( DAC 03 Item 43 ) ----------------------------------------------- [ 01/20/04 ]
Subject: the Best & Worst DAC Parties & Giveaways
BRAVO FORTE! A number of EDA vendors (the people, not the companies) we
happy to see that Forte had picked up the tradition of having a live bagpipe
player play "Amazing Grace" at the close of the Exhibits at DAC. HP used
to do this, but stopped. A number of EDA guys told me in person that was
a nice touch, class act for Forte to do this.
Best party: Denali @ House of Blues. I even lost my cell phone in the
cab on the way back to the hotel so you know it was good.
- Jeff Waite of Chip Express
There was a SUV sitting on the floor, at first I thought it was going to
be the best giveaway, but then it turned out to be the stupidest vendor
floor show.
- Luke Simonson of UCLA
Denali party was a blast as usual!
Saw a lot more Cadence folks out mingling than in the past... However, I
missed last years in Nawlins... networking? More humble this year. :-)
- [ An Anon EDA Vendor ]
I enjoyed the bagpipes from Forte Systems and think this was the best
floor event at DAC this year. They definitively have my vote.
- Marcel Dinet of Tharas Systems
Sequence had the best comedian. I think I've seen him on TV. The
problem was that at the end of his routine I couldn't remember what
Sequence sold. The Segway cop's whistle was annoying. In general I
liked the booths with real customers explaining how they solved real
problems with the tools, or just the good old knowledgeable engineer
there at a workstation who you could talk to. I don't like any booths
surrounded by walls which make you fear you will be trapped inside by
salesdroids. I like the booths where you can stand outside and scope it
out before deciding to go in.
- Duncan M. Walker of Texas A&M University
BEST GIVEAWAY: Mentor stuffed animal. They even gave it away without stay
in a demo.
- Liang-Chi Chen of USC
The Best gift was from Summit Designs (Robot). And the Best party was
from Verplex in Disney Land.
- Gangadhar of DigiPro Design
Best gift: Verplex pen, Mentor stuffed toy
Worst gift: Jasper 8-ball
Gross gift: Novas bug
Best booth: Mentor
Worst booth: maybe Fujitsu
Stupidest EDA vendor floor show:
Jasper (Minority Report rip-off, one of my favorite movies).
- [ An Anon Engineer ]
Best giveaways are always those my children like when I get home. I got a
little radio-controlled car that is a big hit with my 4 year old. The
little sticker with its sponsor's name fell off, so I can't remember who
gave it away (which therefore also qualifies it as the worst giveaway!).
- Jeremy Bennett of Tenison EDA
The giveaways were pretty boring this year, but then again, so was I.
About all I was interested in were stuffed animals from Mentor to bring
home to my kids.
BEST PARTY? Skipping microbrew party in favor of watching the Hockey
playoffs at ESPNZone.
WORST PARTY? DAC Party on Wednesday night. Usually the food is much
better. While the weather cooperated, I found evening unusually boring.
STUPIDEST EDA VENDOR FLOOR SHOW? (Please Explain.)
Any of the magic shows. Loud, boring, and not focused.
- [ An Anon Engineer ]
It wasn't at DAC, but at a recent Synopsys seminar here in the UK one of
the giveaways was a bar of Galaxy chocolate (UK brand), to go with the
Galaxy Design platform. Corny, but it's the tastiest giveaway I've had.
If I could give back all the alarm clocks, calculators, badge clips, T
shirts, compasses, Swiss army penknives-that-were-confiscated-at-the-
airport-when-I-forgot-I-had-them- on-the-keyring, baseball caps, watches,
memo takers, and so on for a bar of chocolate each, I'd be a fat and very
happy engineer...
- Thomas Fairbairn of 3com
THE BEST GIVEAWAY? the Cadence water bottle in the Demo Suites.
THE WORST GIVEAWAY? Eve was giving away a nice pocket knife/bottle
opener/utility tool, unless you were going on a plane.
BEST PARTY? Denali.
- [ An Anon Engineer ]
The best giveaway is still the Novas bug. Nils (my 11 month old
son)loves it!
The most annoying floor show must have been ChipMD. I got sick and tired
of their fake French guy by Monday morning.
The strangest floor demo was the Hummer.
- Anders Nordstrom of Elliptic Semiconductor
RC cars were cool.
The FLASH drives that Axis was giving away were nice, but I didn't get
one even through I sat through like 5 sessions.
- Tomoo Taguchi of Hewlett-Packard
Under your "best giveaway" I'd like to nominate the delightful live
bagpipe music provided at the close of the DAC Exhibits by Forte Design
Systems. At the close of DAC exhibits HP used to crank up their sound
system and play a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace", but they stopped
doing it a year or two ago. Many of us missed it. This year Forte
generously leapt into the breech and hired two live bagpipers to play
"Amazing Grace". They played about 30 minutes while computers were
shutting down, aisle carpets were rolling up, artwork was coming off
booth walls and booths were coming down. By the time they had stopped
playing, you could hardly recognize the place. The music gave a "grand
finale" feeling to the conclusion. I, for one, hope Forte will begin a
new tradition!
- Pamela Parrish of EDA Consortium
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