Top Black Hat USA 2026 Parties, Side-Events & Security Meetups

Black Hat week isn’t just the conference. It’s the middle of Hacker Summer Camp, which means Las Vegas becomes one giant security meetup.

You effectively get two overlapping ecosystems:

• Official Black Hat events — Business Hall, Welcome Reception, Booth Crawl, Arsenal, Summits and Briefings
• Off-site parties and meetups — vendor receptions, CISO dinners, founder/funder mixers, community events and late-night security gatherings

Black Hat USA 2026 runs August 1–6, 2026 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Trainings run August 1–4, Summit Day is Tuesday, August 4, and the main conference runs Wednesday–Thursday, August 5–6.

Most of the real networking happens around Mandalay Bay and nearby Vegas venues, with hotspots like Mandalay Bay, House of Blues, 1923 Prohibition Bar, Minus5 Ice Bar, Four Seasons, AREA15, Meow Wolf, Omega Mart, The LINQ, High Roller, Caesars Palace, MGM Grand, The Sphere and Fontainebleau.

The official Black Hat Business Hall runs Tuesday, August 4 through Thursday, August 6 at Mandalay Bay, with the official Welcome Reception on Tuesday from 4:00–7:00 PM and a Wednesday Booth Crawl listed during the Business Hall schedule.

Also check popular side-event lists like Conference Parties’ Hacker Summer Camp 2026 guide, which tracks BSidesLV, Black Hat and DEF CON parties. This guide focuses on the Black Hat USA window and lists the most relevant Black Hat week parties and side-events, ordered by date.

Note: Unless marked as official, these are independently organized side-events. Many require approval, and details can change quickly.

Sun, Aug 2, 2026

Early Black Hat week starts before the Business Hall opens, with founder, funder and CISO-focused events already appearing on the Sunday schedule.

Mon, Aug 3, 2026

Monday is the big warm-up night: CISO dinners, suite receptions and the first wave of AREA15 / Mandalay Bay parties.

Tue, Aug 4, 2026

Tuesday is Summit Day and the first Business Hall day. The official Black Hat Welcome Reception runs from 4:00–7:00 PM, and the evening fills up quickly with dinners, private receptions and after-hours events.

Aikido pick: Omega Mart After Hours

Make room for Omega Mart After Hours.

Aikido, AWS and Tailscale are taking over Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart on Tuesday, August 4 from 6:30–9:30 PM. Expect food, drinks, peer conversations, full access to explore Omega Mart and an optional scavenger hunt. Registration is approval-based.

No ballroom. No stiff conference energy. Just security people in the weirdest supermarket in Vegas.

Wed, Aug 5, 2026

Wednesday is the first main Briefings day, plus the busiest evening for side-events. The official Business Hall is open during the day, with the Booth Crawl listed on the Black Hat schedule for Wednesday afternoon.

Thu, Aug 6, 2026

Thursday is the final main Black Hat day. Expect breakfast events, closing receptions and the first bridge into DEF CON weekend.

Black Hat days are for Briefings, Arsenal and the Business Hall. Black Hat nights are for the conversations you’ll remember.

Grab your badge, RSVP early, and don’t assume “request invite” means automatic approval. Las Vegas gets crowded fast during Hacker Summer Camp week.

See you at Omega Mart.