Bringing more value to DAC exhibitors

[David Lin]

Strategy discussion for DAC 47 and Beyond ...

How can DAC bring more value to the exhibitors beyond square footage & increasing designer attendance?

Post your ideas and thoughts on below and we can bring these up to the DAC Strategy Committee meeting in October.

[Gregory Tozian]

David,

Great idea to start this discussion. I'm not an exhibitor; but I hope those exhibitors who are on I Love DAC do give their opinions and specific requests. Same thing with designers. What would they like to be able to do and see more of? The conference can learn from listening. Good show! Cheers.

Greg

[David Lin]

Here's a starter ... I was very impressed with the success of Synopsys' Conversation Central. Although I didn't attend many of the sessions, the ones that I did sit in on had very lively and interesting discussions with value to all participants. Even competitors were invited and, maybe surprisingly, the conversation was not confrontational but rather collaborative. Most of the time, it was standing-room-only.

My understanding of the format -
- pre-announce topics
- line up a couple key participants, open invitation to others to participate
- need great moderator/facilitator to keep discussion focused
- intimate setting, with limited # participants
- end on schedule, but allow for future sessions to continue the discussion
- keep detailed notes and post summaries/blogs of discussions

I wonder if we can borrow that format to have more topics and conversations on the exhibit floor. I can envision having conversations centered on verification, manufacturing, social media, standards, what to do about DAC48, etc.

Not sure how it might work logistically or who would support it, but more conversation and more ideas can only help ...

[Mike Gianfagna]

Hi David,

We tried something similar to Conversation Central at the Atrenta booth - a BlogFest. Open discussion on an edgy topic with all bloggers (indepdendent and trade press) present. We recieved good feedback (and some blogging). Maybe there needs to be a pavillion dedicated to these kind of open discussion topics on the show floor. I think a little more of this, and a little less panel discussions on the floor would be healthy. There are enough people at DAC do drive opinions and trends if the group finds a unified voice. We can probably come up with a compelling set of topics.

[David Lin]

Mike,

I would love to hear how your blogfest went. And, it would be great to explore how this concept could be more broadly deployed at DAC ...

-Dave

[David Lin]

Hi All,

Really fun discussion today. Here are notes from our discussion today ...

Mike and I spoke about having a follow-up discussion in a couple weeks at Atrenta (we'll have a bridge for out-of-area participants). Shoot me an email if there are any particular days/times which will absolutely not work for you.

In the meantime, pls feel free to comment or discuss in this forum.

-Dave

[David Lin]

Here's a new article about conversation central and the atrenta blogfest and how the concept may be extended ...

http://www10.edacafe.com/blogs/ed-lee/2009/10/03/changing-dac-for-2...