2014 Americas CLA Summit mini-tracks unveiled

[NATE]

This year's You Call It (aka Open Theme) topic has received a lot of positive response (see Likes and replies here) as well as some valid concerns.  We've now had some time for people to submit presentation ideas and I've begun to group them into "mini-tracks".  I hope that by declaring official mini-tracks I can assuage the concerns previously voiced about this year's Open Theme.  I'm grouping these presentation ideas based on the number of Likes they receive and the summit topics that received the most Likes. So keep voting to help shape the Summit, I really do look at them!

 

Here are the mini-tracks that are perculating for 2014:

• Security
• Frameworks/Software Engineering in LabVIEW
• Integrating TestStand and LabVIEW
  

 

What defines a mini-track?  Good question.  I think the normal expectation people have when they hear the word track is to think "parallel content".  However, the number of presentation submissions and how they align with these tracks will determine if some or all of these tracks occur in parallel or series and are simply grouped together roughly by time.  I think its safe to say we'll have about 3 hours of content for each of these mini-tracks, give or take.  Frameworks/Software Engineering in LV has the most presentation submissions, which I think is fair and appropriate.  As we get closer to January 15th I'll start to really formalize the agenda based on the inputs we've received and available rooms in Mopac C.  I expect we'll have a few parallel sessions, but not full parallel tracks.

 

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!  In addition to these mini-tracks, this year we'll also be having an Embedded mini-summit!  How's a mini-summit different from a mini-track?  I'm glad you asked.  The main difference is this mini-summit is being planned and executed by the NI Embedded team, not by the CLA community.  NI's Embedded team expressed an interest in getting to know the CLA community better, as well as promote the CLED certification.  This mini-summit will primarily be on Wednesday afternoon.  This is an awesome opportunity to increase the value of the CLA Summit (as if it wasn't already smokin' hot), and if you so desire you'll have an opportunity to take a CLED prep class and the 1hr multiple choice portion of the CLED exam (with the expectation that you complete the 4hr practical exam within a year).  Note that you most likely will not be able to take both the CLED(mc) and CLA-R exams at the CLA Summit.  If you are not interested in Embedded, no need to stay for the mini-summit.

 

With these 4 topics and 3 full days of content I think we'll have something for everyone AND get into enough technical depth to learn a thing or two.  And yes, we'll still have time for "round table" discussions, always a popular part of the Summit.

 

If you would like to post questions or comments, please do so here: https://decibel.ni.com/content/message/63785#63785

 

Salutations,

Nate and Michael