Love it or hate it: we EMC engineers and researchers probably cannot live without equations. I start my message with a simple pseudo-equation:

60 + 9 == 2018

"Sixty" tells that 2018 will mark the 60th version of the IEEE International EMC Symposium; "nine" informs that it will be the 9th version of the Asia-Pacific EMC (APEMC) Symposium. During 14 to 17 May 2018, these two symposiums will come together to offer a joint IEEE EMC & APEMC symposium in Singapore.

Here, I purposely use a photo of mine taken at the 2005 IEEE EMC Symposium in Chicago, not because I want to show a ten-year-younger face of mine, but because it was my first IEEE EMC Symposium experience that is just not easily forgotten. When was yours? More than fifty years, twenty years, ten years, or one year ago, or not yet.

If your answer is yes, I say thank-you and please continue following the IEEE EMC Symposium to Singapore in 2018. If your answer is no, then I strongly encourage and warmly invite you to Singapore in 2018 for a joint EMC symposium --- it is a perfect chance to experience two flagship EMC symposiums in one place.

Internet makes the virtual distance between us within just a click of a computer mouse. An email probably travels faster than you walking to a colleague a few cubicles away. We may be indulged in a virtual or cyber comfort zone; at the same time, we may have unabated hungers for traditional face-to-face interactions.

The EMC symposium is such a once-in-a-year chance for us to step out of our virtual comfort zone and have face-to-face interactions using our common language of EMC. Specifically for EMC engineers, researchers, and managers in Asia, the 2018 joint EMC symposium will provide a chance that is once in 34 years or merely twice in 60 years of the IEEE EMC Symposium.

Every EMC conference is a story --- a story made by you, of you and for you. You, the authors and presenters, are primarily the protagonists. The international steering committee and the technical program committee are directors and editors. The organizing committee is dedicated to set up a stage for you, while sponsors and exhibitors add another dimension to the story. All of us come together and work together to make the story ever stronger.

Well, actions speak louder than words.

Actions from me and my team:

·       To invite or convince as many of you as possible to join the 2018 EMC to make a strong  EMC story;

·       To provide a rich and interesting program covering both technical and non-technical activities;

·       To firm up an affordable registration package;

·       To offer enjoyable social events for you to mingle with peers;

·       And many others.

Actions from you, for example,

·       To mark the dates of the symposium (14-17 May 2018) in your calendar;

·       To plan ahead for a paper, a talk, a special session, a workshop/tutorial for the symposium;

·       To participate as a sponsor or an exhibitor;

·       To set a SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bounded) goal for attending the 2018 EMC;

·       (I am sure you have your own list ……)

Last but not least, I wish to thank Prof. Er-Ping Li, the founder of the APEMC, without whom the 2018 joint EMC symposium would not be possible. About five years ago, Prof. Li took the lead to bid the 2018 IEEE International EMC Symposium and successfully brought it to Asia. Very luckily, Singapore is eventually able to host the 2018 Joint IEEE EMC and APEMC Symposium.

Together with the Symposium President Prof. Er-Ping Li, General Co-Chair Dr. Bruce Archambeault, and the symposium organizing and technical committees, we welcome your ideas, suggestions and feedbacks to make our story of the 2018 joint EMC much stronger and more enjoyable. You may drop me a line anytime at liuex@ieee.org

See you in Singapore during 14-17 May 2018!