After four years of steady growth, the MechanicalXchange (formerly the HVACXchange) is ready to spread its wings a bit further. The NEWS will be joined for the fifth-year event by its sister publication Plumbing & Mechanical magazine, the premier publication in the heavy commercial piping trades.

“We have been very pleased with the results of the HVACXchange event,” said NEWS publisher John Conrad. “The industry doesn’t have another opportunity like this, and by including the reach of Plumbing & Mechanical magazine we expect even greater accomplishments.”

The MechanicalXchange event is a gathering of top executives from approximately 30 of the largest mechanical contractors in North America, and 30 of the premier industry vendors.

Essentially, the Xchange enables executives who seldom have the opportunity for strategic discussions with there peers at partner companies, to very effectively dive deep into finding business advantages in today’s volatile market.

The event was held for four years at the Lodges of Deer Valley in Park City, Utah. The setting provided a somewhat secluded environment - the ski lifts were closed and the golf courses were too far away to entice executives to wander off unannounced. However, the cell phones of course buzzed non-stop in between the private one-on-one meetings that took place over the two-day event. Attendees were at first surprised by the simple down-to-business approach with relatively few frills, save for the delicious meals. But after the event closed all were amazed at how much important business had actually been transacted in the very compact event.

“This is the most efficient use of my time in my sales and marketing effort that I do all year, in two days. Where else can you do that? You can’t,” said Bill Hein of Williams Furnace.

All of the attendees have been to a multitude of industry trade shows. Mike Kaler, Applied Air said, “The environment in a trade show, is - first, you won’t see these people at a trade show. In a trade show environment, if you get five minutes with them, you’re lucky.”

The MechanicalXchange is not a trade show. No one is kicking the tires, and no one is babbling on and on about the new powder coated paint on their units. The people at Xchange come because they are looking for a better way to develop real relationships and learn about real strategic advantages in the marketplace. It is a place where buyers and sellers do business together.