We have seen a lot of activity; a lot of people coming around,” said Carey Mobius, president/CEO of Garibaldi Glass. “There have been some great new people stopping by, and we have seen a lot of old friends,” says Kris Vockler, CEO, ICD High Performance Coatings.The trade show and expo is organized by the National Glass AssociationWindow and Door Dealers Alliance and cosponsored by the American Architectural Manufacturers Association; the Glass Association of North America; the Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance; and the Bath Enclosure Manufacturers Association.Day one of the event kicked off with the ninth annual Glazing Executives Forum, followed by a line-up of well-attended Express Learning Sessions and several on-floor demonstrations.The GEF hosted about 200 registered attendees and began with a packed industry panel session featuring field leaders Mic Patterson, director of strategic development for Enclos Corp., Jay Phillips, commercial segment director, Americas, for Guardian Industries, and Oliver Stepe, senior vice president of YKK AP.This year also saw the debut of Express Learning sessions, held on the show floor in booth #1769.On the first day, four sessions took place, including: Smart PR, presented by Katy Devlin, editor of Glass Magazine; Hardware Solutions for Interior Glass Openings, presented by Keith M. Knolmayer, hardware development director, Bohle America; What Installers Want You to Know, presented by Jim Snyder, fenestration consultant and installer, Window Jim; Lead Generation Strategies, presented by Quanex team member Noel Lavezzi; and Bridging the Gap Between Unitized Curtain Walls and Traditional Window Walls, presented by George Heflin, CRL-U.S. Aluminum.
The on-floor demonstrations proved a big draw at the show again this year. The first day of the show hosted three demonstrations, including one from Dip-Tech, where crowds gathered to see company officials demonstrate a working digital printer. Floor demonstrations also included an impact performance demo, sponsored by Architectural Testing Inc., and a quiz demo “Are you smarter than a Fenestration Master,” presented by AAMA.