alt Hacker NewsI have never been to one of these "fests" but wouldn't be easier to just bring a small PXE server with an SSD and 10G NIC with an 8-port switch for net booting/install? Are the machines so old they can't boot off the network? The PXE server could easily handle 5-6 install clients via the 10G NIC.
Depends on what the main goals are.
First time users might appreciate seeing the USB drive method since that's probably what they'd attempt next time at home.