At right: BEC chairperson Henry Taylor of Kawneer welcomes attendees to the BEC Sunday morning.
What was for the first few days faux French chic is now just French schtick as the Paris theme has begun to wear on me. I think it’s the fact that the hotel feels if you put a “le” in front of it, that makes it French. As I made my way to “Le center de convention”, I passed “Le Buffet”. No wonder the French hate us. Look what we’ve done to them.
Anyway, Day Two of the Building Envelop Contractors (BEC) Conference packed a powerful punch. More than 400 people turned up at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning in Vegas to hear Vitro’s Hugo Lara’s keynote speech. And those same 400+ people were still there at 4:30 p.m. after only two short breaks and a working lunch. It was intense.
We will have extensive coverage on usgnn.com™ and in USGlass magazine in the coming weeks, but let me just give you the highlights. Except in this case, the highlights are more lowlights. Specifically (and with apologies to the French):
1. Le Attack: The glass industry is under attack from a whole variety of separate arenas: energy reduction advocates, government and regulatory agencies, code organizations and green advocates. Each presents separate challenges to the industry but all are communicating a “glass is an energy-hog” message that’s resonating. We, as an industry, have to fix this.
2. Le Noveau Products: The day of the highly-energy efficient alternative glass product has arrived. Presentations about the various types of new variable transmittance glasses dominated the discussion yesterday afternoon. “Doesn’t matter whether you like it or not, this is the future,” said one attendee.
3. Le Economie: All I will say is that three separate speakers, each using different data each said a variation of the following sentence. “We will not return to 2007 levels of non residential building activity until 2014.”
Despite its intensity, the day moved quickly and to me, the real story was the people. At most events, people are up and down and in and out the sessions. Not this one. Everyone who came, came to learn and soaked up as much of the sessions as they could. If I had to bet on the companies that were going to survive until 2014, it would be the guys in this room.
Bon Voyage from Le Vegas.
What was for the first few days faux French chic is now just French schtick as the Paris theme has begun to wear on me. I think it’s the fact that the hotel feels if you put a “le” in front of it, that makes it French. As I made my way to “Le center de convention”, I passed “Le Buffet”. No wonder the French hate us. Look what we’ve done to them.
Anyway, Day Two of the Building Envelop Contractors (BEC) Conference packed a powerful punch. More than 400 people turned up at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning in Vegas to hear Vitro’s Hugo Lara’s keynote speech. And those same 400+ people were still there at 4:30 p.m. after only two short breaks and a working lunch. It was intense.
We will have extensive coverage on usgnn.com™ and in USGlass magazine in the coming weeks, but let me just give you the highlights. Except in this case, the highlights are more lowlights. Specifically (and with apologies to the French):
1. Le Attack: The glass industry is under attack from a whole variety of separate arenas: energy reduction advocates, government and regulatory agencies, code organizations and green advocates. Each presents separate challenges to the industry but all are communicating a “glass is an energy-hog” message that’s resonating. We, as an industry, have to fix this.
2. Le Noveau Products: The day of the highly-energy efficient alternative glass product has arrived. Presentations about the various types of new variable transmittance glasses dominated the discussion yesterday afternoon. “Doesn’t matter whether you like it or not, this is the future,” said one attendee.
3. Le Economie: All I will say is that three separate speakers, each using different data each said a variation of the following sentence. “We will not return to 2007 levels of non residential building activity until 2014.”
Despite its intensity, the day moved quickly and to me, the real story was the people. At most events, people are up and down and in and out the sessions. Not this one. Everyone who came, came to learn and soaked up as much of the sessions as they could. If I had to bet on the companies that were going to survive until 2014, it would be the guys in this room.
Bon Voyage from Le Vegas.
Debra,
ReplyDeleteNo need to worry, french canadians don't hate you!
Cheers.
Marc Deschamps
Business Development Manager
Walker Glass
Montreal, Canada