Last week I had the valuable opportunity to speak at the PCB Atlanta show put on by UP Media in Alpharetta, GA.  The show is designed to serve professionals within the PCB industry by offering technical seminars for further education and by allowing pertinent companies to exhibit in a table-top format.  The show went very well, and I will be writing more about my experience there in the coming few days.
Below is the media portion of my presentation.  It gives a very general outline of the topics I covered and …

by Liam Morris
I have been blessed with the opportunity to speak during the afternoon sessions at PCB Atlanta on October 22.  UP Media has always been very kind to us and have now provided me with this opportunity.
The seminar I will be teaching will be on the topic of marketing yourself using the social media and online tools that are currently available online.  Below is the abstract I submitted when I approached them with the idea.
Are you trying to find a way to stand out among the crowd?  The field …

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the final Wind River – Aerospace and Defense Seminar Series lecture event of the year. It was an extremely informative day of seminars and networking with various vendors within the field of Embedded Systems. Attendees/Exhibitors included GE Fanuc, IBM Rational Software, Freescale Semiconductors, Curtiss Wright Controls, McObject, Aonix, and others.  Two of the seminars I attended were particularly informative and intriguing.
The first was the Industry Keynote speaker, Ken Krieg, former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.  He spoke …

We at HotPCB would like to invite a few individuals/organizations to contribute to HotPCB.com.  This blog seeks to serve individuals in the Printed Circuit Board design, fabrication and assembly industries. It is meant to be a place where interested readers can find articles that pertain to them, although the articles are not always technical in nature.
The more authors we have, the more dynamic and informative the site will be.  I hope that over time we will have about 15 independent contributors who are able to provide a short 250-500 word …

It’s no secret that advertisers have been bombarding the public with provocative ads for years in an attempt to grab the consumer’s attention for just a moment more.  Ford, Proctor and Gamble, Axe, GoDaddy, etc; they have all run campaigns that have pushed the limits, and in most cases, been exceedingly successful.
But would Sex Appeal increase Circuit Board sales??  There are a variety of angles (or curves) that you have to consider.  I welcome you to join the debate in the comments section of this article.  We’re very interested in …

Today is an exciting day for HotPCB.com!  Today marks the first significant promotion of HotPCB.  We were fortunate enough to be contacted by Andy Shaughnessy, Editor of PCB Design 007, and asked to be a guest on the Shaughnessy Report, a weekly audio interview he conducts.   It was a great experience working with Andy, and you can find all of his interviews here. The title of the HotPCB interview is “Grad Brings Fresh Viewpoint to Industry”.  Be sure to check it out!

This is an article designed to be a guide for how to maximize your time at a trade show.  Read the Introductory article here. Since IMS 2009 (International Microwave Symposium) is the next significant conference I will be a part of, it will be the example used throughout these short articles.
For the attendee, there are three distinct aspects of the Symposium that ought to be taken advantage of.  The first is Networking, the second Vendor Qualification, and the third Education.   This first short installment is designed to give you some …

This coming June 7-12 is the International Microwave symposium and Radio & Wireless Symposium in Boston.  A large number of exhibitors will be present and it promises to be a great chance to interact with hundreds of vendors and professionals.  It is likely that I will attend and the hope is to take advantage of the Symposium in the fullest.  In response to my reflection on PCB East, Don Lafferty made a few excellent points concerning the history of trade shows within this industry and the failure of many to …

At HotPCB we’re really to serve those who are involved in the PCB industry, particularly Designers.  In my time talking with various people, I have come to realize that a section dedicated to featuring designers would be a great addition.  The goal is to weekly feature a designer, and to develop an archive of Biographies.
Designers have started contacting me concerning this project, and the enthusiasm is contagious.  Many have asked me to describe how it will work, what type of biographies we are looking for, how it will help them, …

Windows up and Radio off, I made my way towards Waltham, MA this past Wednesday morning.  Silently I attempted to prepare myself for my first trade show.  This was my first opportunity to represent my company face-to-face with potential and current customers.  Having never been to a show, I was unsure what to expect.  Although anxious, there was no fear – just uninformed anticipation for a long day ahead.
It was instantly clear that although competitive, most vendors shared a sense of camaraderie, and were open to talking with me and …