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November 2, 2007

EXPO Advisory Committee Gearing Up for EXPO 2009

The EXPO Advisory Committee recently met in New Orleans, providing feedback and making decisions to help prepare for EXPO’s return to New Orleans in 2009. “The level of participation we got at this meeting was among the best we’ve had in years,” said EXPO Director Eric Gee. Key decisions made included the following:

• Hanging signs will be permitted for exhibits that are 400 square feet or larger;

• EXPO will maintain the two-and-a-half day format it’s had in the past;

• Advertising and marketing efforts will extend to South America, Australia and New Zealand;

• EXPO’s scope will widen to include product and service providers connected to biofuels, engineered wood products, plywood and panels and environmental services related to air and water quality at plants and mills.

Committee members also toured Morial Convention Center, which is the site of EXPO, set for June 11-13, 2009. EXPO is expected to cover nearly 90,000 square feet with about 50% of that space already reserved by exhibitors.

The EXPO Advisory Committee is made up of representatives from SFPA Active member companies and Associate member companies who exhibit at EXPO. “Exhibiting companies gain a unique perspective of the show’s audience through the comments of SFPA Active members participating on the EXPO Advisory Committee,” Eric said. “They offer exhibitors on the committee direct input on what the audience is seeking when they attend EXPO.”

For more information, contact Eric at 504/443-4464, ext. 214, or egee@sfpa.org.

New Orleans Officials Say City Ready for EXPO

Those responsible for New Orleans’ convention and tourism business have done more than just restore the city’s hotels, restaurants and convention facilities to their pre-Katrina state. They’ve made them even better. Attendees at a recent meeting of the EXPO Advisory Committee heard encouraging reports on the city’s readiness to host EXPO 2009 from representatives of the New Orleans Police Department and New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The city spent $62 million renovating and improving the Morial Convention Center, where EXPO 2009 will be held, and hotel owners invested a collective $500 million on their properties, said Nikki Nicholson of the NOCVB. “You and your attendees will be seeing a new city,” she told committee members.

Regarding safety, the committee also heard from NOPD Captain Juan Quinton, who explained the measures his department takes to protect visitors, including maintaining a concentrated police presence downtown. “Conventions are our life, and despite what you hear on CNN, we’re a very nice place to go,” he said.

Getting to New Orleans should also be easy since the number of flights to and from Louis Armstrong International Airport is expected to surpass pre-Katrina levels by the time EXPO arrives.

Committee member Kay Reynolds of Taylor Machine Works Inc. said she wasn’t sure what to expect before arriving in New Orleans, but was pleasantly surprised. “I think things will be back to normal by the time we arrive for EXPO, barring any unforeseen circumstances,” she said. “I believe this will be a nice homecoming.”

EXPO, which is held every other year, began in New Orleans in 1950. The event is returning to the city for the first time since 1991.

Raised Floor Message Brought to Floodplain Managers, Architects

SFPA staff members continue to take advantage of trade shows and conferences to educate key audiences about the benefits of raised floor systems. Cathy Kaake, SFPA’s director of engineered and framing markets, discussed raised floor systems with those attending the Fall 2007 Conference of the Association of Floodplain Managers of Mississippi (AFMM) and Alabama Floodplain Managers held recently in Philadelphia, Miss. Almost simultaneously, Richard Kleiner, SFPA’s director of treated markets, promoted the benefits of raised floor living at the Texas Society of Architects (TSA) 68th Annual Convention & Expo in Austin, Texas.

Working from a Southern Pine Council exhibit at the Mississippi conference, Cathy interacted with attendees and distributed SPC literature such as span tables, the Lumber Library CD and the Raised Floor Systems and Pressure-Treated Southern Pine guides. “This was a very successful and informative conference with record attendance of 150 floodplain managers from throughout Mississippi and Alabama,” she said. 

The floodplain managers’ conference provided insight into challenges and successes related to SPC’s campaign to persuade homeowners and design/build professionals of the benefits of raised floor systems. One attendee, a building code official and floodplain manager, required builders in “A” flood zones to switch from tall masonry walls to 12x12 pilings with a raised floor system. He initially encountered several challenges including resistance to change from builders, issues with local retailers not stocking the needed wood products and an abundance of local labor for constructing masonry walls, but not enough carpentry labor for raised floor systems. “Those challenges have all been overcome; carpentry labor has been brought in and retailers are stocking the needed materials,” Cathy said. “Now the builders are coming back to this gentleman and thanking him for making them change. They have found a raised wood system to be much faster and less expensive to build, and they end up with a better final structure. The builders have also learned they can build in wet weather conditions that are not suitable for masonry construction.”

Meanwhile, at the TSA event, Richard distributed span tables, the Raised Floor Systems guide, and of interest to interior designers, the Southern Pine Flooring guide.  “Architects were also curious about their options for pressure-treated Southern Pine, including the new carbon-based preservatives,” he said.   With more than 5,000 members, TSA represents more than seven percent of American Institute of Architects membership. 

For more information, contact Cathy at 504/443-4464, ext. 213, or ckaake@sfpa.org. Richard can be reached at ext. 211 or rkleiner@sfpa.org.

Wood Forecast to Remain Dominant Decking Material

Despite significant competition from alternative decking materials, wood will remain the dominant material used to produce decks in the United States going forward, according to a report from the Freedonia Group, an international business research company. That’s the good news. The not so good news is that alternative decking materials will continue to lead the decking market in terms of annual gains through 2011. Overall, Freedonia projects that “U.S. demand for decking is projected to grow about 2 percent per year through 2011 to 3.5 billion lineal feet, valued at more than $4 billion.” Click here for a copy of the full report. For more information about decking markets, call Richard Kleiner, SFPA’s director of treated markets, at 504/443-4464, ext. 211, or rkleiner@sfpa.org.

WTCA Installs New President

WTCA recently installed its 24^th president, Bob Becht, into office at the association’s annual meeting held during the Building Component Manufacturers Conference (BCMC) in Columbus, Ohio. Bob is president of Chambers Truss. WTCA is an international not-for-profit trade association representing the structural building components industry. With more than 2,500 manufacturing locations across the U.S. and total annual industry sales topping $15 billion, structural building components can be found in more than 60 percent of single-family and multi-family homes. For more information, visit www.sbcindustry.com.

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