A few months ago I signed up for some ST in person training sessions. The ST technology tour, and the new STMG0/Cube Mx training. One was Tuesday and the next was Thursday, it was going to be a great week! I was incredibly excited for the seminars but on the other hand, the closer the event got, the more questions I had.
How early should I arrive? Whats the power situation like? I couldn't find anything online, no blogs, no reviews. So I thought I'd write a quick post about the events. I can't speak for every ST event, I'm simply sharing my own experience, so keep that in mind if you ever head to one of these events.
2019 ST Technology Tour
Where to begin? Well, the event was hosted at the Marriot hotel in Anaheim. Registration started at 8:30AM and the sessions at 9AM. I had my eye on the "Mems sensor and STAlgo Builder" starting session. All the literature said sessions were on a first seated basis and seats were limited. Understandably, I was a little worried there wouldn't be any seats so I arrived extra early, luckily, check-in was open a little early. Much to my surprise you didn't have to sign up for any one session, you could go to any class at any time (subject to seating), very informal. From what I overheard at the registration desk I wasn't the only one who thought this.
The main ballroom had vendors with various displays showing off products they made as well as ST demos that showed some of the technologies we'd be using. There was water and coffee, as well as some light snacks. I was talking to a few others there and they said ST always feeds you (warning: your mileage may vary), another pleasant surprise.
The first session
9AM rolled around and they opened the doors to the difference rooms. I walked into the hands on session. I'm happy to report there were plenty of power strips for laptops, rendering the extension cord and power strip I brought a bit redundant. I figured better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. ST also provided flash drives with the software and presentation we would need for the session. We were given the drives along with any hardware we would need. So we had everything we needed even a temporary week long license for Keil uVision. There was one presenter and at least one other ST employee to help us get things set up. While our machines installed software the presenter would tell us about the products and software we'd be using. And finally we began coding. Every hands on session both at the tech tour and hands on training followed this same format.
The session itself was great, we were given STM32F476 nucleo boards along with "Motion MEMs and Environmental" expansion board and the ST algoBuilder software. We did a few quick demos with the accelerometer inc, plotting values, making a peak detector, and doing an FFT.
Lunch Break
True to what I heard lunch was provided. It was actually a very healthy and respectable lunch. Salmon, soup, salad, fruits, vegetables and a grain option (quinoa, or rice), as well as a few deserts. They even had gluten free brownies in case that was a concern. I think the meal was very accommodating and healthy. They also had tea, water, coffee and a few other drinks. There was also time to walk around to the exhibits again.
The Second Session
I was a bit torn between which session to attend. Over lunch I went into the exhibit area and asked some of the ST staff what the topics would be about. There were demos set up so they could give a good idea of what we would cover in the next sessions. I eventually chose the bluetooth low-energy session. Same as before: flash drive with software, presentation as we installed, then hands on. This was a really quick session, lots of information and lots of ST personnel to assist us all.
Overall it was a really great experience and I'm so happy I went. I met a few really nice people. It was a very high energy day. The presenters really instilled excitement in me for the new products and possibilities from ST.
STM32G0 and STM32 Cube MX Hands On Seminar
Well this time I took pictures, so that will help. This Thursday event was at the Marriot in San Diego. Unlike the tech tour there was only one event; there was no need to worry about your class getting filled up and not having a seat. Unlike the tech tour we were mailed all the installation instructions before hand to set up our systems. The session started at 9AM, but starting at 8AM you could go in and get help setting up your system.
But even so, just the same as the tech tour (you'll hear this a lot, in fact, assume everything is like the tech tour unless stated otherwise) we were given flash drives with all the installation files and presentations. Much easier than downloading things form the hotels complimentary wifi. There were a lot of familiar faces here, looks like I wasn't the only person who went to both the Anaheim and San Diego event.
There were some fruit slices and drinks available after sign in. The room was much more crowded than my previous but the flow was the same:
give installation files and instructions
go over presentation and overview
get into programming and hardware demos
We were . Plenty of outlets to charge your laptop and a decent amount of table space to spread out. There were a lot more people to help with this session, which was great because the system configuration was more involved than the other session I attended.
I went for the hands on demo, but the presentation really got me excited about the new STM32G0 hardware. It was very well put together. I'm really excited for this chip and it's possible applications. Low power, simplified board design (all the power rails are derived internally so you only need one input), but still lots of flexibility like the larger cortex M4 devices.
The hands on sessions were great. we started with the ubiquitous "blinky" project, and moved on from there using timers, interrupts, and other peripherals. As a relative newbie to the STM32 family I greatly benefited from these projects. Learning more ways to configure the chip and the true power of the STM32 Cube environment for choosing parts and initializing them. There's even a way to estimate battery lifespan and power usage. It's a really powerful tool. We learned multiple ways to program and debug chips both on our own boards or using the eval/demo ones. There was so much good information, I'm am so happy I went.
I really congratulate the presenters for being able to keep a huge class of 60+ people together and making sure everyone succeeded along the way.
Lunch
Another healthy meal options of fish, pork, chicken, soup, then veggies, grains, salad, desserts drinks. Another great meal, it may sound like a small thing, but having food in the hotel made life much easier than trying to find food at a nearby restaurant in an unfamiliar place.
Unlike the tech tour we were able to leave our laptops and belongings in the presentation room. Someone was there to watch our stuff with a "no hardware leaves the room" policy. Logistically this wasn't an optino at the tech tour since you could change rooms several times throughout the day. But it was nice not carrying my laptop around.
After Lunch
Nothing too notable to report here. We just continued on with more labs. This whole day was just chock full of knowledge and now thankfully so am I.
Overall Impressions and Last Thoughts
The sessions were great. A few things I forgot to mention:
There was WiFi available
You were able to keep all training materials and products
Presentations were emailed out (at least for the tech tour)
There were more demos in the presentation files than we covered in the sessions. Which was great and makes it easier to pick up the hardware and start using it again later
in addition to hardware and software they also gave USB cables to connect to the MCUs, so you really just needed your laptop and harddrive space to participate
Parking was not free to the general public at these locations, but ST validated parking so it was free for anyone attending the events
These sessions were really rewarding. and a ton of fun, not to mention all the free stuff I've amassed from the sessions. Hopefully, this info can help someone a little bit.
Here's all the products I received at the events.
ST32F476 Nucleo board, low-cost cortex M4 development board. Has all the MCU pins avaliable for easy prototyping
BlueNRG-Tile Cortex M0 MCU with a ton of sensors on a round PCB. The back has a slot for a standard CR2032 battery for deployment. As if that wasn't enought this board supports Bluetooth low energy mode
Motion MEMs and Environmental Nucleo expansion board: this board has almost as many sensors as the blue NRG, but no MCU. Instead you plug it into the nucleo boards (like an arduino shield or Raspberry Pi hat).THis works with both my M4 and G- boards
STM32G0 board, cortex M0 MCU. the newest low power offering from ST
various cables and flash drives
Comments