ISSCC 2009

Looking forward in the current economic climate is so depressing, it’s worth a look back at an event from a couple of weeks ago – ISSCC. I had the opportunity to stay in snowy Ottawa while getting updated on the events of the week remotely by three of the SI engineering team.

Aaron Murray pointed out the qualities he looks for in a great plenary talk. These keynotes need to do more than kick off the conference, get everyone into one auditorium for things like awards presentations, and showcase a few big names in the industry. In a word, the plenary talks need to inspire. It’s great to have a leading researcher from a big organization talk about their world leading researcher, but there’s lots of time for that kind of talk in the other sessions.

This year, it seems everyone agreed that IBM Fellow John Cohn’s, Kids today! Engineers Tomorrow? was a great plenary. I think it inspired our own engineers along with Dylan MacGrath whose excellent piece on Cohn’s message appeared in EETimes.

As for the rest of the ISSCC, it’s been more than adequately covered although there is certainly enough there to keep a blogger in business for a very long time (if he has the time. that is). But there was one other key message returned by our own team.

ISSCC organizers should take note of the best observation coming out of their conference. As one of our engineers noted, it’s time for ISSCC to take a page out of the playbook used at both the VLSI Symposium and IEDM. Provide beer and wine before the forums and panels. When it’s time for debate and discussion of the hot topics of the day, it’s definitely more fun for everyone if not more valuable if both the participants and audience are more relaxed. A little free flowing alcohol helps the stereotypical introverted engineer which means less time at the microphone for all those blowhards who just want to sound smart in front of the big crowd. (Ya, you know who you are.)

Posted in Event Coverage | No Comments »