GlassBuild America 2016 is now in the books and it truly did
not disappoint. The combination of a
great economic climate and well organized trade show made for three incredible
days for our industry. There’s a lot to
cover so here goes…
First this show once again proved that these events
work. The networking is huge and the
education crucial. Missing it is simply
not an option. One of the overall
takeaways was that people are either expanding their equipment needs, upgrading
them or both. The action at all of the
machinery booths was impressive. And
keep in mind the Las Vegas show is not really known for its equipment set up-
that’s the Atlanta one- so this really was a big happening. The diversity of products
on the floor was strong. One glazing company
owner told me of a story about seeing a process at GlassBuild that solved on
the spot a major product need he had- and he no idea it existed until he saw it
at the show. That was awesome. Also software options for every aspect of our
industry really took a step forward this year in my opinion. Overall attitude of the attendees was
positive and the exhibitors really raised their game this year with even more
booths that were eye catching and smart.
More on that below. If there were
any concerns it was the upcoming election, the circus that it is, and the
potential negative effect on the economy, but that was it. Last on this… the rumor mill was surely
churning, some massive moves will most likely be busting open in the next
several weeks, though with our industry you just never know. But that added some more spice to it all….
So as I do every year, here’s some thoughts on what I liked,
who I saw, who I missed and more…
-- Liked the LAMATEK approach with their booth a ton. They went with the “voting” theme and it was
smart and creative. Also liked Smart
Builder offering free cups of coffee.
Speaking of beverages, so many exhibits had beverage service and party
like atmospheres, who needed an expensive Vegas club? I thought the Vitro/PPG booth was
outstanding- Rob Struble continues to be one of the sharpest guys in our
industry. And I have to give props to
everyone who did a great job being social on twitter but special recognition to
Fenetech and their program. Really fun
stuff there and kudos to Ron Crowl and team.
And once again the team from Salem Distributing rocked the best shirts,
that’s becoming old news… but a special mention to Paul Knadler of Arizona
Shower Doors who had a shirt the same color as my crazy media vest. That one was something to see!
-- From the people side…
I saw so many people that I had not seen in years that it was really
cool. My past lives were all intersecting
constantly. The most fun was seeing Mike
and Joyce Cully of United Plate Glass.
Unless I am crazy the last time I saw them is when they came to my
wedding… in 1994! That was cool and
neither of them has aged a day. Also
seeing past coworkers like Tom Olson, Joe Marini, Jeff Kirby, Wardi Bisharat,
Mike Dishmon, Kevin Heim, and of course the great Dave Michaeli (you know the should
be NFL hall of famer if his knees held up) was incredibly cool. Amazingly they were all nice to me too after
all these years… Speaking of nice- hard to top people like Stanley Yee of Dow
Corning and Urmilla Sowell of GANA, just good folks for sure.
-- It was a miracle to see Michael Frett of MyGlassTruck.com
after he had the most adventurous trip in- the story so amazing; it needs to be
saved for another post!
-- I always enjoy running into folks like Tom O’Malley and
getting updates on his world- good to hear that Clover Architectural is doing
super out there. Tom Herron of NFRC is a gentleman and I give him tons of
credit for putting up with me always whining, complaining etc. I rarely get to
see the folks from Glass 3 Enterprises, but when I do it’s always a
pleasure. Good to see Paul DeGray who
probably hopes I never pick the Rangers to win anything ever again. And speaking of sports I am happy for guys like
Mark Silverberg who’s Indians are in the World Series. Catching up with Mark was overdue and quite important
to me.
-- Meeting new people at these events is also a high for me and
this time there are two of note… Bill
Pollock of Northwest Glass in Montana chased me down and introduced himself. That was incredibly nice. Also new for me was Tony Montez of Montez
Glass. What an impressive guy and fun to
catch up on the world of glazing in Northern California. Though Tony noted he’s never read my blog, so
that means I need to work on adding audience in the west obviously!
-- I also love other marketing and PR style folks that are
crazy talented. So getting to see my
good friend Rich Porayko doing his thing at the highest level was a pleasure. Shawn Donovan is always ahead of the curve,
so getting to just chat with him for a few minutes was tremendous. Heather West is one of the best in her craft,
so catching up with her is meaningful to me in hopes that her talent may rub
off on me some day!
-- I missed a ton of people since the show was so busy. People that I wanted to see and chat with
like the great Shelly Farmer of SC Railing and of course good pal Garret Henson
of Viracon. Hopefully next time I’ll get
to run into you guys. I would’ve also
liked to have seen rep extraordinaire Margaret Brune but missed her too as well
as the folks from Gardner Glass Products.
I got to see old pal Jim Ventre for a split second, but not long enough
to catch up that is for sure.
So we put this one into the books and now looking forward to
the next… and time to keep moving our business and industry forward!
LINKS of the WEEK
Fun story on millennials that have never had a Big Mac
(supposedly)
I have heard about this a lot- a deceased persons Facebook account comes alive.
Florida is known to have the most head scratching stories
out there. Rolling Stone magazine came
up with this years- Top 10…
VIDEO of the WEEK
So I know many people record themselves while driving. This guy does it so he can practice his
singing. But when he hydroplaned… well
that was interesting…
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