Tremendous Week in Nashville!

What a run in the music city for our industry with an amazing BEC and GPAD. Truly a top notch and memorable experience all the way around. So, settle in, this is my traditional extra-long recap that features thoughts and lots of name drops too!  

First up was BEC and I think I can safely say it exceeded expectations. We knew with the lineup that was expertly built by Katy Devlin, Sara Neiswanger and the amazing BEC Planning group, had something special and it truly delivered. A sincere thank you to everyone who presented!

Ricardo Maiz of Vitro kicking things off with humor and then going into so many details, important and crucial items to understand and plan for and around. The audience gained some serious insight. And while they were still taking it all in, Troy Johnson of Apogee Architectural Services (Harmon) stepped on stage and delivered a tour de force of a presentation that had everything and then some. Back-to-back powerhouses. With those guys setting the tone, the rest of the programs just kept delivering and it was awesome. I’m going to hit on more of what we learned here and in the other sessions in future posts because I don’t want it lost in this massive recap. That includes Tom Jackson returning to the stage six years after one of the best presentations of all time and topping it, Matt Aragon and Keith Fine absolutely holding the entire audience in their hands during an amazing one-on- one and an absolutely powerful and extremely important session from Cal Beyer and Dave Argus on addiction and recovery. Unreal!  These and more…

Planning ahead

The overall vibe at the show was one of hope and resilience. While some areas are continuing to report softer conditions others are saying they’re hanging in there and they’re seeing work slide a bit and that’s helped them stave off the potential 2024 blues. Though it is making them wonder what 2025 could look like. Given a bonkers US election coming in the fall, who knows. But without a doubt people who attended this week gained so much critical intel it will allow them to plan much more effectively.  

Networking galore

Obviously, I love the sessions but networking is a major key as well and I was not let down. Unfortunately, because I was running all over the place, I think I saw less people than normal, especially acute since this was the 2nd most attended BEC ever. Regardless I still connected and here we go on the breakdown there. The nicest guy in the industry Tom O’Malley of the red-hot Clover Architectural Products was holding court as always. He’s a staple here and a key for me always to chat up. Art Huard and Shawn McHale of NVOY Architectural had a few irons in the fire there including Art playing a video from TSC that captivated the audience. Always fun to chat Art up after, he’s a riot. Also a riot, Alan Kinder of Guardian Glass who changed the words in the tune “Friends in Low Places” to a more appropriate glass one. That song needs recorded! Seriously though hopefully Alan shares that incredible creativity on his feed. BRILLIANT! 

Got very lucky to catch a ride from the airport to hotel with the awesome folks from Isoclima/Global Security. Krisy Kilpatrick, Trent Thiry and Art Droste are top notch. Was great to visit with Tom Donovan and Lorne Flaig of Thompson Innovative Glass, first time I have seen either in a while and was good to catch up. Tom will be on my podcast soon and I am looking forward to that one. As I always say, the gold standard in the PR game in our industry is Heather West (rhymes with “the best”) so that tracks. I’m always thrilled to get nuggets of insight from her. Ran into old friends Gary Tongco of Harmon and Kevin Roth of Privacy Glass Solutions and super to see them doing so well. Speaking of Harmon, next week I will go into detail but I was afforded a tremendous opportunity by them and one that will be kept into my memory forever, an unexpected awesome outing, next week I’ll break that down.

The talent of the Aragon brothers is ridiculous. Cool guys who just get it. Another guy who gets it and I was super grateful that he reads my blog is Pat Pennington of Kovach. Pat has accomplished a ton out there and continues to crush it. I was blown away when we were chatting along with Cameron Scripture of Viracon. He basically quoted my past blogs where I note Cameron is a Hollywood model. I know folks will tell me they read this but it sure is cool to hear someone who has followed it religiously. Oh, and I have a new one for Cameron. See we had the astonishing Stefanie Couch talking AI and prompts and such. Super learning session too. So, anyway, for Cameron if I asked my AI engine “build me a picture of a person with Hollywood good looks, and knows glass intensely and is insanely cool” I think we’d get a result of a picture of Cameron. 

We potentially had controversy when Salem’s Dapper Dan Reinhart’s luggage was lost by his airline. I was convinced that it was stolen by someone who saw the outfits Dan packed. Thankfully the luggage was found and Dan rocked the style like only he can. Also rocking their style was the dynamic duo of Brandon Bellegarde and Tyler Faulk of The Drafting Marketplace. And they floored me by presenting me with my very own Drafting Marketplace flannel. Stunned. Was super nice of them to think of me. I’m honored.  I got to meet Jeff Heymann of Giroux in person right ahead of their breaking news of their new unitized system. Loved that. Also, from Giroux I got to meet and chat with Rob Carter and Tremain Roseman. I think those two walked away truly wondering what planet I was on. (I was geeking out over Vegas landmarks and stories with Tremain.) 

I did miss seeing Dan Zucchi of Halio. So failed there, but I did meet Sara Barchak of EFCO. She’s a Dr. Pepper person like myself, though she drinks the real stuff while my jam is Diet Dr. Pepper. Priscilla “PK” Koeckeritz of Brin, who along with Heather Pavlas of Brin/Northwest Glass Fab are absolutely impressive people. I did however not get enough time at all with old friends/coworkers Scott Goodman, Mike Dishmon and Dan Plotnick. Quick pass by hellos were it, a bummer for me. Same for the trailblazing legend Michael Spellman and the entire IGE team as well as the glass genius Ian Patlin of Phoenix Architectural Glass + Metal. Too short of time!

I usually only see tremendous talents like Jeff Scalisi of Architectural Glass and Aluminum (AGA) at BEC and this year was no different. And while we’re on subject of west coast superstars the amazing Kendal Rowe was everywhere and just bringing her enthusiasm in full doses and I did get to see Chris Rowe and his perfect hair too. Always a fun show when RoweFen in the house. I must say I was super impressed with the Vitro trio of Andre Kenstowicz, Annissa Flickinger and Emily Losego. Talented, unflappable messengers for our industry. 

I didn’t get as much Texas influence as I usually do, but that could be because I’m speaking in Dallas in April and in Austin in May, so those folks will get their fill. But seeing the legend Sam Hill of Oak Cliff Mirror for a few moments is so valued and I enjoyed meeting Valerie Nagy-Jorgenson of Hartung for the first time in person before I see her at the TGA-NTD event next month.  

GPAD

GPAD by the way was a strong event that allowed more networking to breathe while in-depth sessions really took hold. And as noted above I’ll hit more on all of this in the future but I gotta call out the spectacular Syndi Sim of Diamon-Fusion International.  Absolutely an unreal presentation and enthusiastic style that was hard to match. I also did enjoy chatting with her cohort, Medfly legend Carl Christ on hidden messages in music. From 25 or 6 to 4, to Relax and Roxanne I think Carl will never look at me the same way again!  

The NGA

The team at the National Glass Association were tireless. They’re in non-stop motion to ensure a great time could be had by all. Tremendous venue and vibe and that is thanks to serious due diligence by folks there that always blow me away. It’s an honor to be included in their universe.  

I’m gonna stop here, I know I missed name checking some folks, but I truly enjoyed every communication and I am sure I’ll add some more name nuggets along with the newsy presentation recaps coming in future weeks. 

Next week, I’ll hit the amazing opportunity I had, more from BEC/GPAD, big and kind of confusing news (at least for me) from OBE, and back to the regular happenings of the glass and glazing space. Thanks for reading all of this and supporting me and this awesome industry we all share!

No links or project due to the length of this one!  See you next week!