IPC announces attendance figures for co-located exhibition and conference

As attendance totals indicate, the first co-located IPC SMEMA Council’s APEX/IPC Printed Circuits Expo/IPC Designers Summit exhibition and conference, held February 24-26, 2004, in Anaheim, Calif., proved to be a wise investment for the show’s exhibitors. IPC—Association Connecting Electronics Industries has announced that the attendance increased 8 percent over last year, from a combined exhibition total of 5,300 in 2003 to 5,700 attendees this year. Additionally, the co-location increased traffic at both shows, with 60 percent of attendees indicating they would take part in the offerings of both the APEX and Expo events. The three-day event attracted 10,200 total visitors (attendees and exhibitors) to the Anaheim Convention Center, which featured 480 companies covering more than 154,350 net square feet of exhibit space. The professional development courses welcomed nearly 1,300 participants and 1,100 people attended the technical conference. "As the numbers indicate, IPC’s first co-located APEX, Expo and Designers Summit was a resounding success. The feedback we received overwhelmingly supported IPC’s plans to continue hosting one annual show for all facets of the electronics interconnection industry," said Denny McGuirk, IPC president. "Based on the positive comments from our exhibitors, it’s evident that the industry is on the road to recovery and we anticipate an even more successful event next year." Wendy Stallman, corporate communications manager at Electro Scientific Industries, concurred with McGuirk: "The quality of attendance at this year's event shows that the market is turning around. It's refreshing to see that people are beginning to make purchases again for existing equipment, and that they are beginning to embrace new process technologies, such as embedded passives." Next year’s co-located show will take place February 22-24, 2005, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. Source: PCBnewsline