If you know me at all, you know I’m not likely to call you. I’m going to email you, perhaps even send you a text message. I also work from home, so while many of you “know” me, you probably don’t see me often, if we’ve even met face to face. This usually works fine, given the nature of the industry and what I do (isn’t it my personal duty to support the electronics industry at all costs? Hello, new toys for me!). Sometimes it takes something big, like this week’s IPC Midwest show, to remind me of the joys of real human contact, minus all the bleeps and bloops of modern conveniences.

There’s a lot to take in at a show like IPC Midwest, especially for a relative newcomer like me (three shows and counting!)—new products to see, contacts to make, committee meetings, forums, luncheons... In my short time at the show this week, I know I wasn’t able to do everything, but I sure did my best. And the personal experiences are what really hit home when I reflect on my past few days.

Now, maybe I set up some of these meetings via text message, and I’ll probably follow up via email, but in person I was finally able to meet Mark Finstad, one half of our Ask the Flexperts team (and co-author of our Tech Thoughts blog), who shared years of personal industry stories with sales manager Chris Wilson and me. Chris and I were able to collaborate with our new associate publisher, Darryl Seland, in person. We met a group of younger attendees, eager to push the industry to new levels, and checked in with some industry veterans, full of knowledge and experience.

How often is it that you get such a wide range of like-minded individuals in one place, all making actual human connections? I suspect it’s not often, especially for me personally, and I so appreciate the few opportunities like this that I get. Almost makes me nostalgic for the pre-email, pre-IM, pre-Facbook days, when you HAD to work together, in person. Almost.

Nevertheless, now I feel refreshed, satisfied, and full of new knowledge—and ready to crawl back into my electronics cave, with my laptop and texting thumbs ready to go. SEE you all in a few months!