MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The SMTA announced today that the highly respected SMTA International Conference and Exhibition will be held in San Diego, CA on October 4-8, 2009. The SMTA Board of Directors felt that to meet the needs of all members it was important to periodically have a presence on the West Coast. The plan for the immediate future will be to alternate SMTAI between the East and West Coasts. SMTAI 2008 will be held in Orlando, FL on August 17 -21. Planning is also underway for SMTAI 2010 to return to Orlando.

The 2009 SMTAI Conference and Exhibition will be held under one roof at The Town and Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego, CA. SMTAI will continue to offer the same strong conference and exhibit floor – featuring equipment as well as materials and services – focused exclusively on the electronics assembly industry.

JoAnn Stromberg, SMTA Administrator, said that the move to San Diego in 2009 is going to be a win-win situation for those who have attended SMTAI in the past and those who have not. “We hope that the people who have grown accustomed to attending the conference in both Orlando and Chicago will join us in San Diego for this focused conference and exhibition,” Stromberg said. “In addition, we hope that there will be new attendees who have not attended due to travel time or budget constraints. San Diego will offer us the opportunity to expand our attendee base, and attract some new people to both the conference and the exhibition.”