9/17/97 This is a SUMMARY OF INPUTS ON AUSTIN SYMPOSIUM Thanks to all the people (14) who responded to my request for feedback on the 1997 IEEE EMC Austin Symposium. Below is a summary of the recurring comments. (Note:- These comments are also somewhat prejudiced from other sources, particularly those directly obtained by the attending 1998 Denver committee members. (10 individuals) I have a WORD7 document of the compiled feedback that I will e-mail to any interested person.
General opinion was that it was a very well run and good show. Some recurring positive comments: Committee members communication very good. Transportation, hotel accommodations, registration all went well! Exhibits good, well laid out Good continuous traffic. Coordination & handling good during set-up. Tutorials useful. Some recurring negative comments: Reception: Not enough places to sit; food lines too long. Banquet: Very disappointing that some people had to be in overflow room! Papers: Changes to program not very obvious; caused last minute scramble or even missing some part of a presentation. Several papers were moved up due to missing ones; causing missed attendance! Lighting & sound was a problem at times. Not enough room at times. Some "low level"-"just sales pitch" papers. Misc.: High cost of food & drink in convention. Too long a distance between hotel & convention hall. Exhibits: Hours too long. Some suggestions: Have contingency plan for larger than expected attendance (at social functions!) If you can't accommodate everyone, let them know and at least offer a refund or discount. Keep presentation focused on practical issues. Like to hear from engineers who have experienced trying solutions to real life problems and telling audience what outcome they have experienced. Put people who do poster papers/experiments in or near the exhibits area. Place related sessions on consecutive days or same day if possible, to justify trip. Put in effort so that "low level" papers don't get through. Instead of shoulder bags (gotten those for last few years!) how about back-packs? It kind of goes with the "mountain" them and it would be something different and useful. Regards, Tony O'Hara TMC-EMC Sales Lakewood, Colorado [email protected] (303)-948-2576
