quality readings for its participants.

The implementation involved setting up DIY CO₂ monitors around the Michael Fowler Centre before the event commenced on November 6. This allowed attendees to access a public online dashboard where they could check air quality across different sections of the venue—such as session rooms, children's areas, and the front desk—before even arriving. On the conference's website, the organizers humorously noted, “It’s ALMOST like we are all nerds in a risk-based industry.”

Jeff Moss, the founder of notable security conferences Defcon and Black Hat, praised the initiative in an interview with WIRED, saying, “What they did is fantastic. CO₂ is being used as an approximation for so many things, but there are no easy, inexpensive network monitoring solutions available. Kawaiicon building something to do this is the true spirit of hacking.”