FAQ for First-Time Attendees
Attending ISSCC for the first time can be very intimidating with 3000+ people attending and many questions that you cannot google to get the answer to. This page collects commonly asked questions for first time attendees.
What happens at ISSCC?
Each year’s schedule is here: http://isscc.org/
The main activities include:
Forums, Short courses and tutorials on Sunday and Thursday. You need to register for these separately from the conference itself, and they usually have a limited scope: one or more tutorials (Sunday) that introduces a topic for those who are new and want to learn the basics or a short course (Thursday) and forums (Sunday and Thursday) that do a deep-dive into a specific topic/area.
Student activities on Sunday evening. Students present at the Student Research Preview (SRP) and have poster sessions.
Plenary sessions. Invited speakers give talks about the state of the field. These are higher-level than paper presentations, and give the audience the industry trends and vision. Even if you are not interested in the specific topic, are usually worth attending to know the state-of-the-art direction of circuits.
Paper sessions. Authors present their papers. Typically, there are five sessions going on at once, and attendees choose based on their interests.
Evening sessions. Monday and Tuesday evenings have panels and special evening topics.
Networking and Social times. There are coffee breaks during some breaks. Monday and Tuesday evening there is a social hour in the Golden Gate ballroom with wine and drinks provided. The demo sessions are also in the Golden Gate ballroom so get a glass of wine and go see some interactive demos. On Monday and Tuesday an Exhibition in the Golden Gate ballroom will showcase new products and technologies relevant to IC design from several companies and institutions.
What does a Conference talk look like at ISSCC?
Each paper has a 15 minute (short) or 25 minute (long) slot including Questions and Answers (Q&A), and is typically part of a session with papers on similar topics. One of the authors (usually the first author) will give a presentation on the paper. The presenter will not take questions during the talk, but afterwards there will be a few minutes for audience members to ask questions.
Should I attend every talk?
It is impossible to attend every talk in-person, since multiple sessions happen simultaneously. However, you will be able to access each presentation from the on demand platform.
Are Wi-Fi and paper downloads available at the Conference?
Included in your registration is the password to the Conference Wi-Fi and a password to access the Conference Platform. Logging into this platform will enable you to view the conference schedule, download the entire digest, the individual papers, the slides and view the presentations (a couple of days after the actual presentation).
What are the paper rating scores used for?
The paper rating scores are used to judge the ISSCC Best Paper Award. Even if you attend one paper please fill out your ratings for that paper as these scores are pivotal for deciding the best paper in the conference.
How do I ask questions to the authors?
Each talk has a Q&A session after the talk and we encourage anyone with a question to go to the standing microphones, state your name and affiliations. Keep questions concise. You are encouraged but not required to stay at the microphone while the question is answered in, case a follow-up is needed. At the end thank the author for their response. Be mindful of others wanting to ask questions and time is short, so only ask one question. For further more detailed questions you can attend author interviews or you can ask a question via the Q&A chat on the Conference Platform: there is a chat box linked to each paper and the author(s) will answer during the conference.
What is the author interview?
Author interviews occur at the end of the day in the concourse outside the Yerba Buena ballrooms, during the Social Hour. It’s a great time to engage in longer discussions with the authors of papers that you had detailed questions about.
How do I strike up a research conversation with someone I’ve never met before?
Don’t be intimidated about meeting and talking to authors you don’t know. Most people especially academics love to talk about their research. So, if you have attended a talk by them or read a paper by them, one way to start a conversation is to tell them something you found interesting about their work, or ask them a question about it.
How do I meet people?
Usually it’s intimidating to be the only person you know at a conference and if you see people talking in circles it’s hard to break in. Try to find someone standing by themselves and strike up a conversation.
Lunches and Dinners are not provided by ISSCC. To avoid eating alone, a way is to seek out people you have met, and ask if you can join them.
The SSCS Young Professionals Micro Mentoring event is a great place to meet with new people and get advice from leading industry experts and professors. If you are interested in getting mentoring advice, or if you are a more senior engineer willing to give advice, this is a great place to start! This event is open to all conference attendees where you can ask questions in a relaxed atmosphere. Refreshments and light snacks will be included at this event.
For folks interested in Diversity and Inclusion you can join the SSCS Women in Circuits Slack channel where we have channels that we use to schedule impromptu conference get-togethers. Slack is a free collaboration app that allows for instant messaging and communication to those who sign-up. Everyone who supports diversity is invited to join!
What do people wear or bring?
There is no official dress code and you will likely see clothing ranging from casual up to a suit. However, the majority of people dress one step up from student/tech job attire. Many people wear slacks or nice jeans; most people do not wear shorts. Button down shirts, polos, or blouses are common. Authors who are presenting papers sometimes will dress up even more nicely, in a suit or a blazer. For females, other options include dresses, skirts or business suits.
Conference venues are often very aggressively air conditioned, so it is wise to bring a sweater or light jacket. It is totally normal to bring a backpack or bag.
Water is available at the sessions. Bring a water bottle and stay hydrated!
What else should I know?
Keep belongings with you at all times. It is a public place so don’t leave your valuables unattended. Also there are no photographs or recordings allowed in sessions.
I have a question you didn’t answer!
Send it to this email: MelissaW@widerkehr.com
References
[1] FAQ for first time ISCA attendees. The website that inspired this FAQ.