I like to go to IEEE conferences whenever I can get away which works out to about once a year. My favorite is ISSCC since its in San Francisco and I can BART or drive and some of the worlds best analog designers meet there every year in February. If you are not in IEEE you can still go it just costs a couple hundred dollars more. I have gone 14 out of the last 15 years and realized I have a whole method of getting a lot out of the conference. This blog post is to share some of these observations. Where to stay, how to pick what papers and events, evening panels and finally social hour.
We all are busy as analog designers I doubt many of us work less than 50 hours a week. We are often optimizing what we do. Some of us are more frugal than others it all depends on what is important. To me the important thing is that during the conference "life" is going on and that includes analog. A positive change to your work environment is a nice thing. For adding considerable enjoyment to the event I prefer to stay in the hotel hosting the conference. If my company doesn't want to pay it I will then offer to chip in the difference. If they refuse then I pay out of pocket . Having a room at the event is great since you can setup a remote office there to get things done and keep up back at the plant. I room on a high floor is better since its quieter and the views are better. You normally have to ask at the Marriott for a higher floor. Its easier to get one if you arrive the afternoon or evening before the conference starts after making reservations a couple months in advance.
Day one is when you need to make your schedule final. To leverage the event you may have made a plan with other workmates on what papers sessions to cover. Before the ISSCC this is a first-order plan based on terse descriptions of the papers to be presented. A drawback (or feedback to IEEE) is that its hard to tell if the paper
is really interesting or related to what you are looking to learn about
at the conference until you get there. The early descriptions are so short
that you are forced to show up. Maybe that is the idea anyway. Only after seeing the actual proceedings, now made available online just before the conference, can you really pick what papers to attend. Well you need to check your plan or make your plan by flipping through the papers. Look for easy to read text, clear figures and solid technical content. University papers written by students and their professors are often the best written and easiest to follow. The university papers often don't have the same performance as their commercial counterparts, but the ideas can be easily just as clever. For performance pick the industry papers but you may not get all the detail and there are sometimes empty boxes in diagrams. So I sort through the papers looking for understanding and/or performance and then pick a path through the sessions where the papers are presented. This takes me about an hour to make my plan for the next few days.
Attending the papers is not very easy/relaxing for me. There is a huge amount of information presented. Several years of a persons work (doctoral research) is boiled down to a ~20 minute talk. It takes skill to ramp-up quickly and follow these talks. Sometimes you need to suspend disbelief and re-engage in the end. If you second guess the paper you could miss a few key facts while you ponder. I make a point to write directly on the paper proceedings notes and comments during the papers. I also write down Q/A for papers I particularly like. Q/A can reveal information not in the publication and can also help you learn about other engineers. For example if Dave Robertson of ADI asks about an ADC you need to think about what it was and why. If you wanted to introduce yourself to him for a potential gain in knowledge and opportunity, then you now have a reason. When in school professors scoop knowledge on the students, after graduating it takes effort to keep up and read papers. Working on a network with other engineers is key in maintaining growth and an edge over the other guy.
Yes, analog electronics is one of my favorite hobbies but my love of it is not enough to endure 8 hours of solid technical papers. Maybe a handful of guys out there could attend the entire conference and congratulations. For normal human beings I find it critical to put a break in the day. Normally I schedule a daily nap around 2pm depending on what sessions I go to. I plan my naps on the first day. This is also where the conference hotel really helps out. The nap in the afternoon is critical for me. The talks end as late as 4:30-5pm so a 1 hr nap is not too-long and I bounce back. This is important because after these papers is when things get social when rest is needed.
Ok, I do realize analog guys are not all the most social bunch so we start with a disadvantage. You then combine awkwardness with a wide age spread of attendees, free snacks, wine and beer. Fatigue also is setting in later in the day especially if you didn't have a nap. Part of my writing this post was learning that some engineers are petrified of the social hour. My wife showed me a newsgroup where some people are paralyzed by the idea of going down on the social floor of conferences like these. This is the StreetSmart part of the post, how to do the social hour. Some of the social tips follow.
Advances in technology (text messaging) are not doing well with the age gap issue at ISSCC. Some of the most experienced and distinguished engineers may not use text messages since the go through most all of their lives without it. The younger the engineer the more tech savvy. Its my observation that the youngest engineers rarely interact with the most experienced senior designers. Also, some of the other-way around exists, some older engineers avoid the younger and its sad. When approaching a professor or famous circuit designer you need to approach them in a way that is most comfortable. Don't interrupt but wait to be invited into a conversation. If you want to talk to someone its better if they are finishing up talking to someone else or not talking to someone you do not know. Make eye contact that is normally enough to let someone know you are interested chatting. Also asking if they have time is nice, since if they are busy they will appreciate it. When you see them next there is a much higher chance they will engage. Be aware of people around you who may also want to talk to the same person, be polite and watch body language. If their feet or body turn away its time to wrap it up. Its important you have a reason to talk. The easiest conversation starter is to ask about a paper presented earlier in the day or made during paper Q/A. Poster session reactions work too. Ask what they thought of it. Alternatively you can ask about a paper, presentation or book written by the designer. Author interviews are also a great place to meet people and will give you a connection.
Whatever you do DO NOT drink too much at social hour. Sipping one glass of wine or having a beer is fine but more than two and there is trouble. You are interacting with some really intelligent people and its a rare opportunity. The impression goes both ways, if you drunkenly stumble into someone you are not going to make a friend. This is a common mistake since the free-beer thing takes a little will power for frugal engineers. Some engineers wrap a paper bar napkin around the beer and carry it around. I know of at least one famous professor who does that too. The bar napkin is good since it helps you to NOT peel the label making it less obvious that you are "carrying the beer around". Tired and tipsy is not a good combination for making it easy to meet new people. If you are part of the text-message generation or new to the United States then I suggest you observe before engaging. Most engineers are there to have a good time so project positive energy and things should go well. At the social hour I normally make dinner connections. After the social hour is the time to have a few drinks and talk about circuits.
The evening panel sessions occur after dinner. These vary in content some being more serious than others. The best are the debugging/analog guru sessions with the colorful characters of the analog integrated circuit community. Young and old I often wonder what it takes to get on one of those panels it seems like a strong network helps. Panel arguments about tubes vs. transistors or BJTs vs. FETS can get spicy and absolutely hilarious. The analog community respects and laughs at itself in these sessions.
After the conference is the best time to write down any final notes. Life is busy and its easy to forget the details or interesting techniques learned during the conference. Not all from the papers, some from fellow engineers. Take inventory of business cards, you can write notes on the back about the people. This information helps later the following year since you can build on the history. People like to hear about themselves, its all good.
Going to a conference can be an expensive and take a chunk of time. If you plan your time well you can make the conference a fun, educational and rewarding experience. Be careful to pace yourself since the material can overload even the most experienced engineers. Use the social hour to connect, challenge yourself to meet someone new and don't drink too much at the social. The IEEE has been continuously improving the conferences over the years, so if you have not been to one in a while it may be time.
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