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And, this year, since
I am on the 2013 Convention & Meetings Committee, I am getting to see how
the show is run, first-hand. It’s
amazing to see how much work goes into planning for just three days! But literally, the 2014 show was already
being worked on while we were at the 2013 show.
This year’s show is in Las Vegas again, February 4th-6th and one of the things I am most excited about this year in
particular is the co-location of the 2014 IBS with the National Kitchen &
Bath Association’s (NKBA) Kitchen & Bath
Industry Show (KBIS). I’ve always
heard lots of great things about KBIS, but could never justify the budget to go
to both shows. I am just thrilled that IBS
attendees will get the benefit of being able to visit the floors of both shows,
plus the exhibits of a third show, the International
Window Coverings Expo. This new
mega-event is being called Design & Construction Week™ and will have over 1,500 exhibitors
and 600,000 square feet of exhibits.
Wear your most comfortable shoes!
NAHB and NKBA have the vision that Design & Construction
Week will become the place where the entire building and design community comes
together. To that end, they’ve invited
affiliated industry associations to become “supporting organizations.” Those groups will help promote Design &
Construction Week to their members and the leaders of these organizations will
sit down with the CEOs of NAHB and NKBA for the Design & Construction Week
Roundtable, where they’ll discuss shared industry issues. This is the first
time such a group has been brought together.

One of the things I’ve learned as part of being on the
Convention & Meetings Committee is that NAHB has really made an investment
in the education portion of the show in the past two years. Last year, the NAHB Education Committee
whittled down the number of education sessions by half in order to improve the
quality of the sessions. And this year,
in addition to the 80+ new speakers they’ve enlisted for the 2014 show, they’ve
increased the number of advanced-level Master
sessions, added both Spotlight
sessions and a Tech
Hub, to provide an interactive experience that encourages attendees to
“plug in” and participate in the sessions and they’ve expanded the number of
opportunities for show
floor education. They’ve also added
a new area on the show floor, called the High Performance Building Zone, where
you can see live
product demonstrations and a new
education track specifically for Material
Dealers, Suppliers and Specialty Trade attendees. That’s important, because this is a key
audience for the exhibitors and about a quarter of our attendees.
The final thing I love about IBS is the networking
opportunities. Anyone who reads this
blog already knows that I love networking, both social media and
face-to-face. IBS is hands-down the best
networking opportunity of the year for NAHB members and having fun at the same time.
Check out some of these special
events going on during the show that NAHB sponsors. That’s a fraction of the special events going
on during the show, because many exhibitors also host special events. Another networking avenue that NAHB opened up
a couple of years ago was the
Centrals; six building industry niche-specific areas where attendees with
similar interests can share ideas and learn from one another.
I am energized just thinking about all the possibilities in
just three days! I hope you’ll consider
joining me there and making a wise investment in YOUR future!
Submitted by Michael Kurpiel, CGA, CGP
Submitted by Michael Kurpiel, CGA, CGP
1 comment:
nice job east coast Mike! scott
IBS will be huge again.
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