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It was nice to be back in Boxboro, Massachusetts, for PCB East 2024. The Boxboro Regency has an indoor atrium with a pool, and it makes a great venue for a trade show and conference. There’s plenty of room, but everything is nearby.
PCB East is definitely on the move. The U.S. Northeast’s annual PCB design and manufacturing show went on hiatus years ago as sister show PCB West continued to expand in Silicon Valley. But PCB East relaunched a few years ago, and it’s been growing each year. Show managers said that attendance at the 2023 show was double that of the 2022 event.
A quick old-timer’s story: About 20 years ago, the Cat Fanciers Association held a kitty beauty pageant here two days before PCB East opened, and the whole building smelled like cats. Everyone was worried that PCB East would smell like cats, but the venue staff had this down to a science. They did a thorough clean-up, and at show time, there was no smell at all. I still don’t know how they managed to do that.
This week, the only beauty pageant involved exhibitors comparing the pretty layouts of their boards. At least 60 exhibitors lined the expo hall; many were fabricators, with a number of EDA tool companies, design bureaus, and material providers as well. The show floor was jammed for most of the day, as were most of the conference classes. The “Free Wednesday” courses did well; Dan Beeker’s free class on field-based design techniques pulled in about 100 people.
PCB East has continued growing since it was relaunched a few years ago. Show managers didn’t have exact numbers yet, but attendance for this year was up over last year. Some exhibitors said they saw far better traffic this year than last year. Everyone liked the free lunch for expo attendees, which is a great strategy: It keeps everyone from leaving the show floor for lunch and getting lost in their emails.
Some industry watchers claim that there are too many trade shows in this industry, but the one-day tabletop shows I’ve attended seem to be doing fine. Shows like PCB East, PCB Carolina, and the SMTA local one-day shows draw attendees and exhibitors from all over the country.
It was a good show, and I ate clams and lobsters with my Shaughnessy cousins, who are all over the Boston area, “like vermin,” as a local designer once said. I’ll be happy to come back next year and do it again.
