Every September The NEWS sponsors a very unique industry summit meeting called HVAC-MechanicalXchange. The event focuses entirely on a SMALL number of mechanical contractors.

Does the name Joe Groh ring a bell? He has been in our industry for several years. He told me last week about a bicycling accident that has left him with no feeling in his arms or legs.

Remember what our industry went through to change over to 13 SEER equipment? Thank goodness it’s behind us. But wait, we are only 18 months away from another potential industry headache in the form of the new refrigerant mandates.

The industry touts air filtering and purifying systems that get rid of a bunch of bad stuff. But I don’t think you can be successful focusing on the bad. What we are really selling in this industry is relief.

Do you want to improve your HVACR business? As a technician, do you want to advance in your company and/or learn new skills? If the answer is yes, the help you need is just a few clicks away.

If Congress is hell bent on saving Mother Earth in the next decade then why not do something to replace all the inefficient HVAC systems in the 50-plus million existing homes in the United States.

I’ve got a secret for HVAC and refrigeration contractors that want to grow their businesses. Rub elbows with successful contractors at a national meeting. I’ve had the opportunity to attend both the ACCA and MCAA annual conventions in the last 30 days.

I’ve heard the argument hundreds of times from companies in the commercial HVACR market, “We are spending most of our marketing and advertising dollars to convince the engineer to ‘spec’ our products.” Let’s walk that through the marketing spectrum.

If you are one of the 30,000-plus industry people that made their way to the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan last week, you probably had the same reaction that I did. Even though I am not used to $6 cups of coffee or tipping cabbies 20 percent to avoid a cold stare, I’ve gotta say my experience in New York was pretty darn good.

Did you read about how our unemployment has “climbed” to 5 percent and on top of that the stock market only went up 7 percent in 2007. I also saw an e-mail today about a 15 percent drop in attendance for the upcoming International Builders Show in February. Oh no! The sky is falling.