Next Symposium: June 7-12, 2009; Boston, Massachusetts, USA
If you are a noble and pure microwave
technogeek,
you probably are already planning to attend the MTT International
Microwave
Symposium (or IMS, to those of us in the know). If you aren't,
why
not? Did the boss refuse your travel request? Are you an impoverished
grad
student? Or, has the whole thing become so complicated that it's a
little
intimidating? If any of these apply, c'mon in. We can help.
By now you've probably found the official MTT-IMS web site and have read the party line about the symposium. Here you'll get the straight story. The information in this site is guaranteed to be 100% unapproved by the MTT Adcom, the IMS Steering Committee, or anyone else in a position of authority. Unlike the official information, it is designed to help you (instead of the MTT Society) get the best deal in attending the symposium. Stick around; there's a lot to learn.
The next MTT International Microwave Symposium will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, June 7-12, 2009. A good location, at least in the summer.
MTT Wireless Symposium
The MTT Society now sponsors a winter symposium, consisting of three previously existing meetings. This should take some of the pressure off the IMS, which has indeed been growing a bit.
The MTT Symposium offers a confusing collection of events. Filling out the registration form is about as easy as getting an import license for Mediterranean fruit flies. This should help you sort it all out.
How to get
your boss to send you,
and what to do if he won't
Working for one of those cretins who thinks that a symposium is just an expensive junket? Relax. I've been there. Here are some tested ways to get the boss on your side, or to get him (or her, let's be fair) so pissed off that he'll (she'll) do his (he...oh, hell!) best to get rid of you for a while.
MTT
Symposium Questions and
Answers
Ever wonder how the MTT symposium gets assembled every year? Where the money comes from? Why it's never outside the US? Here are the answers.
How to get
there without spending
a bundle, and how to get a decent, cheap hotel room
It's easy. Just remove the housing form from your registration materials, fill it out carefully, and burn it. Then, go to this page.
The
technical program (oh,
yeah, that!)
Well, that's what you're here for, isn't it? Sure, it is.
Be sure you know the rules, written and unwritten. Also, here's how it's really done. Relax. You'll do fine.
Where to get
the best free meals
There's more free food at the symposium than in a Burger King dumpster, and most of it is at least as good. Here's how to get your share. You might even bring some home to the other grad student living in the abandoned car with you.
The MTT Symposium is overrun with salesmen, all of whom have deep, deep pockets. They come to the symposium to be exploited by the local convention center and to exploit you in return. You go to the symposium to exploit them. See how it works?
Remember, you're dealing with a bunch of engineers. These guys' idea of great entertainment is putting light bulbs in a microwave oven and watching the filaments explode. Still, there are opportunities to have some real fun. After all, what's a symposium for?
Are you one of the plutocrats exhibiting your wares at the trade show? If so, you don't need this page. Or, maybe you do...
Thinking of bringing your family? (Geez, you really don't want to have any fun, do you?) Here are some ways to keep them entertained and prevent them from cramping your style.
Are you offended by this web site? Hey, this is the New Age, and in this PC world, you've got a God-given right to Freedom from Offense! If someone says something you disagree with, you have every right to shut him up. Here's your chance to get even!