A Two-day National level Workshop @ ACE
A two-day national level workshop on MULTILAYER PCB DESIGN and MIDDLEWARE TECHNOLOGIES was conducted in Ace Engineering College on 18th and 19th December 2009. The workshop was organized by the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering and the Department of Computer Science of the college. The whole point of organizing this workshop was to bring awareness of the boom in the PCB making industry and that it is one area where the prospects of getting employed and making headway success is relatively more.
Preparations for the workshop started from as early as the last week of November. The workshop was mainly for the faculty of various colleges from all over the world and preparations for such a kind of event had to be spot on, and thankfully they were devoid of any kind of hiccups that might have occurred if not for the fluid management of the organizers. The workshop was originally scheduled to take place on the 11th and 12th of December, but due to the Telangana bandh it was postponed to the 18th and 19th of December 2009. The workshop was conducted two days prior to the re-opening of the college and as a result of it not many students turned up for the event. In fact, only 30-35 students turned up to the college on the day of the program.
“I was in my native place when the workshop was being conducted as the holidays were going on, so I had to give it a miss” says Srikanth of E.C.E 3rd year. A lot of other students too had a similar predicament as most of them were either out of town or were still in a ‘holiday’ mood to take part in the program. “I wanted to come to the college on 18th, but my friends had already booked tickets for the movie ‘Avatar’ and who on earth would prefer to attend the workshop to a movie like ‘Avatar’” says Shyam, a 3rd year student with a roguish grin. Indeed, the only dampener of an otherwise nearly faultless program was the absence of the students and it lacked a bit of luster without the usual attentive and enthusiastic faces in the crowd while the workshop was in progress.
The Chief Guest presiding over the event. Credits:Insanity Personified
The college wore a festive atmosphere from 16th December onwards with preparations going on in full swing for the upcoming event. The student volunteers from the respective associations made sure that no stone remained unturned in making sure that the event was a success. 18th December dawned as a beautiful day and the volunteers were seen to be frantically making last minute arrangements before the program commenced. All the participants taking part in the workshop were transported to the college in the college buses at 9.30 a.m. The registration process lasted for a full half an hour where the participants were registered and presented with a bag containing a few notebooks, pens and other stationery along with a lunch coupon.
The program commenced in the seminar hall of the College at 10.00 a.m. Prof.K.Subbarangaiah, Director, VEDA IIT was the Chief Guest and Dr.S.Ramachandran, Prof.CSE,OU was the Guest of Honor on the day-1 of the program. The Principal of the college Dr.S.Venkatachalam and the General Secretary Prof.Y.V.Gopala Krishna Murthy also adorned the dais along with the chief guest and the guest of honor. The program commenced with a prayer song sung by Ambika Rani of 3rd year E.C.E. The lighting of the lamp followed it and then the principal, who also presided over the event, introduced everyone to the objectives and the aim of conducting this workshop. The General Secretary and the other dignitaries also addressed the gathering, emphasizing the need to think out of the box to survive in this competitive world.
Little time was spent on the speeches by the dignitaries and the gathering was dispersed for a tea break after which the participants for the Multilayered PCB designing were asked to assemble in the seminar hall itself while the participants for the Middleware Technologies were made to congregate in a classroom in the 1st floor of the college. The tutors were quite experienced and the workshop was a total success with respect to its objectives. Lunch was served at 1.15 p.m. and the meals were a total contrast to the usual ‘luncheons’ at Ace Engineering College. “If the lunch at the canteen was as good as the lunch served today, then there’s no stopping a 100% attendance to the college from my side” says Pavan Kumar Reddy, a 3rd year student after an unusually good meal in the college premises. The tutorial resumed at 2.00 p.m. sharp and the tutors remained as impeccable and spot on as ever. The second session carried on till 4.15 p.m. with a tea break at 3.00 p.m. The day-1 of the workshop concluded with session 2 and the participants left the college on a high after attending exceptionally good tutorial sessions.
The college buses advertising the event. Credits:Insanity Personified
Day-2 of the program began on a rather promising note. After being part of a stupendous workshop/training session on day-1, the participants were more than eager for the session-3 to kick start. The tutors did oblige them by making the session even livelier by practically demonstrating the working and construction of the multi layer PCB. The representatives from the company ‘CADENCE’, Bangalore tutored the actual working of the software and clearing any sort of query in a most patient manner. The same routine was carried out even on the day-2 as on the previous day. Finally, at 4.30 p.m. the entire workshop for multilayered PCB was wound up and all the participants of the workshop, irrespective of the branch were congregated in the seminar hall for the Valedictory function. The Chief Guest for the day-2 was Sri Rayyappa Mayakunthala, Director, NETENRICH and the Guest of Honor of the day was Sri R.VInay Kumar, Director, Delegate Technologies. Like the day-1, the Principal and the General Secretary adorned the dais with the chief guest and the guest of honor. The Chief Guest praised the college management for coming up with such a brilliant workshop and expressed his wish to see more of such events in the future. The guest of honor livened up the crowd by giving genuine real life examples of people who made it big in their life by treading paths which others had not dared to. The Chief Guest and the Guest of Honor were then presented with mementos and participation certificates were handed over to the participants. The participants were then asked by the Principal for their feedback and a few of them went on to the dais to express their opinions and also provide the principal pointers about the kind of changes that could be made and the shortcomings if any. The national anthem was played as the evening drew to an end.
On the whole, the workshop was a total success with only a very few minor lapses. “Rarely have I seen a more organized and a disciplined event from a college that’s only 3 years old” were the exact words of the chief guest while commenting on the way the college had conducted the whole program in such a professional manner. His statement throws light on the amount of hard work put in by the students and also the staff members in ensuring that the whole event was carried out without a hitch and to see that it was a grand success which it was.
