NRCA's annual convention and IRE | As I was saying …Bill Good
It's now been three years since NRCA made the strategic decision to sell
its trade show and related educational conferences to Washington,
D.C.-based Hanley Wood LLC, so it's fair to reflect for a moment
and ask whether the deal has been a good one.
When NRCA's
leadership made its decision, it did so with cautious optimism,
expecting the show to improve and NRCA to devote more resources to core
member services.
Here's what has happened: During the first three Hanley Wood
years, attendance at the International Roofing Expo (IRE), as it
now is called, has grown almost 50 percent. Exhibit space sales
have grown more than 25 percent. Educational programs at the event
have increased from about 20 to 50, with substantially higher
attendance. Attendee evaluations indicate improvements not only in
quantity but quality.
To be sure, we at NRCA confess to having moments of
seller's remorse. Because Hanley Wood approaches the event
differently from the way we did, we like to think we could do some
things better or that some growth would have happened anyway. The
reality, of course, is that's not likely. Hanley Wood has done a
great job and deserves...
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