What to Register For

Go to this year's web site (click here). You can register on-line or download a form and register by mail or FAX. If you have attended the MTT previously, you should receive, by mail, a program book containing registration information. You can also register on-site, but early preregistration will save you money. It may also save you time; registration lines at the symposium occasionally have been long. Incidentally, the registration fees for IEEE members are much lower than for nonmembers. The savings will almost pay your IEEE dues. 

Yes. Student registration is really cheap, but you usually don't get a CD ROM of the papers. However, you can buy one separately, or, if your school has access to IEEE Xplore (they all do), you can get any papers that interest you. 

No more than you can sneak into the movies or a museum. Just pay your goddam registration fees, geek, and stop trying to get something for nothing! We realize that engineers are tightwads, but there really are some limits. 

In previous years, managers of several companies received angry letters from MTT officers because of their practice of sharing badges. You'd think that a company with 50,000 employees could afford to do things honestly. Welcome to business ethics in the 21st century. 

This is the big enchilada. It runs for the whole week, with at least six, often seven, parallel sessions. It's a safe bet that it will get even larger with time. When we speak loosely of the MTT Symposium, this is what you're talking about: the 2000-pound gorilla of microwave conferences. 

In recent years, the IMS has grown to the point that it is a little unweildy. For the last few years, the Adcom has been under pressure to start a second, midwinter symposium. The result is MTT Wireless. For further information, click here.

This was originally the Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Monolithic Circuits Symposium, but everything is RF these days, and so is the symposium. The RFIC is a much smaller show than the IMS (isn't everything?), two days long, with sessions on the second day shared with the IMS. Mostly widget papers, but so far it hasn't descended to the level of the Solid-State Circuits Conference. Usually held Monday and Tuesday.

ARFTG is perceived to comprise only the measurement guys, but it really is broader than that. They hold a small, one-day symposium twice a year, once right after the IMS. ARFTG is more specialized than the IMS or RFIC, but definitely worth attending, at least occasionally, even if you are not a measurement geek. Invariably held Friday of MTT week. 

The workshops are probably the most popular part of the symposium. No wonder: they tend to be less academic and more practical than most of the IMS papers, and therefore more accessible to practical engineers. Most attendees go to at least one workshop. Academics look down their noses at them. A good recommendation, in my book. 

Workshops are usually held on Sunday and Friday of MTT Week. 

A number of panel sessions are held at lunchtime. Usually you can attend them without registering or paying; the payment just covers a box lunch. Occasionally, a panel session is held in the evening. 

This ain't what you think. The word comes from the Latin perrumpere, which means to break through. These are informal sessions on a specialty topic, often controversial. There are usually only one or two per symposium, and they are held in the evening. 

In other words, they're usually pretty boring. 

If you're so dim-witted that you are interested only in the trade show, you can go to it for ten bucks. Still, for that, it's great entertainment. And, you can come home with at least ten dollars worth of trade-show trinkets; these should be endlessly fascinating to any simpleton who has no interest in the IMS itself. 

Registration for the technical sessions gives you access to the trade show. It's open for most of the symposium, so just drop in when you have some free time. 

The Historical Exhibit is usually located in the trade-show area, or sometimes just outside it. The exhibit actually has a lot of fascinating stuff, but it's a little disturbing (for us old farts, at least) to see "historical items" that once were our ordinary tools. 

Many of the steering committees in recent years have worked hard to make the Awards Banquet achieve its full potential as a painfully boring event. The committees occasionally have failed to live up to that tradition, having instead some super entertainment and a great dinner. We expect that future committees will not fail so miserably, and will again elevate the Awards Banquet to its traditional, mind-numbing splendor. 

There are two major receptions at the IMS: the Welcome Reception and Exhibitors' Reception. (There are also some minor ones for certain groups, such as the Ham Radio Reception.) All feature hors d'oeuvres and limited free drinks (controlled by drink tickets, in theory, but really limited only by your ability to stay standing upright.) All regular, registered symposium attendees are welcome, and no reservations or special arrangements are  necessary. You can bring your wife, if you really want to. 

The Exhibitors' Reception is traditionally held right before the banquet. 

The RFIC symposium has a reception, ARFTG has a luncheon, there is a speakers' breakfast every day of the IMS, as well as an attendees' breakfast. And so on. 

The guest program consists of a hospitality suite for guests of attendees (wives, children, partners, mistresses, and so on) and several guided tours. These occasionally may seem a little expensive, but they include transportation, lunch, and admission fees. Often they are subsidized, so don't complain about the cost, you unrepentant engineering cheapskate! 

Often there are discount tickets for local attractions and, in the hospitality suite, you can find information about things to do in the area.