It wouldn't necessarily have to be arranged that way though.

I could see this being something at DefCon or similar for example.

It could be. But any member of the lockpicking organization would not be allowed by their rules to attend.

Interesting. Seems overly restrictive to me, but I can understand the reasoning behind it.

Out of curiosity, do you happen to know if members of the organization are allowed to do things like participate in pentesting?

From the article, the rule is, Nobody can pick an active lock, or help anyone attempting to. The community is united on that front, with mods receiving reports of any violations almost immediately.

They then clarify, We are extremely strict about not assisting anyone with picking a lock in use, regardless of whether they own the lock, or whether they have permission to do so.

That would rule out pentesting as well.

Indeed, thanks for patching my bad reading comprehension.