As winter rolls around and the heat waves of summer are long gone, contractors are typically incredibly busy planning for the winter heating season. It’s also the time when industry meetings, trade shows, and seminars begin their annual cycle — often perplexing contractors who feel they don’t have time to attend. There is no shortage of events, including the Women in HVACR conference, the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) Annual Convention, the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors (PHCC) Convention, International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA) Technical Conference and Expo, ACCA’s Service Managers and Office/Operations Managers Forum, and the recently announced Service World Expo. So, what should a contractor do? What should he or she go to and why? What happens if a contractor is forced to skip a year? These are all pertinent questions contractors ask themselves.
It’s no secret that contractor attendance at industry events is mostly down over the past few years. In fact, trade show attendance across all industries is down.