How to Convince Your Supervisor That You Should Attend SC20
As a week-long event held in different cities every year, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis, known as SC, provides one of the best opportunities for computer scientists, engineers, network experts, and other HPC researchers from academia, government, and industry to gather and assess the state of the field.
The sheer size and depth of the conference means that a trip to SC likely will require some face time with your manager, to explain how and why attending is worth it for you and for your organization.
Now that SC20 has gone virtual, here’s our top five reasons to attend SC20 that you can use in your appeal to your manager.
1. Full Program
Just as past in-person SC Conferences have been the largest annual gathering of high performance computing, networking, storage, and data analytics professionals, the SC20 Planning Committee has worked tirelessly to bring the broad range of content you’ve come to expect from every SC.
2. Reduced Costs
We’re all disappointed that we aren’t able to come together as a community in the beautiful city of Atlanta, but on the bright side, you can still experience the full breadth of SC’s valuable learning experiences without having to pay for travel and housing, and the registrations fees for SC20 have been greatly reduced to boot.
3. Experience More
While it can be exhilarating running from session to session in a vast convention center, the sheer size of SC and breadth of its content sometimes makes it a challenge to attend everything on your list. As long as you register by December 7, you’ll be able to go back and watch the material you might have missed through the virtual event portal – for six months!
4. Virtual Exhibits
The virtual exhibit hall will be full of the top companies showing off their newest technologies and latest discoveries. There will be opportunities for one-on-one chats, giveaways, on-demand booth sessions, a product showcase, and more. And don’t miss the SCavenger Hunt, available through the mobile app – this will be a fun way to connect with participating exhibitors and win prizes.
5. Share Your Knowledge
State of the Practice Talks will offer material for every level of your business or computing center, from Sysadmins and Education & Outreach professionals to Programmers and Cybersecurity practitioners. Invited Talks will cover cutting-edge and diverse topics including the end (or not) of Moore’s Law, trustworthy modeling, biodiversity, AI, machine learning, and more. The knowledge you bring back from your SC experience can help propel your organization to new levels of greatness.
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Charity Plata, SC20 Communications Team Writer
Charity Plata provides comprehensive editorial oversight to Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Computational Science Initiative. Her writing and editing career spans diverse industries, including publishing, architecture, civil engineering, and professional sports. Prior to joining Brookhaven Lab in 2018, she worked at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory primarily within the Advanced Computing, Mathematics and Data Division.