This is a quick report on the Embedded World Conference where the award for the Smarter Life Design Challenge was presented at the Cypress Semiconductor booth and attended by element14, who had a booth in another hall.
There were about 900 exhibitors spread across 6 huge halls, plus about 50 open theater presentations excluding numerous presentations at individual booths. So - miles of walking, hours of discussions and serious information overload. One highlight for me was getting to meet some of the element14 Community who were in attendance at the conference - I wasn't expecting anyone to recognize me amidst the crowds wandering around, but a few actually did.
Of course every exhibitor was giving stuff away, so it was easy to get loaded down with literature, trinkets and starter kits, not to mention numerous significant draw prizes. If I had to pick a main theme this year, there seemed to be a lot of exhibitors hyping their vision and involvement in the "Internet of Things". IoT was everywhere.
Although I attend a couple of of trade shows and conferences every year, this was a very unique experience for me since I did not have a corporate agenda - very liberating and a chance to fully explore my own interests. And I had never been to Germany before. I was quite surprised to find out that 90% of all booths, signage, literature, presentations, and discussions were carried out in English, but it sure made it better for me.
Nuremberg is an interesting city where the old town section (where my hotel was) is completely within the castle "grounds" surrounded by a very long and massive fortified wall - all of it is probably centuries older than my whole country.
Cypress showcased the Henrietta project right on their main external exhibit wall and made a pretty big splash with the award presentation - speeches (including element14), TV crew, champagne, etc. I made several presentations of the project over the course of 3 days including one for another TV crew set up by element14.
All in all, I think it was a successful marketing exercise by Cypress Semiconductor and element14 and I enjoyed being a part of it. Hopefully it will inspire similar challenges in the future.
I would certainly encourage the rest of the element14 Community to get involved in road tests and enjoy the resulting benefits, even if the main benefit is just the incentive to dream up interesting applications for new technology. I definitely enjoyed working on my project and making it work even before I learned that I had won, but winning was also a most memorable thrill.
Here is a follow-on project...
Thanks Everyone for a memorable experience,
Doug
