Some background articles for that conference lecture: Nonassociativity in VOA theory and finite group theory

A vertex operator algebra related to $E_8$ with automorphism group $O^+(10,2)$, article in The Monster and Lie Algebras, ed. J. Ferrar and K.Harada, deGruyter, Berlin, 1998. pdf

GNAVOA, I. (studies in groups, nonassociative algebras and vertex operator algbras), (about 25 pages) article in Vertex Operator Algebras in Mathematics and Physics, with S. Berman, Y. Billig and J. Lepowsky, Fields Institute Communications, Vol. 39, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, 2003. pdf, dvi

The monster and its nonassociative algebra, in Proceedings of the Montreal Confeence on Finite Groups, Contemporary Mathematics, 45, 121-157, 1985, American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI.

--- by other authors

I. Frenkel, J. Lepowsky and A. Meurman, {\itshape
Vertex Operator Algebras and the Monster}, Pure and Applied Math., Vol.
{\bfseries 134}, Academic Press, 1988.

J. H. Conway, A simplified contruction of the Fischer-Griess monster group, Inventiones Mathematicae, 1984. (The appendices are recommended)

articles of Masahiko Miyamoto since mid 90s