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50 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2018 successful at their jobs. So, flex circuit design, signal integrity issues, wearables, printed elec- tronics, impedance and tools that merge elec- trical and physical design are just a few of the areas that the programming will cover. Then, we have the technical conference, which offers the industry's most stringently- vetted program available. We have more than 80 papers this year, and they're measured against strict requirements by a panel of indus- try experts. We want to make sure we have the latest research and innovation available from the subject matter experts in the areas of board fabrication, design and electronics assembly. The content that the attendees will be expe- riencing at this show is completely unique to IPC APEX EXPO. We've been careful to craft the conference so that similar topics don't overlap to help attendees maximize their time and effort. A few of the highlights include PCB fabrication reliability, assembly reliability, and then voiding and developments in the assem- bly of bottom termination components. The Design Forum will be going on concur- rently and will feature distinguished experts from the design community. They'll be deliver- ing design-focused education on some topics, as well as sharing priceless and timeless les- sons learned. They'll be presenting practices in Industry 4.0, including IPC-258 1, emerg- ing ECAD and MCAD, designing for flexible circuits, as well as circuit board design and mis- takes you can avoid. Those are some of the top- ics that will be presented there. We will have buzz sessions again, with a mark et outlook buzz session, as well as IPC standards updates and environmental legislation updates. We're trying to make sure that people in every stage of their career can be successful by coming to IPC APEX EXPO. There will be sessions for early career that we would rec- ommend, things like PCB fabrication, voiding, bottom termination components, PCB surface finish reliability, things like that. Then, for those in mid or later career, some of the ses- sions they might benefit from would be the wearables, printed electronics, emerging tech- nology, SIR corrosion, and some of the reliabil- ity issues with dispensing jetting, etc. The whole show continues to grow every year, which I'm very pleased with. Frankly, the industry's been doing very well this past year. We're excited about that because typically the show follows the viability of the industry. We expect the show to grow right along with it this year. One of the two annual IPC board of direc- tors' meetings will be held right before APEX EXPO, so you should see the majority of the IPC board members in attendance. Goldman: Will there also be award ceremonies? Mitchell: Yes. At the Tuesday luncheon we will have the official IPC annual meeting, and then for the Monday and Wednesday luncheons we will have the industry awards ceremonies. We just can't get them all done in one lunch. When you have thousands of volunteers, it's a good problem to have, right? Goldman: Exactly. At the Tuesday annual meet- ing, will we be electing any board members? Mitchell: A new member of the executive com- mittee—a new secretary/treasurer—will be put forward at that time. Actually, all of the executive positions will be renewed because Joe O'Neill will just have finished his two-year term as chairman. He would move to immedi- ate past chair and there would be subsequent shifts in the other positions, if tradition follows. IPC APEX EXPO 2018 PRE-SHOW SPECIAL COVERAGE