Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1199133
14 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2020 sold out too. Not only do we market to the lo- cal working community, but we also reach out to local universities and community colleges as well. This year, we added an event in con- junction with IPC and their STEM initiative. The STEM event brought in high school stu- dents in a continuing effort to get young peo- ple who are interested in engineering and math involved now because they're forming opin- ions about where they want to go in the fu- ture. In fact, some of these students are work- ing on STEM projects and programming Ardui- nos even in middle school. It's amazing what is available to young people today. Faucette: IPC coordinated the efforts early with the Wake County STEM High Schools to do this, and we supported them with the logis- tics of having it at this event. During PCB Car- olina, half of the STEM students had a proj- ect where they took a board, mounted compo- nents on it, and did some programming while the other half walked the exhibit floor. Then, they had lunch and swapped activities, which worked out well. Shaughnessy: It's cool that they have to create something. The show also seemed busier this year too. Cosentino: There were over 1,000 people at PCB Carolina 2019, which was a 14% increase over last year. Shaughnessy: I also noticed that most people stayed to the end. Having the evening reception and prize drawing at the end was a good idea. Faucette: Many vendors say that they never stopped talking all day. If there weren't classes going on, there were three or four people deep waiting to talk to you, but if there were classes going on, they were still engaging people con- stantly. You want the traffic to be constant and busy, and that's what it was. Shaughnessy: I talked to three or four vendors who said they couldn't believe they'd never done this show before. Hopefully, we can recruit some new people, which would be good; I also hope they won't all have the same color hair that we do. We need to get some younger people involved. Cosentino: And if he takes over as president, that leaves the vice president position vacant. Faucette: There is also a vacancy in the sec- retary position. The person who was voted in last year had to relocate, and since they're not local, it didn't make sense for them to be part of the RTP chapter, so we have two officer po- sitions open. Cosentino: I am positive we will fill both posi- tions at the January meeting elections. Shaughnessy: How many active members do you have in the chapter? Faucette: We have approximately 30 attendees for a typical RTP Designers Council meeting, and 50–60 members total throughout the year in chapter attendance. Shaughnessy: At PCB Carolina, the show floor was bigger and sold out again. Faucette: Yes. We had 78 exhibitors on the show floor, and 24 vendors on the waitlist, hoping a vendor would have to drop out. The show's popularity is evident. Cosentino: We also had 16 technical sessions, which were all free, and an IPC class. We had two soldering workshops with 24 spots, which Hopefully, we can recruit some new people, which would be good; I also hope they won't all have the same color hair that we do.