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26 PCB007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2025 IPC will host its 25th IPC APEX EXPO with the theme "Reimagine the Possibilities," in Anaheim, California, next month. It will also mark the 68th anniversary of IPC's founding. is year's event brings up many memories of IPC APEX EXPO's past and former National Electronics Packaging Conferences (NEP- CONs). In this column, I would like to share some of the lighter moments from my almost 50 years of exposition experiences—especially those in Anaheim. e first thing that always comes to mind when reminiscing on past show experiences is an earthquake that occurred in the late 1980s at NEPCON West. ere was a low rumbling sound, and the sets, lights, and hanging dis- plays swayed alarmingly. I wondered if I could squeeze under the sturdy, titanium black oxide module we had on display in our booth. is certainly doesn't qualify as a lighter moment but some of the reactions to it were. When the shaking stopped, our West Coast salesperson pointed to the northeast and declared it was a magnitude 2.8 quake with the epicenter near Barstow. He turned out to be almost spot on. I thought if earthquakes were so frequent that people could develop the ability to pinpoint their epicenters, there was no way I would ever live in California. Our Italian rep was so trau- matized he spent the next two nights sleeping in his rental car in the open parking lot. At IPC APEX EXPO 2007, where we cele- brated IPC's 50th anniversary, our booth was directly across from IPC, where they were The Chemical Connection Feature Column by Don Ball, CHEMCUT Earthquakes, Astronauts, and Aquatics: A Lighter Look at the Past Anaheim Convention Center 2007 Buchanan-Hermit, Wikimedia Commons