All you really need to do to decide to go to the upcoming IESF conference in Metro Detroit USA if you are contemplating it but have not yet made up your mind the best way is to look at this executive summary slide show which my colleague Maddie Shepherd put together

It shows the keynote speakers and highlights the sub-set of tracks to do with electrical platform design through to manufacturing.

Aha – you are still here. What follows are seven reasons if you have been in the past you should go again, or if you have not gone to one of these IESF conferences yet you should register. It is the one closest to home for me, there are more held at regular intervals around the globe, with similar themes and values for participants. Here are my theses for disputation:

1.     Keep up to date, learn something new.

My aunt and my Nana used to often tell me “I was frightened of missing something” as a small child. Even now I don’t understand why curiosity in the things that interest you is a problem. I do however understand why I exasperated my relatives, and how they were kindly trying to instill some discipline in me. Sometimes in what we do at work -, you can’t see the new things, the latest trends and the best future competitive advantage by sitting in front of your computer. You don’t see the IESF sessions on a website for many months, if you see the interesting sessions live – and you listen more intently, interact with the ideas and the ideas people. People learn from other people best first hand in acquiring new concepts and ideas to put to practical use.

2.     Small enough for approachability, large enough for pulling in quality speakers.

Meeting the presenters face to face and asking questions, having conversations with them is possible. That’s the best opportunity for networking with leading thinkers in your domain you are likely to get this year. More intimate surroundings than a vast trade show hall. You are taking part and can make a contribution to the debates.

3.     Run by an industry leader, for the industry and as a forum a thank-you for customers and a also non-customers can benefit from attending.

The event is sponsored by Mentor Graphics, whose Mentor Automotive™ family of offerings includes the Capital™ tool suite which has been my professional specialism for (ahem) well, let’s say a few years and leave it at that. However it is not at all a strung-together list of sales pitches. Where a Mentor product experience is germane to the user stories you can expect it to be name checked. Where an example of technology used to solve a business problem seems to fall naturally to using a success story of deploying some Mentor software – I don’t think the presenters will remain silent dropping a product name in here and there. However the focus is on things like the technical and engineering, managerial and commercial challenges the participants in the conference.

4.     You went last time or four years ago.

The statistics for registration show a pattern that if you went last time you are highly likely to come back. I don’t think that’s fate, it is not inevitable. The facts of the matter are that the vast majority of people who attended the previous IESF come back and re-register for the next one. Through the economic downturn in there was not a falling off of attendees though some old friends were lost. My quick check of who’s who in presently registered indicates that around 1 in 6 of the senior managers attending in 2008 are not going to be around this year. This means five out of six are still around and attending.

Snassy designs for the Integrated Electrical Solutions Forum

5.     You didn’t go last time, and you are not sure you should go.

Visit the site http://www.mentor.com/events/iesf/detroit/?cmpid=10179 and take a look at the keynote speakers topics and biographies. Look at the breakout track subjects. Next count up your money and keep hold of it, because it is a free event. Spend it on something nice for yourself. After that, find out how to get to the location – and if you don’t know where the Ford Conference Center is, it is near the world renowned Henry Ford Greenfield Village tourist attraction. The event center details can be found at www.cec.com and you can get driving directions from there

6.     To broaden your horizons.

From the start of the event’s history the flavor of the presentations was PVC sheathing, and the tone was copper tone, and the strands of discussion were wiry ones. Different areas are now sharing the limelight with Capital and platform electrical systems design to manufacture. You can come and learn about the latest in automotive networking technologies, you can discover interesting facts about the PCB market, and the techniques of thermal modeling of electronics. Mentor Graphics is focusing increasingly in the automotive space, has a thriving and growing business portfolio in Embedded Software.

7.     It works.

There is a stable format repeated and trusted in the IESF conference format. This event has been going for 15 years. It has dropped in frequency from every 12 to every 18 months in Detroit. Similar events are hosted in Europe and Asia. The Integration of Electrical Systems Forum track records means the collective corporate Automotive expertise of Mentor Graphics will not disappoint you if you are coming to experience something about your professional area of interest – for example model based system design, or AutoSAR.

Registrants’ job title tag cloud for 2015 event early-bird registrants. Changes in profile of attendees since 2012 suggest where your market is changing.

Come hang out with the like-minded individuals. Registration is at www.mentor.com/iesf

See you there.