Cooley’s 11 Quickie Questions About Virtual DAC’20 Last Week!

Just a little funny history, after I started my Silicon Valley Blog in 2009 several EDA CEOs bullied me into creating my own site to compete with John Cooley’s DeepChip.com. Competition is good, right? One good friend and CEO even suggested I call it DeepNenni.com. Thankfully we came up with something a little less awkward, SemiWiki.com. Ten years later here we are the #1 EDA/IP/Foundry portal and the rest as they say is history.

SemiWiki DAC2020 Blogs

And speaking of disruptive changes, our beloved DAC this year was virtual. The good news is that it became a world wide event that anybody could join. As a result the DAC attendance numbers jumped dramatically. The bad news is that being the first virtual DAC it had some technical challenges, but nothing that could not be overcome for the next DAC.

Which brings us to some very important questions: Should DAC be Virtual? and if so how do we improve it?

So let’s all engage with John and let him do the dirty work for the greater good of the semiconductor ecosystem, absolutely.

My anonymous answers are below:

From: John Cooley <jcooley@zeroskew.com>
Subject: Cooley’s 11 quickie questions about Virtual DAC’20
Date: July 30, 2020 at 9:74:18 AM PDT

Please, can you take 5 minutes to answer these quickie
questions so I can compile your ANONYMOUS answers for
all to see?- John Cooley of DeepChip

And yes, ALL replies are anonymous!
And yes, ALL replies are anonymous!
And yes, ALL replies are anonymous!

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1. WHO ARE YOU? I am a [CHOOSE ONE]:
an EDA user, an EDA vendor, an EDA academic, or other

36 year EDA/IP/Foundry professional .

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2. Did you attend Virtual DAC’20 last week? [Yes or No]

Yes

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3. Did you attend prior DAC’17 and/or DAC’18 and/or DAC’19? [SPECIFY]

Yes, I have attended the last 36 DACs starting with the one in Albuquerque New Mexico in 1984.

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4. What Virtual DAC’20 *days* did you attend last week? [SPECIFY ALL] DAC Mon, DAC Tues, DAC Wed, DAC Thur, DAC Fri

All

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5. Did you go to any of the DAC’20 papers? [Yes or No]  If yes,
which specific DAC papers? [List Topics]  Overall were the
DAC’20 papers useful?  [Yes or No]

Yes, Most, Yes

PLEASE COMMENT AS TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THE DAC’20 PAPERS

I reviewed most of the DAC papers. In comparison to a technical conference like the VLSI Symposium the DAC papers were a bit light on technical content. In comparison to vendor centric conferences I would say the DAC papers were above average in technical content.

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6. Did you go to any of the DAC’20 panels? [Yes or No]  If yes, which specific DAC panels? [List Topics]  Overall were the DAC’20 panels interesting?  [Yes or No]

Yes, most of them, yes

PLEASE COMMENT AS TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THE DAC’20 PANELS

Most of the panels were good but some had technical problems with sound and internet connections. A couple of the panels were pretty bad but I’m sure they know who they are so I won’t panel shame them.

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7. Did you go to any of the DAC’20 keynotes? [Yes or No]  If yes, which specific DAC keynotes? [List Topics]  Overall were the DAC’20 keynotes interesting?  [Yes or No]

Yes, most of them, Yes.

PLEASE COMMENT AS TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THE DAC’20 KEYNOTES

The keynotes were pretty good. Wally Rhines, The Most Interesting Man in EDA, had the best keynote. The worst one for me was Calista Redmond, CEO, RISC-V Foundation. Blah blah blah very little content blah blah blah.

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8. Did you go to any of the Exhibitor booths? [Yes or No]  If yes,
which specific vendor booths? [List Vendors]  Overall were the
DAC’20 Vendor booths useful?  [Yes or No]

No

PLEASE COMMENT AS TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THE DAC’20 VENDOR BOOTHS

I did ask for booth feedback from the companies I work with and it was not all good. There is work to be done there for sure. The key missing ingredient is the ability to set up face-2-face customer meetings in a centralized location. This can save a lot of time and money for companies big and small.  Most DAC exhibitors I have worked with in the past can fill up DAC meeting rooms for 3 days straight, no problem.

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9. Did you encounter any serious technical difficulties while
on the Virtual DAC’20 web site? [Yes or No]  If yes, please
indicate which day and explain the problems you ran into.

Yes, audio, delays, disconnections, your basic IT challenges.

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A. How would you rate your Virtual DAC’20 experience?  [CHOOSE ONE]
“Mostly GOOD”, “Mostly NEUTRAL”, “Mostly BAD”

Mostly good.

CAN YOU PLEASE COMMENT ON WHY YOU FEEL THAT WAY?

I think given the short time the DAC Committee had to prepare for the new venue and under pandemic conditions the results were surprisingly good.

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B. If for COVID-19 reasons they must do a Virtual DAC next year in 2021 would you attend? [Yes or No or Unsure]

Yes, Definitely.

CAN YOU PLEASE COMMENT ON WHY?

I actually prefer the virtual format where everything is recorded and available for viewing afterwards. Even if DAC is live next year I think it should be recorded and open to all. Attendance is everything! Down with profits! Up with attendance!

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And again, ALL replies are anonymous!
And again, ALL replies are anonymous!
And again, ALL replies are anonymous!

– John Cooley of DeepChip.com