Engineering Track Poster Gladiator Guidelines

I need an invitation letter for my visa. How do I request this?
International presenters and attendees who need a visa letter should first complete the form and then download a copy of the letter directly from the form.

Do Speakers need to register for DAC? If so, which registration rates are acceptable?

Yes, Engineering Tracks session presenters, gladiator poster presenters, and poster presenters must be registered to present at DAC. Either for the Full Conference or the Engineering Track rate. You may not present at DAC or attend Engineering Track sessions using I LOVE DAC registration rate.

The following guidelines should be followed when preparing your final slides for submission:

• Submissions are limited to 1 title slide and up to 3 content presentation slides*. Please note that the presentation needs to be delivered in about 5 minutes.

• Submissions must be in PowerPoint format: 16:9 aspect ratio.

• Consistent with DAC policy, company logos may appear only on the title slide.

  • Slide 1: Title, presenter names and affiliations

    • Presenters may NOT be added after acceptance, so be sure to list all presenters in the initial submission.

  • Additional slides should include:

    • Motivation -Include an introduction that specifies the context and motivation of the submission. Examples: identify challenges associated with the design task at hand, clarify where in the design process the tools are used, and explain why the problem addressed is of interest to the audience.

    • Main Idea: Include details on the specific contributions of your work. Examples: innovative use of tools to achieve a specific goal, user enhancements to the tool and/or tool flow, dealing with scalability, details of integrating IP, study of design trade-offs, interfacing with manufacturing.

    • Additional Content Slides: Demonstrates value of the paper/idea

    • Evidence

    • Summary: Include a summary that highlights the main results of your work. Results are needed to evaluate the impact of your contribution. Metrics that could be used include productivity enhancement, improved quality of silicon, decreased complexity, and reduced time-to-market.

• Important: Ensure that you have the necessary legal, trademark, copyright, and/or organizational approval needed to submit your presentation. Take appropriate steps to get this approval early, as the submission deadline cannot be extended.

*Note: The expectation is that the final presentation will expand on the original 6 slide submission presentation.

Guidelines and Template for PPT Slides:

• You are required to use the DAC template for all presentations

• ONLY PPT, PPTX, or PDF files are allowed

• Only landscape format may be used

• We do not allow any information in the footer except for the page number. Everything else will just distract from the content of the slides

• Company/University name and/or logo may only appear on the title (first slide) page

• Please note if the presentation guidelines and template are not used in the final pre-recorded video your presentation may be removed from the program.

Engineering Track poster presenters are required to present a poster describing their work (see below for poster guidelines) at one of the hour-long poster sessions and be available for the entire hour to discuss their work with interested attendees. This provides an opportunity for extended discussion with interested members of the audience.

Each presenter is allocated a 42” tall x 36” wide area for a poster. Poster sessions will run for one hour, and may include up to 100 posters. Poster presenters are welcome to distribute additional material to interested attendees at the poster session. Such material can include extended abstracts and whitepapers. Engineering Track Presentation speakers have the option to print their presentation slides for posting, rather than create an additional poster. These slides must still fit in the designated poster dimensions once assembled.

• One poster board is allocated to each presentation.

• Posters must be mounted using push pins provided by the organizing committee.

• The title of your poster should be done in block letters which are AT LEAST 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 inches) high.

• All text must be easily readable from a distance of 1 to 2 meters. Make the lettering at least 1 cm high, smaller lettering will not be legible from a distance of 1 to 2 meters.

• All graphs and charts should be AT LEAST 25 X 30 cm (approximately 8.5 x 11 inches) or larger.

• It is a good idea to sequentially number your materials in the poster. This will indicate to the viewer a logical progression through your poster.

• Provide an introduction (outline) and a summary or conclusion for your poster.

• Please include a copy of the DAC logo at the bottom right corner of your poster.

• Prepare your poster carefully so that it can be used as the basis to explain and answer questions from the viewers.

• Have your business cards available for those who may wish to contact you at a later date.

• Bring along a tablet of blank paper that you may use for a discussion of technical details relating to your poster.

• At one of the hour-long poster sessions and be available for the entire hour to discuss their work with interested attendees. This provides an opportunity for extended discussion with interested members of the audience.

Each submission is required to submit a video presentation along with their final presentation. The pre-recorded video will be used for DAC-TV archives after the event and to be used for Best Presentation Award review process. It is imperative for your video to be submitted on schedule for the Best Presentation Award review process. More information will be provided after the selection of Best Presentation candidates.

• The recording should be 5 minutes long. Audio and slides are required, optional to record your webcam as a thumbnail image (consider this in your slide layout)

• All presenters are required to use the DAC PowerPoint Template and to follow slide presentation guidelines above.

• Final video presentation files must be saved as an MP4. We can ONLY accept MP4.

• Each speaker will have access to an "Upload Your Video" stage in the speaker/paper management system beginning April 15.

• Pre-recorded video presentations are due no later than May 29.

• Once the video presentation is uploaded to the secure site there will be no updates or changes.

How to pre-record your presentation:

• Presentations can be recorded using the following applications:

  • Zoom - https://zoom.us/meetings

    • We recommend you use zoom for your pre-recording

    • Example of how to pre-record using zoom: https://www.learnupon.com/blog/record-zoom-meeting/

  • PowerPoint

    • Example of how to pre-record using Power Point

  • Camtasia - https://www.techsmith.com/video-editor.html

    • Software license fees may apply

• All pre-recorded video presentations are required horizontal (landscape) orientation.

• The audio source needs to be as close to the microphone in an environment that has little or no other noise or echo.

• Use a headset to record your audio to reduce outside noises and review the instructions on how to produce clear and quality audio.

GOOD CLEAR AUDIO and CLEAR EASY TO READ SLIDES are essential

• Record more than one video for review and practice. Take note of your lighting and audio when reviewing your pre-recorded presentation.

It is not uncommon to take more than 2-3 video recordings before the final version. It is required that you review the best practice guidelines before pre-recording.

The Engineering Track program committee consists of industry experts that collectively represent years of design and software development experience. A good Engineering Track presentation addresses innovative tool use coupled with high-quality results. Extra notes are encouraged to be included in the submission. The considerations used by the program committee in acceptance decisions include:

• Significance of results supported by clear, measurable criteria, including, but not limited to: improved quality of silicon, improved reuse, decreased design process complexity, and reduced time-to-market.

• Level of innovation in tool use, e.g., utilizing one tool to obtain results that aid another tool, writing scripts to combine tools, user-facing enhancements, intelligent data management. A submission should not mirror the help section in the tool's user manual, but instead address a creative way of using the tool.

• Ability to overcome design challenges such as scalability, integrating IP, and bridging front-end/back-end gaps.

• Validation of the proposed techniques using real designs, case studies, or established benchmarks.

• Discussion of the conceptual limitations of tools and suggestions for future tool improvement. Solid technical contributions should address both the strengths and the weaknesses of the approach.

• Quality of material including writing, illustrations, and organization.

• Product marketing material is inappropriate for the Engineering Track topics.