DAC by the Numbers

The attendance numbers for DAC are out. Unless you have been living under a stone you know that DAC was in Austin Texas a couple of weeks ago. Attendance was:

• full conference passes: 1589
• exhibits-only passes: 2364
• booth staff: 1998

The registration is slightly lower than last year when DAC was in San Francisco (as it will be again for the next two years). However, there was an increase in technical session attendance. The combined keynote attendance was way up from 2012 but I think that probably is mostly due to having more keynotes this year. The numbers were also higher than 2011 numbers in San Diego, the last time DAC was held outside the bay area.

On Monday, walking around the exhibit hall, DAC felt just as busy as usual. As always, later in the week it felt less busy but talking to several companies, everyone seemed very happy with attendance, with no shortage of people from the Austin area itself and no shortage of people who had come from the bay area. International attendance did seem to be down, however.

Networking opportunities were one of the highlights at the 50[SUP]th[/SUP] DAC, with a well-attended kick off reception on Sunday night, a jam-packed musical evening at Austin City Limits on Monday for DAC’s 50th anniversary party and daily receptions at the Austin Convention Center. Not to mention the Denali party and various press events. The DAC Anniversary Banquet on Wednesday evening was sold out before the conference started. The banquet gave recognition to the volunteers and contributors that have made DAC successful for the past 50 years.

To see the SemiWiki DAC coverage click HERE.

The Design Automation Conference (DAC) is recognized as the premier event for the design of electronic circuits and systems, and for electronic design automation (EDA) and silicon solutions. A diverse worldwide community representing more than 1,000 organizations attends each year, represented by system designers and architects, logic and circuit designers, validation engineers, CAD managers, senior managers and executives to researchers and academicians from leading universities. Close to 60 technical sessions selected by a committee of electronic design experts offer information on recent developments and trends, management practices and new products, methodologies and technologies. A highlight of DAC is its exhibition and suite area with approximately 200 of the leading and emerging EDA, silicon, intellectual property (IP) and design services providers. The conference is sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Electronic Design Automation Consortium (EDA Consortium), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and is supported by ACM’s Special Interest Group on Design.