IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1543307
28 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2026 realize that, as technical support, I was not to speak until spoken to and under no conditions talk to any potential customers without a sales repre- sentative present. This meant a lot of standing around trying to look interested and alert while, at the same time, remaining in earshot of the various discussions that were going on in case my techni- cal expertise was needed, and to make sure the more eager sales reps were not overpromising what could actually be delivered. By the second day, my feet and legs were kill- ing me from standing all day, and by the third day, I was praying for somebody, anybody, to pose a technical question or problem so I could sit down and relieve my feet and boredom. Needless to say, after a few years I viewed the coming of the show with considerably less excitement and anticipation. Nowadays, to my relief, I can leave show atten- dance to the younger folk, although not without some regret and sadness. It's So Magical It has been common to have some sort of enter- tainment on hand to attract people into your booth, and for the past several years, we have invited a professional magician. He's very good, by the way. I've stood behind him for years, watching closely, knowing it's all pattern and misdirection, and I still can't see how he does it. Some have questioned whether this is worth the expense, but I remem- ber one year when a teacher at a local technical high school brought her junior high school class to the show as a field trip to introduce them to the high- tech world of circuit boards. They were, of course, fasci- nated by the magician and spent a good 15 to 20 minutes coaxing him to do every trick he knew while also looking around our booth. There was some grumbling amongst our staff about wasted time, but about 15 years later, I had a call directed to me by our receptionist from a customer with a technical question. It was a young mechan- ical engineer whose company had a difficult part to manufacture. Funny enough, he had remem- bered his visit to the show with his eighth grade class and recalled the booth with the magician and this etcher thing. That set him to wondering if his part could be chemically etched. I thought it could be, and we directed him to one of our photochem- ical machining customers that was near his loca- tion. They assured him they could make the part and got the order to manufacture it. It was enough new business that they needed to increase their production and ordered a new etch line. It was a relatively small order, but it proves you never know where a sales lead will come from if you attend the show. The Not-So-Model Approach One change probably not apparent unless you have attended the show over a long period of time is "booth babes." It was once common, you see, for many exhibitors to hire attractive young women through a modeling agency to run the desk in the booth. This was with the obvious intention of attracting the attention of the almost 100% male show attendees. Yes, I know that's very sexist, but we didn't know any better at the time. Thankfully, attitudes have changed as the years have passed and there are noticeably more women on the attendees list (although still male dominated) and the women in the booths are there because they know their company's products and processes. However, occasionally someone will backslide and hire a model to be present in the booth. I remember one of our technical sales managers coming back from his first day's reconnaissance of the show, and exclaim with some excitement, "You guys have to see the woman at booth such- and-such. If you want to talk to her, tell her JerBear sent you." What made this memo- rable was that he didn't real- ize that Mrs. JerBear, who had accompanied him to the show that year, had returned from her T H E C H E M I CA L C O N N ECT I O N