BEC is a MUST

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Time for my annual pitch about the value of coming the BEC Conference next month… BUT WAIT… this year I am going to focus it a little differently.  In the past I really played up the networking and deservedly so… this event is off the charts in that area.  Seriously if you don’t believe ask one of the 500+ people who consistently attend.  No this time my focus is on the group of people that the conference is built for… the glazing contractor.  If you are a glazier, you need to attend.  Simple.  The access to 1-1/2 days of targeted educational content that was developed passionately by your peers and the ability to advance your business awaits.  I know many of you are very busy and the thought of taking a few days out of the office is not something you relish, but believe me this is worth it.  Take a look at the agenda.  If you want to learn more and want to talk to a fellow installing company that attends to get more insight, let me know, I’ll broker introductions.  This truly is a conference that deserves your attention.  And as for the non glazier folks out there- obviously you deliver the networking and additional flavor that makes this event complete.  In any case that’s my plea… and while I stand proudly on the fact that I oversaw the largest BEC in history several years ago, I would love nothing more than to see that record shattered…  So check it out and make plans to join your peers March 3 in Vegas.

Elsewhere…

--  I’ve noted here in the past I am not a fan of LEED at all… but I do enjoy stats about the process and the one I always like to run are the top 10 lists of adopters of the program.  This list is for the top 10 states for LEED building in 2018.  This rundown is based on green square feet per resident.  To my surprise the #1 state was Illinois and furthermore #2 was Massachusetts.  I really expected Washington state and Colorado to be 1 and 2 but they were 3 and 6.  I was shocked to see the great state of Texas check in at #5.  I don’t think people associate Texas with sustainable building and obviously those folks are wrong.  The rest of the top ten was Hawaii, Virginia, California, and Maryland. 

--  I am probably alone on this one but it bums me out that movie named “Glass” is a bizarre and intense horror movie.  Plus people use the hashtag #glass on social media and its killing my searches for interesting stories about our industry…

--  With both of my kids now residing in Florida I have had to spend some time here and there in that state and I am floored over the fact that seemingly no one uses turn signals there.  The biggest stunner- I was following a school bus… and the school bus failed to use a turn signal!  A school bus- where signals for safety are the law and huge, yet even this driver failed to throw on his left turn signal.  Insanity….

--  An important post a few days ago from the always-great Kerry Haglund (Efficient Windows Collaborative) on LinkedIn.  She linked to the news from the DOE on 42 million dollars being earmarked for study into innovative building products.  Windows are a part of this.  My sincere hope is that people like Kerry or other organizations that can take advantage of this are involved in the developments.  We’ve seen in the past grants come through the DOE that to me were not put in the best and most capable hands glass wise.  I’ll be following this the best I can and keep everyone updated… and if you are reading this and are involved- good luck and make positive innovations happen!

--  Last this week… I do still try to enjoy the commercials shown during the Super Bowl (Congrats to the Pats fans out there!) but each year the batches get worse.  This year a few were fun and enjoyable but most weren’t.  The oddest one?  Burger King with an Andy Warhol look alike working a sandwich for 30 seconds.  That was 5 million bucks.  Why?  Also while everyone in the media seemed to love the Washington Post spending 10 million for an ad, personally I thought that was a terrible waste of money… Obviously the Post is flush with cash so the whole “please subscribe or we’ll go away” narrative is wrong.    Anyway I guess it is what it is these days- but I’ll at least note the 4 that were solid in my opinion were the Hyundai one with Jason Bateman, Avocado’s, Planters, and Google/Queen.  Time for everyone else to come to the glass industry and steal brilliant marketing brains like Tessa Miller, Mary Olivier, Rich Porayko and so on to get better commercials!! 

LINKS of the WEEK

I know this is for marketing- but wow it is stupid.  So this plus my Burger King comment above shows the fast food world is hurting for good marketers!

Your completely idiotic but viral story of the week

Florida is more than my complaints about turn signal I guess…

VIDEO of the WEEK

By now you know I love the band Queen and I am huge fan of the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” so it’s only natural that once I found this video it would become my video of the week!