Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1433652
50 SMT007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2021 convention center, with six to eight recurring participating high schools involved. We will still do a hands-on soldering activity as a track, and students will tour the exhibit floor, but we are reworking the program to utilize the won- derful expertise and knowledge more fully in the industry by connecting students with real people. erefore, we will collaborate with IPC's Emerging Engineers program as part of that. ey will do a roundtable discussion with the students, which will allow all students, in- cluding those not necessarily comfortable with speaking up, to be in a group and ask questions. It's a better way for them to engage, learn, and connect. at will be the focus. We will still do the career panel, and we are securing sponsors. TTM Technology will be the premier sponsor of the career panel luncheon track. We will have career panelists and representatives shar- ing information. Other tracks are supported by Mycronic, Google is a collaborating sponsor, and I-Connect007 is the official media sponsor. We just want a great event that gets students and teachers involved and excited about the in- dustry. Having it both live and streamed is an- other way for us to expand and reach more peo- ple. e IPC board wants us to impact as many students as possible, irrespective of where they are based, and this allows us to do that. Matties: is program started about three or four years ago, right? Gunter du Plessis: Yes. Alicia Balonek and her team did the first one in 2018, with about 50 students participating. When I came on board in 2019, we had 100 students, and doubled it to 200 students in 2020. In 2021, we did two virtual career panels instead of the event. And just yes- terday, we had another one with 389 registered teachers who broadcasted it in their classrooms, so we definitely reached thousands of students. We had great panelists from IBM, Lockheed Martin, Digital Instruments, and General Dy- namics. We had a great lineup of panelists. We are excited to host more panels in 2022. Matties: For those viewing it online, can stu- dents sign up individually, or do they need to go through a classroom? Gunter du Plessis: It doesn't need to be through a classroom. When we hosted a career panel this past February, we had more than 1,000 stu- dents who viewed it because their teachers had registered and broadcast it in the classroom. But we also had individual students from the Philippines, Germany, and more. Some stu- dents woke up bright and early in the morning hours, like 3 a.m., to join the discussion. Matties: Your outreach is great. You've been doing this since 2018. How are you measuring the effectiveness? What impact are you having, and how is the industry feeling that? Gunter du Plessis: Aer every event we conduct a survey, and we see a 99.9% satisfaction rate; Charlene Gunter du Plessis