From the fabricator: The talented and the technical

Last week, I spent a few days at the GANA Annual Conference, and as always, came away impressed by the talent in our industry and the work that is accomplished during the event.  Many of the discussions involved crucial, technical pieces that will have an effect on the way business is done in our world. The big piece for me were the decorative division meetings; that segment and division continue to grow in prominence, thus the need for education, direction and standards. The decorative glass group, led by their incredibly sharp chair Marc Deschamps of Walker Glass, is surely up to the task. Plain and simple: if you are in the industry and you care about the future, you need to attend events like this to stay properly informed on what we are up against in a very challenging world.

Elsewhere…

• Of course, I need to point out some of the folks I got to meet and greet. Meeting John Rovi of SAPA for the first time was enjoyable. I had heard a ton about him, so it was nice to meet him in person. When I talk about some of the talent this industry possesses, I gotta point to guys like James Wright and Tim McGee of Glass Coatings and Concepts; they bring personality and energy to the game with some serious sales and marketing chops.  It was nice to get to know them. I dig Nick Bagatelos of BISEM; his passion for the product is really hard to top. Plus, I wish I had his hair and style. Last, getting to see Stanley Yee and Jon Kimberlain of Dow Corning is always a treat. Stanley just recently joined Dow Corning, which is an absolute coup for those guys given the knowledge base he possesses.
• Lost in the controversy of whether or not Beyonce lipsynched was the part of the president’s inaugural speech that covered climate change and building better infrastructure and buildings. We have heard that before, but maybe the time to get serious is here. I expect to see movement from our industry on this before too long. Stay tuned.
• Any guesses on the Top 12 cities leading the way for sustainability? Some folks on this list will surprise and some will not. Interesting nonetheless.
• Congrats to the gang at GGI on their smooth, revamped website. Really strong piece of work; it's clean and very smartly laid out. Well done folks.
• By the way, at the start of the NFL season I did pick the Ravens to make the Super Bowl, which means somehow one of my picks panned out. First time for everything! So, I am sticking with the Ravens to win it all next week. Wonder if CBS will tell us that Ray Lewis is retiring? (Sarcasm intended!)
• And last this week: the Super Bowl brings us not only the game but also the commercials.  I will be curious to see who brings the best and I also expect this year to have a ton of social media connection too. On next week’s blog I’ll be listing my favorites….

Read on for links and clip 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.