The Beginning of a New Chapter

• DSPRelated

Jacob Beningo and I had been dreaming about organizing an in-person event for many years. But every time we looked into it seriously, a few phone calls to potential venues were enough to remind us of the financial risks involved. We never quite found the courage to pull the trigger.

Until this year.

The urge to move forward was simply too strong. After several successful years of running the DSP Online Conference and the Embedded Online Conference, we found ourselves in a unique position, surrounded by a large community of world-class speakers who had consistently proven to be outstanding communicators and educators. The idea of bringing many of these brilliant minds together under one roof was just too motivating to resist.

So we reached out to see if they’d be interested in joining this adventure. The response was overwhelmingly positive and that was all the encouragement we needed.  We found a venue, the Sonesta Silicon Valley, that could accommodate not just one, but two events running in parallel: The Signal Processing Summit and The Embedded Systems Summit.  I got my adorable daughter, a fresh graduate in graphic design, to design both websites.

At that point, we were fully committed and there was no turning back.

As we approached the event date, the government shutdown in the U.S. made us nervous. What if our speakers couldn’t make it in time due to airport delays? Fortunately, we lost sleep for nothing; everyone arrived safely and on schedule.

Once at the hotel, Jacob and I had a full day to get things ready; preparing badges, setting up the welcome table, hanging banners, coordinating with the venue for food and room setups, etc.  This was a busy day but filled with excitement as we were getting very close to the conference kickoff and everything was falling into place.  After months of planing, our vision was finally materializing and it felt great.

On the first day of the conference, after having indulged the hotel's breakfast buffet and a good latte, it was time to head over to the welcome table to finally welcome attendees and speakers to the inaugural edition of the summits.  After 5 years of virtual events - what a great feeling to meet speakers and attendees in person and shake people's hands!  And what an honour to welcome fred harris and meet him in person, a giant among the giants in the signal processing world.  And such a kind human being. He’ll deserve a full blog post of his own soon.

As the conference unfolded, my heart was filled with gratitude and my mind buzzed with dopamine as I watched people learn, connect, and, from what I could tell, genuinely enjoy themselves. The speakers delivered outstanding presentations, and the attendees engaged with them with contagious enthusiasm.  It was all we had hoped for, and more.

Like a first girlfriend you never forget, these first Summits will always hold a special place in my memory.

Jacob and I enjoyed the experience so much that we’re already hard at work planning future in-person events.

We hope you’ll join us at the next one to learn, connect, and share in what makes this community so special.

In the meantime, please feel free to use the comment system under this blog to let us know what you think would make our next events stand out.  We are also open to receiving interesting venue ideas, in America or Europe.

Cheers!

p.s. if you couldn't attend the Signal Processing Summit, the DSP Online Conference is your opportunity to benefit from the same fantastic presentations and more, with full and unlimited access until the August of next year.

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