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ELECTRONIC DEVICE FAILURE ANALYSIS | VOLUME 19 NO. 1
26
ISTFA 2016–WOW!
Martin Keim, ISTFA 2016 General Chair
Mentor Graphics Corporation
ISTFA, our yearly International Symposium for Testing
and Failure Analysis, came to a close in Fort Worth,
Texas, on November 10, 2016, and what a great
Symposium it was! ISTFA grew on all fronts—bigger and
better than in previous years. With 795 total attendees,
counting the Symposiumand Expo, ISTFA 2016 hadmore
participants than ISTFA 2015 and enjoyed an 11%growth
over ISTFA 2014. Also, the Expo grew in numbers, with 75
companies displaying their goods and services, includ-
ing three companies that had never exhibited at ISTFA.
To keep up with the demand, twelve booth spaces were
added in the middle of the year; nonetheless, the Expo
floorwas soldout. The Technical Programgrew larger, too,
with a third parallel track added to theMonday afternoon
schedule.
BIGGER, YES, BUT BETTER?
Growing numbers are only one indication of a good
Symposium. Growing numbers show that you valued
your experience in previous years, so you came back.
The numbers show that ISTFA is a good place to publish
your work and that companies on the Expo floor value
coming to ISTFA, meeting you, establishing new contacts,
and setting up or closing business deals. But how did
ISTFA 2016 do on the quality of the program compared to
previous years, soyouwill planonattending ISTFA in2017?
Well, as General Chair I am naturally somewhat biased in
saying that we did well, offering you a great, high-quality
program. There is evidence to back up this statement.
During ISTFA, I took every opportunity to talkwith you, the
attendees, about what you thought of this year’s event, of
ISTFA in general, andwhat we can do better. The feedback
I received was overwhelmingly positive. For example, if
one of the “biggest” negative comments I heard was that
we forgot to provide a return basket for the poster voting
forms, then I am confident in saying we had a very good
Symposium!
As in previous years, the Organizing Committee tried
to improve the Symposium and the Technical Program,
in particular. Of the many changes implemented, there
are three I would like to mention here, and I ask for your
feedback (e-mail me at ). The
first changewas the newprogramelement of invited talks.
Eight presenters were selected by the Session Chairs in
cooperation with the Technical Program Chair for the
purpose of kicking off a selected session and providing
a framework, food for thought, an outlook, or similar
context. How did you like these invited talks? Did they
add value?
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