April 21, 2004
www.SOCCENTRAL.com
Conferences as Conduits for Conversation
Farhad Mafie is President and CEO at
Savant Company.
This week Mafie and his team celebrated a big success with their 1st
International System-on-Chip Conference, held at the Radisson Hotel in
Newport, CA. Although the event was the brainchild of Savant, it was held in
conjunction with Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, and U.C. Irvine.
When we spoke by phone just after the 2-day conference had concluded,
Mafie's evaluation was unqualified: "The conference was fantastic!"
If the attendance and
program are any indication, it looks like the folks at Savant may indeed
have had reason to celebrate. Mafie told me that upwards of 200 people
attended the conference, where they could hear several keynotes from
academia and industry, several panel discussions, and 35 technical sessions
covering five different subject tracks
The panel sessions -- one on configurable
processors and DSPs moderated by
EE Times'
Ron Wilson, and one on EDA tools for 90-nanometer design moderated by
Electronic Design's
Dave Burskey -- were outstanding, according to Mafie. He said, "The panels
were heated and very informative. People were challenging each other on
technical issues, talking about the benefits of their own architectures and
discussing the weaknesses of the competing architectures. The second panel
ran so long, we had to cut it off because they finally ran out of time."
When I asked Mafie if
anybody really needs yet another conference in this industry, he said,
"Absolutely! We have too many general conferences today, while a lot of
people are looking for more specific, more targeted conferences. Some of the
exhibitors who participated at our conference told me that when they go to
meetings like DAC, they just get lost in the big event and don't get the
traction that they would like to have."
"In our environment this
week, where we combined just the right mix of the academic and the
commercial, we were able to keep the content at a very high level and meet
the needs of our specific, targeted audience. Even the presenters from the
commercial side gave valuable technical presentations in keeping with the
spirit of the conference."
"Also, we didn't allow
the topic material to be confused with unrelated subject matter. As a
result, people didn't end up wasting a lot of time on issues not related to
their particular topic. And importantly, although we had five tracks, the
sessions ran sequentially, not on a parallel schedule. Everyone was able to
attend all of the tracks if they wanted to."
"The event, in fact,
could have been a lot bigger but we tried to keep it small for the sole
purpose of maintaining focus. We actually turned down many papers and
numerous companies who asked to be allowed to exhibit. The evaluations that
people turned in at the end of the conference proved we were right in the
decisions we made. Many people provided us with the names and contact
information for specific people who should be invited to our next event. "
"My message is
straightforward. This is a very focused and targeted event, and we will not
change that mission going forward. Our next event will be in the later part
of this year, and although the location is yet to be determined, we will
continue to arrange for university connections. We're looking at dates and
locations right now. Also, we're providing a series of scholarships for
graduate students working on their Master's or PhDs, so they can attend the
conference and add to the technical merit of the event. Clearly, for anyone
interested in SoCs -- whether they're in academics or in business -- this is
going to become the conference they're going to want to be attending on a
regular basis."
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