Kathy Raissifar
Hanley Wood Exhibitions
kraissifar@hanleywood.com
972.536.6461

2009 REMODELING SHOW & DECKEXPO:  ENGAGING, EFFICIENT AND PRODUCTIVE

November 20, 2009, Dallas, TX – Residential remodeling and deck professionals gathered October 28 – 30 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis for the first co-location of the Remodeling Show and DeckExpo.  Both events are owned and produced by Hanley Wood Exhibitions. The Remodeling Show, the strongest live event for the residential remodeling market, is officially sponsored by NAHB, NAHB Remodelers and REMODELING magazine.  DeckExpo, the leading industry show for deck, dock and railing professionals, is officially sponsored by the North American Deck and Railing Association (NADRA) and PROFESSIONAL DECK BUILDER Magazine.

Professionals in attendance represented 46 U.S. states and 17 countries from around the world, including Canada, Australia, Mexico, England, Singapore and Ukraine.  All audience segments across both events
were represented including residential remodelers, deck-building contractors, dock builders, home improvement professionals, general contractors, distributors, architects and engineers.  

The 2009 event had 263 total exhibiting companies and over 62,000 net square feet.  27% of exhibiting companies were new this year and total attendance was 5,221.  The final numbers are “in line with the domestic residential construction activity,” said Amy Allen, Director of the Remodeling Show and DeckExpo.  “One trend we found this year is exhibitors, although watching their budgets closely and coming in with smaller booth presence, were taking extra measures to engage attendees.  Conversely, attending companies – for the majority – sent the most key individuals instead of the entire staff like in past years.”

In the Exhibit Hall, attendees came face-to-face with industry peers, tested emerging technologies, viewed the latest construction techniques and had the opportunity to try out products through innovative booth sets.  Therma-Tru Doors, a long time exhibitor, engaged attendees with a pitch booth, where attendees would throw a football into a steel door and then again into a fiberglass door to demonstrate the resilience and durability of their fiberglass doors.  “One thing I’ve noticed is the more interaction you have in your booth the better.  It’s less of a big booth with product.  It’s more about interaction…with the product,” said Danielle Catley with Therma-Tru Doors.

Hanley Wood Exhibitions continued its tradition of providing interactive show floor education through three Live Action Clinics:  Green Building Technology (sponsored by Lowe’s); Home Performance Retrofitting (sponsored by Fomo Products) and a Deck Building Technology Workshop (sponsored by Attach-a-Deck, Everflashing, FastenMaster, HIDfast and SureDrive). 

“Our programs of peer-to-peer presentations are evenly mixed with product demonstrations and job-site techniques conducted by nationally recognized professional contractors.  At our clinics attendees see new products and tools in action and then can easily check them out in further detail at the sponsors’ booths on the show floor,” said Don Dunkley, Construction Events Manager for DeckExpo.  “Investing time on the show floor can improve knowledge, productivity and profits.”

Manufacturers hosted five Presenting Exhibits around the hall with topics covering Exterior Door Replacement (presented by Therma-Tru Doors); Innovative Tile Installation Systems for Ceramic Tile and Stone (presented by Schluter Systems); Replacement Windows (presented by Andersen Windows & Doors); Gas Appliance Incentives on the Road to Recovery (presented by the Propane Education & Research Council); and a Live Deck Collapse (presented by Simpson Strong-Tie).  Between the Live Action Clinics and the manufacturer-run Presenting Exhibits, there were 80-plus exhibit hall learning opportunities over the three show days.

The general feedback from exhibiting companies was highly positive and unique to the individual exhibitor:

“We were hoping to sell about 5 licenses of our new DeckTools software. We ended up with 10 and orders are still coming in,” said Frankie Emerson of Simpson Strong-Tie.

“We wanted to get 50 leads a day and we are well ahead of that,” said Nikki Lopez with StyleCrest.  “We have had consistent traffic.”

“…opening day was phenomenal.  We’ve had 700 people through the booth in the first 2 days,” said Debbie Leidl of Andersen Windows & Doors (another long-time exhibitor).  “The seats in our session (on Replacement Windows) have been full in every one of the sessions.”

2009 promoted new opportunities for gaining business knowledge and even an opportunity to win cold, hard cash.  The Remodeling Road to Recovery Stimulus Pavilion, sponsored by Lenox and Marvin Windows & Doors, was an area dedicated to translating the government stimulus package into business opportunities for residential remodelers and replacement contractors, among others.  The $500-A-Day Cash Giveaway – new for 2009 – was highly popular, however, only 3 individuals were able to walk away with $500 cash prizes:  Brenda Morton-Mahler of Arbor View Innovations, LLC (Louisiana); Danny Baisden of Dreamwood Construction (Ohio); and Randall Soules of RemodelerBiz.com.

Outside the exhibit hall, the Conference Program’s well-known business and industry professionals provided instruction and personal experience on improving business operations, ramping up sales and marketing efforts, and streamlining production.  “We streamlined the topic offerings so attendees could get the best of the best for running their business and have the opportunity to expand learning opportunities outside their core businesses with the additions of sustainable remodeling, kitchen & bath/design as well as a new deck technical line of courses,” said Paul Treanor, Senior Conference Manager for both events. 

“My wife and I just completed attending the seminars. Boy...... they are worth their
diamonds!  Extremely informative and educational. It was worth its price,” exclaimed Craig Glick of Glick’s Drywall in Indianapolis.

“What impressed me most is that the speakers took time after each class to answer my questions individually…and I am just a small operation.  We have five to ten employees depending on the season,” shared Thomas Long with Long Construction Services of Danville, Illinois.

“With the economy in an unpredictable state – making education all the more necessary – we added a new twist to promote the value of education by spotlighting topics from the program along with industry news on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and a blog by current year speakers.  Twitter was particularly effective in generating traffic to the seminar search function, while the blog gave speakers an online stage for posting questions, current columns or industry information.  Facebook and LinkedIn were used secondary in our social media initiatives for re-broadcasting Twitter news, registration updates and other more general information.”

Popular this year was the Product Showcase, an area set with new, cool and green products from exhibiting companies which provided attendees with more opportunity to learn about some of newest, coolest or greenest products in the marketplace.  Judged by a panel of Hanley Wood magazine editors, the 2009 Product Showcase Winners were:  ZipWall for the New Product Category; Diamond Piers for the Green Product Category; and tying for the Cool Product Category were Flex-Ability Concepts and Festool.

Fasco America, new to DeckExpo, had a presence on the show floor, but took advantage of the Product Showcase,where they could introduce their new Scrail®, a hybrid fastener.  “We had the opportunity to display a working model and people got to see it before they came to our booth where they were then able to see demo first-hand,” said Chuck Hotze, National Product Manager for Fasco America.

Upon close of the show, cabinets from a Platinum Sponsor of the Kitchen & Bath Showcase, Wellborn Cabinets, were carefully dismantled from the Showcase stage set and picked up by the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.  “Habitat is excited to receive the two sets of kitchen cabinets and we have sold those in our Restore to families needing kitchen cabinets. The money we raised with your cabinets has allowed us to provide and install three sets of kitchen cabinets in three of our 25 Habitat homes here in Indianapolis this year,” said Dean Illingworth, FAIA and Executive Director/Architect of the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Indianapolis in an email following the show.

In 2010, these two events will co-locate again September 15-17 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland, with conferences beginning September 14.  Taking place alongside the Remodeling Show and DeckExpo will be the Plumbing + Hydronics Expo, owned and produced by Messe Frankfurt America.  Registration and conference information will be available in early spring 2010.  For details on any of these 2010 events, please visit TheRemodelingShow.com, DeckExpo.com or PHExpo.com.

About Hanley Wood
Hanley Wood, LLC is the premier media company serving housing and construction. Through four operating divisions, the company produces award-winning magazines and Web sites, marquee trade shows and events, rich data and custom marketing solutions. The company also is North America’s leading publisher of home plans. Hanley Wood Exhibitions (Dallas) conducts events serving the industry’s strongest market segments, including World of Concrete, one of the top 20 trade show events in the country.

Founded in 1976, Hanley Wood is one of the ten largest B-to-B media companies in the United States. Hanley Wood is owned by affiliates of JPMorgan Partners, which uses CCMP Capital Advisors to manage this investment.

About NAHB and NAHB Remodelers
NAHB is a trade association that helps promote the policies that make housing a national priority. Since 1942, NAHB has been serving its members, the housing industry, and the public at large.

NAHB Remodelers provides information and programs to improve the business and construction expertise of its members and to enhance the professional image of the industry. NAHB offers the Certified Graduate Remodeler (CGR) and Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) designation programs to help further educate remodelers and give them the foundation to succeed in business.

About NADRA
North American Deck and Railing Association, Inc. (NADRA) is the unified voice of the deck and railing industry comprised of deck builders, manufacturers, dealers/distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and service providers.  Its mission is to provide a unified source for the professional development, promotion, growth and sustenance of the Deck and Railing building industry in North America so that members can exceed the expectations of their customers.  NADRA serves as a trade association with emphasis on safe building practices and deck safety. For information on the North American Decking and Railing Association, please visit www.NADRA.org or call 888.NADRA.4U (888.623-7248).