From the fabricator: It's show time!

Finally, after months and months of buildup, GlassBuild America is here. I have attended this show pretty much every year since I started in the industry (even when it was just the “glass show”). One of the taglines for the show is “the place where the industry meets,” and it is so true. Every facet of our world is represented. Heck, even press that usually ignore it for 362 days of the year cover it like crazy for three. It is where business gets done, innovation is on display and networking takes over. And it’s finally here…

Elsewhere from GBA…

• From the show floor, I’ll have sporadic posts on my own blog, but the major recap will come next week. In the meantime, the coverage from Glass Magazine will be top notch (as always), along with the live tweets from show organizers at Twitter.com/GlassBuild. So whether you are attending or have to stay home (I have a few friends regretfully staying home to tend to major business items), you can still follow all the action online.
• If you are coming and I haven’t met you yet, please by all means, if you see the chubby bald guy wearing a striped shirt and media vest, stop and say hi. That has happened in the past, and great friendships have come of it. My favorite instance: the classy and cool Milind Jhaveri of Technoform stopped me in my tracks a few years ago, somehow recognizing me from my picture, and I’ll always be grateful he did.
• There will be many highlights of the week, but I am most excited about the “State of the Industry” panel at the Glazing Executives Forum. The panel will feature great folks with diverse opinions and insights on our world. It should be very interesting.
• I'm also excited about Steve O’Halloren moderating a cool decorative glass session on Friday morning. That should be fun and informative. And of course, there's the Quanex cocktail party and seeing my friends from that company and the rest of the industry. There’s nothing out there like that event.
• Aside from the show, there’s plenty of other news I want to hit but I don’t want it to get lost in the GlassBuild shuffle. So, I’ll save my takes on the Glass Magazine Award winners, the great news from my friends at RavenBrick, the latest acquisition from Grey Mountain, and of course, the latest economic news for future posts. Also, I'll want to cover this comment that was left on last week's post. Makes a great point:

"What? Not a single comment about our need for trained glaziers. I have commented before about our need to recruit and properly train our workforce. It is a need very few companies seem to want to invest in. Quality, safety and reliability depend on this."

No doubt that subject is a biggie, even if we don't get tons of comments on it.

• See you on the floor!

Read on for links and video of the week...

The author is founder of Sole Source Consultants, a consulting firm for the building products industry that specializes in marketing, branding, communication strategy and overall reputation management, as well as website and social media, and codes and specifications. E-mail him at MaxP@SoleSourceConsultants.com.

The opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Glass Association, Glass Magazine editors, or other glassblog contributors.