Upper Midwest Expo & Tech Forum (SMTA)

Most recent edition: 2026 - Tuesday, May 12, 2026, 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM (US Central)

Venue: DoubleTree by Hilton Minneapolis - Park Place, 1500 Park Place Blvd, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55416, United States

Organizer: SMTA (Surface Mount Technology Association) - SMTA Headquarters; contact Josh King, josh@smta.org, +1 952-920-7682

About

The Upper Midwest Expo & Tech Forum is SMTA's one-day regional electronics-assembly trade show and technical forum for the Upper Midwest, staged in the Minneapolis area each spring (2025 edition: June 25; 2026 edition: May 12). Attendees are process, manufacturing, production, quality and engineering managers plus buyers from the region. Attendance and the technical sessions are free and a complimentary lunch is included; the 2026 exhibitor floor sold out.

2026 program (official agenda)

• 8:30 am - Registration opens
• 9:00 am - Keynote: "The Current Status of Pb-Free Solder Alloys" (Dave Hillman, Hillman Electronic Assembly Solutions LLC)
• 10:00 am - Expo floor opens
• 11:30 am - Complimentary lunch
• 2:00 pm - Keynote: "Building the future of Advanced Packaging: Fan-Out Wafer Level Packaging at scale" (Mark Litecky, SkyWater Technology)
• 4:00 pm - Expo floor closes

Exhibiting

Tabletop booth space (6 ft draped table, electricity, two chairs, attendee list, onsite event guide listing, company sign, lunch). Early registration rates ended April 13, 2026 ($500 corporate member / $700 non-corporate member before that date; $600 / $800 after). The 2026 exhibitor registration sold out; a waitlist was run via josh@smta.org.

Next edition

As of 3 October 2026 no 2027 date has been published. SMTA's official events calendar shows no Upper Midwest Expo & Tech Forum among upcoming events, and smta.org/event/uppermidwest2027 does not exist (it resolves to the events list). The brand remains active within SMTA's regional Expo & Tech Forum series - Guadalajara (Oct 7-8, 2026), Tampa Bay (Nov 10, 2026), Space Coast (Nov 12, 2026), Taiwan (Nov 13, 2026) and LA/OC (Nov 17, 2026) are all scheduled.

Verification

Checked 2026-10-03. Official sources: https://smta.org/event/uppermidwest2026 (date, times, venue, contact), https://smta.org/page/uppermidwest-schedule (agenda), https://smta.org/page/uppermidwest-interested-in-exhibiting (exhibitor pricing and deadlines), https://smta.org/events/ (upcoming calendar, no 2027 edition). Previous edition page https://smta.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1907184 confirms the 2025 edition (June 25, 2025) at the same venue. Venue address and phone from the Hilton official hotel page (mspphdt); coordinates from OpenStreetMap (tourism=hotel, 1500 Park Place Blvd).