ATLANTA – UP Media Group Inc. today announced Dr. Eric Bogatin will moderate the industry’s first “chat,” an open question/answer session using pioneering new software developed by UPMG.

The premiere event will be held Jan. 26, from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern time, at Printed Circuit University. The second chat will feature SMT consultant Phil Zarrow and takes place Feb. 2 from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern.

“Chats” refer to moderated question/answer sessions between an expert on a particular topic and any number of parties interested in the subject. Chats are conducted online, and attendees can submit questions privately via email in advance of the chat, or while the chat is live.

Moderators review the questions and choose which will be answered. As questions are answered, they appear online in sequential fashion. After each chat session is over, the transcript is made available for on-demand viewing. Transcripts are also searchable.

To participate, click here.

“PCB Chat is an environment that emulates and captures the essence of online shared group communication without all the chaos of a free-form chat room,” said Mike Buetow, vice president of editorial and production at UP Media Group. “A chat operates more like the end of a presentation, where the audience asks questions of the speaker. It is controlled and systematic, and the moderator has full control over which questions or comments to address, ensuring the chat stays on topic.”

UPMG has invested several months of development work to realize the new software platform for PCB Chat.

Dr. Bogatin is perhaps the leading expert on printed circuit board signal integrity and transmission lines. He has a bachelor’s in physics from MIT, and master’s and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Arizona. He has held senior engineering and management positions at Bell Labs, Raychem, Sun Microsystems, Ansoft and Interconnect Devices. A prolific author, Dr. Bogatin has written six books on signal integrity and interconnect design and over 200 papers, including a regular column in PCD&F. He also has taught over 6,000 engineers over the past 20 years.

PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB and CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY magazines are media partners for the event.