Service World Expo has a plethora of speakers for the three-day event. The seminars will include highly sought after topics such as marketing, training, staffing, technology, leadership, operations, and finance.

“We felt it was really important to deliver a pathway for success for residential contractors to really focus on areas they feel their companies could benefit,” said Michel. “There are a lot of contractors doing an amazing job growing their companies but may need some additional training in certain areas, and that’s what Service World Expo provides.”

One of the most crucial but often neglected educational tracks is the marketing track. Marketing is a critical component for companies looking to maintain a steady stream of customers and revenue. The track will provide training on how to leverage marketing methodologies to grow and prosper. The breakout speakers for this topic include some of the best marketing contractors in the business. These individuals have grown their own contracting companies from the ground up by embracing marketing as a means of building business. Speakers include Chris Hunter, presenting The Power of Social Media: The Amazing Way to Get and Keep Customers and Technicians; Laura Nelson, presenting Proven Digital Marketing Tactics to Grow Your Contracting Business; Mike Montano, presenting It Pays to be Good; and a Marketing Innovations Panel, where panelists discuss strategies like adopting new technology for more efficient business marketing. Panelists include Crystal Williams, Shawn Henson, Ben Stark, and Abe Romero. Larry Taylor will moderate.

“I am truly excited to be speaking at this year’s Service World Expo in Las Vegas,” said Hunter, owner of Hunter SuperTechs in Ardmore, Oklahoma. “We have seen tremendous growth over the past several years, and it is in large part due to our marketing efforts. I am happy to share how we have been so successful by leveraging our services through social media.”

As Service World Expo 2018 is spy themed, the organizers are very excited about keynote speaker Eric O’Neil, a former FBI agent who helped interrogate one of the most dangerous spies in U.S. history.

“We try to strike a balance between professional speakers and contractors,” Michel said. “We work with our contractors to help them become great speakers. And many of them have. Contractors who patronage the exhibitors, pick up information from the seminars, get motivation from the keynotes, and network with each other at the parties — they will go home fired up and reengaged in their business and ready to take on the world.”

Since its start in 2016, the number of Service World Expo attendees has nearly tripled. And the show organizers have taken a different approach to the typical HVAC trade show. One way they’ve achieved this is by changing how the trade show floor part of the event is executed. Instead of laying out the show like a grocery store with multiple rows, they have laid it out more like an Ikea, so there is a bit of a maze and path to the set up.

“We have challenged all our exhibitors to be interactive,” Michel said. “We challenged them to do things that engage the contractors, that entertain them. We wanted to have them tactile. We wanted them to do things that would get the contractors involved. Many of them have stepped up and done that. We are always trying new wrinkles to make it fresh and exciting. That is one of the differences with this show. So at a lot of shows, by the second day, a lot of people are gone. That is not the way it is at Service World. It is just as active.”

There will be 140 exhibitors at the show.

“Exhibitors will be bringing some of their newest and most popular products to show in the Demo Lab and at the trade show,” said Abe Romero, vice presidemt of Marketing at Service Nation. “Service Nation Inc. will also be unveiling several new game-changing programs that will revolutionize support and training and give many contractors a new stream of revenue.”

Once daily events conclude, all attendees are welcome to enjoy after-parties. These parties are intended to help attendees enjoy the nightlife of Las Vegas and relax after a day of networking and studying new business practices and techniques. The first party is scheduled for Oct. 10 at the Omnia Night Club and Terrace inside Caesars Palace. From 6:30 – 9:30 p.m., attendees can enjoy food, drink, and great music — all sponsored by Goodman Mfg.

The Oct. 11 after-party will be hosted in the famous Hofbräuhaus. This authentic German beer hall will have traditional music, games for attendees to enjoy, food, and beer. This party will be sponsored by a number of preferred partners, including Lennox and Emerson.

“The best way to get a technician to sell anything is have them experience it in their own home,” Michel said. “It is exactly the same way with training. If you tell guys that training is important, they need to go to training themselves. When they [contractors] go to Service World, they are showing that training is important and their credibility is higher.”

Publication date: 10/8/2018

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