[Shameless Plug] -- Embedded Systems Conference

I read in sci.electronics.design that Tim Wescott wrote (in ) about '[Shameless Plug] -- Embedded Systems Conference', on Sun, 9 Jan 2005:

I thought this thread was about a connector with exposed male and female members.(;-)

If you think it's expensive to go to SF to see a conference, just try exhibiting at one...

Are they closed union shop like the Eastern ones? I hate having to pay those guy to do trivial stuff. Dreyage, my a**. 8-( And an electrician every time, even if the stuff just plugged in.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Yes, it was. I wanted something that didn't include an intrinsic integrator, and I didn't want to spend days on a real thermal model.

Exactly.

We've done both SF and San Jose and San Jose was the worst.

Even though the contents of our booth fit in the back of our Subaru wagon, we still had to go to the "marshaling yard" across town, wait in line, have the vehicle weighted, get a pickup time tag, go back to the convention center and wait to be unloaded, drive the unloaded car back to the "marshaling yard", get it weighed unloaded and get a weight ticket, which BTW was at least 200 lbs higher than the actual weight of the booth. To add injury to insult, as I was driving off the scale, a piece of metal slashed and destroyed one of my tires.

Leaving, we just waited for the security guards to kick back and then sneaked everything out the front door.

By the time we did ESC at SF, we had gotten pretty good at sneaking the stuff in past the teamsters. The trick is to have one person in the vehicle, circling the venue. Another person meets the vehicle, gets an armload of stuff and carries it inside. Repeat until done.

(Sound of teeth grinding).

I can understand the need for unions in some industries, where employers can make things impossible for the working man.

But they sure are a good example of how power corrupts.

... snip ...

Isn't it amazing the accidental nightime damage that can occur as a result of supplying your own ashtrays (back when smoking was good) or anything else.

Jacob Javits Center? I've never done that venue, but I've heard stories.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Years ago I was setting up an exhibit in Brooks Hall, the old SF WESCON venue. I got knocked on my ass from a union-electrician-supplied power pigtail that had hot and ground interchanged.

So yeah, better let the people in charge do the work for you...

Your PHBs totally lost control then. We have a meal and hotel "allowance" that was foisted on us because of idiots like this. Last I checked a couple hundred a night wasn't unreasonable for a hotel room in SF (maybe $150 because of our leverage) and $60ish in food per day. It is one of the more expensive places, but there it makes no sense to arbitrarily make a city off-limits because of a few fools.

Hey, The PHBs sprung for a day off at Thanksgiving. I didn't see it as that big a deal since we're all salaried. The same work had to get done. We'll see what our bonus looks like this year. Last year I made $10K less than five years ago. I'm thinking about moving on... I've done my time.

Oh, that's what that was. I thought it was the sound of knee caps breaking.

and as such are obsolete.

Why not? It's really a nice place.

Flat, boring, and sleazy both. But Disneyland is great if the lines aren't too long, which they usually are. Los Vegas is The Sickest Place on Earth.

John

IEEE doesn't do Javits in new York, any more. They use Meadowlands in NJ instead. Too many vendors made their intentions never to return to Javits known.

Jerry

-- Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Laughlin is awfully nice in comparison, but I don't know if they have convention halls there.

Cheers! Rich

the

Too much hassle! Too many people, not all are even civil!

lines

Sickest

Matter of opinion. But I wasn't concerned with the stranding attractions. Disneyland is always good, and if the lines are long, "Fast pass" is an alternative.

have

Only hotels and casinos, I think. Haven't had a reason to go there!

I did a trade show booth in downtown San Francisco once; never again. There were union goons everywhere, stopping people from carrying anything and posting violation notices on booths if people were plugging in or even using their own lights. On my way out, a huge guy stood in my way and blocked me from leaving with some stuff on a dolly. False imprisonment, seems to me. Another guy off to the side said "are you a guest in the hotel?" I thought for a second and said "Yes" which meant they had to let me take the stuff up to my "room" (ie, a taxicab). The big guy was pissed.

Just after that we did a show in Albuquerque. We shipped the gear to my rep, and he drove it in his pickup truck onto the floor of the exhibit hall, right up to the booth. That was great.

Lately, I'm thinking trade shows aren't worth the hassle, at least as a presenter. Even print ads are dicey. Google gets us most of our business (we think.)

John

Good idea. I wouldn't travel to NYC, even when I lived 75mi from Javits. Of course my empoyer wouldn't pay for me to go cross town these days. Which is OK too. Travel is a PITA.

Though I do have to say that the *one* time I wished my wife were with me was on a junket to a M$ WinHEC in Moscone. I stayed in the Crown Plaza uptown SF. I looed out of my room down onto the head-end of the cable cars. That week alone would have bought me a lifetime of get-out-of-jail-free cards. ;-) ...andd I would have only paid a pittance for her!

BTW, WinHECs are crap. 6000+ windows geeks clammoring to get a peak at BillG was just a bit too much for this stomach. At least Intel put on programs with some meat.

Why not Aspen?

John

Too much snow ;]