IPC Midwest delivers on its promise - the right time and the right place

Nine months after IPC announced its newest undertaking - IPC Midwest Conference & Exhibition - a new event was born. IPC Midwest took place September 22–28, 2007, at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center, Schaumburg, Ill., with 23 technical conference sessions and courses, 75 standards development meetings, and 122 exhibitors. The questions of whether IPC could build a major regional event in such a short amount of time and - more importantly - if anyone would come, were answered.

"I was very surprised by the volume and quality of the leads we generated compared to a competing show attended in the region the previous year," said Tim Nolte, director of global marketing, BPM Microsystems. "IPC Midwest is the best focused electronics show for the Midwest region for our company. BPM Microsystems is definitely attending next year."

In the eyes of the IPC Surface Mount and Equipment Manufacturers Association and the Board of Directors, IPC delivered on its promise. "Our members asked for a focused, cost-effective, regional event, and we pulled it together for them in less than a year," said IPC Chairman, Jim Herring, president and CEO of Circuit Service Inc. "I'm proud of our staff and, if I may, I'm proud of this organization - IPC didn't shy away from the challenge, and most of all, IPC helped meet a real need expressed by our members regionally. "

Exhibitors like Tyco Electronics and Ekra America were glad for the effort. Nothing is more frustrating to exhibitors than spending time talking to unqualified visitors. "The attendees at the IPC Midwest Show were knowledgeable and focused with active projects and true interest in our exhibits," said Matthew Conway, product manager, Tyco Electronics, Global Application Tooling Division. Steve Hall, president of Ekra agreed, "The IPC Midwest show provided solid show traffic from the six or seven state region and gave us the opportunity to demonstrate our equipment to customers who could drive to the show instead of flying to our facility. This is the right time and the right place for this show and we will get a number of sales directly connected to demonstrations that we did there."

IPC President Denny McGuirk acknowledged the overall success of the event, "This was our first year and it wasn't even planned a full year out. We believe we've made our mark on this market and we will continue to improve on all aspects of the show. We had 1,244 verified attendees at IPC Midwest, and we're committed to building on that for our members." Of the 1,244 verified attendees at the event, 289 also participated in the technical conference, professional development courses and/or standards development meetings.

The 2008 IPC Midwest Conference & Exhibition is scheduled for September 20–25, at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center, Schaumburg, Ill.