I was hoping that the attendance and participation would come back strong after a below average year in 2007 in Hawaii. This year’s show in Atlanta did bounce back with about 9200 total attendees and about 2500 technical session attendees although this was well below the record numbers set a several years ago. The buzz around the symposium this year was a return to Hawaii in 2016.

Congratulations to the general chairs, Joy Laskar – 2008 International Microwave Symposium General Chair, Jenshan Lin - 2008 RFIC General Chair, and Nick Ridler – 71st ARFTG Conference Chair and all of the volunteers who helped them make this a very successful symposium. The technical program for each conference was very strong thanks to the hard work of the technical chairs Manos Tentzeris – IMS, Tina Quach and Yann Deval – RFIC, Roger Pollard – ARFTG and all those who helped them.

I found the Plenary session very entertaining with a tornado themed video including funny scenes from the Wizard of Oz mixed in with actual photos of the severe damage in Atlanta after the storm. Everyone should be congratulated for working long hours after the tornado to get the convention center and the surrounding community back together in time for the symposium. The techincal sessions were very strong and the technical chairs and volunteers also deserve a big thanks.

I hope everyone who attended enjoyed the show and conference. The Microwave Journal special event was a hit at the Gordon Biersch brewery and we got to see the Celtics win the NBA championship so it was a great night all around (see photo).

For continued coverage of the show, please see our Online Show Coverage through June 27 with videos, news and more. Please let us know your comments and opinions on the show and conference by posting feedback here. See you in Boston next year!

Pat