Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1058015
64 SMT007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2018 I'm trying to think who else might have been on it. Hickman: I think there was a German equip- ment company. Feinberg: I remember vaguely. Anyway, the point is that it was the first time that there was a committee put together of suppliers. The other thing is that IPC had asked, and we all agreed, was that the only people who could be on the committee were the presidents or CEOs of the companies, which I think there were about a dozen of us. Today's suppliers counsel can include management—not just the presidents or CEOs. The reason for that had to do with making sure the people that were on the committee could make decisions for their company and not have to go back and forth to get approvals. That's the thing that enabled us to put together the EXPO quickly. Hickman: Right. They could make decisions, plus they had the financials to do something if it was required. Feinberg: Exactly. And if I recall correctly, we got together in a separate meeting and did a brainstorming session. I think we spent a whole day on it. Hickman: Yes, I remember that. Feinberg: I'm trying to think what else we talked about, but we did come up with some things that needed to be done. One of the big conver- sations was the expense of doing the major trade show. At that time, the largest trade show in the world was NEPCON in California. Hickman: That was a big deal for us. We weren't getting any value out of it. Feinberg: I know. You guys used to have a huge hospitality suite, and since we were competing with you, we had one too. I don't remember exactly what it cost us, but it was literally tens of thousands of dollars each night. Hickman: Plus the number of people you had to have come to support it. Also, the other big expense was floor space. We were looking to find a way to reduce the floor space so that the cost would be more in line with what we would expect. I think we put some guidelines in place for how much floor space you could have. The equipment guys got so much while the non-equipment guys did not. Feinberg: That's correct. One of the key things we decided we could do in our brainstorming session was put together an IPC trade show so that we didn't have to go to NEPCON in California. We limited the space so that we didn't have to compete with each other in taking thousands of square footage of floor space that wasn't really needed, especially for a supplier of chemistry. We also limited the entertainment. We decided that