NEMRA22 Delivers to Over 1300

NEMRA’s 2022 Annual Conference, NEMRA22, held earlier this month had over 1400 registrations and about 1300 attendees (some last-minute cancellations due to weather in New England and some contracted COVID).

The conference was a resounding success although the Dallas weather create challenges (bitter cold, ice, snow) which cancelled some dinners and encouraged some to leave early (and others to have flight cancellations) and the hotel was “less than satisfactory”, but … for everything that NEMRA could control it was a success.

Rather than pipe and drape for one-on-one meetings, NEMRA utilized new modular booths. These were praised by many as was NEMRA’s desire to get more manufacturers to aggregate in a common meeting area rather than disperse to suites. The feeling was that the modular booths added to professionalism and provided a quiet, comfortable, meeting environment with an opportunity to display product, utilize televisions and be “creative.”

The atmosphere was energetic with all happy to reconnect and network. Many manufacturers and reps commented that they were pleased that NEMRA held a live conference to bring the industry back “to normal”.

Overriding themes, as expected, were strong sales performance in 2021 and continued supply chain issues with most expecting them to continue throughout the year.

NEMRA22 Educational Highlights

Some educational highlights:

• NEMRA held a technology session focused on improving efficiencies for manufacturers and distributors. The focus was on the utilization of APIs to improve information sharing, decrease time delays and improve productivity for manufacturer and distributors. Signify and Spring Lighting Group (SLG) participated in a panel, highlighting that APIs are a cost-effective technology for large and small manufacturers. Michael Eubanks from John Moore & Associates is spearheading this initiative for NEMRA.
• Ben Carson was one of the keynote speakers. His presentation was well received as he spoke about his philosophy of THINK BIG (Talent, Honesty, Insight, Nice, Knowledge, Books, In-depth Learning and God). It was a positive message and reinforced the need to focus on what is said versus how information is said and the importance of reading, education and accepting and learning from history. He shared insights from his upbringing that helped mold his philosophy and focus on service.
• Josh Linkner, an entrepreneur who wrote a book titled “Big Little Breakthroughs” spoke about an innovation approach focused on rapid experimentation and shared his Innovation Toolkit that enables companies to quickly develop ideas and have an iterative process that can enable a company to continuously improve and standout. He shared his website and a conference code to enable downloading of his toolkit. The password is available from NEMRA.
• NEMRA also hosted a sales workshop conducted by Craig Wortman and held its inaugural Emerging Talent session.

David Long from NECA

The highlight of the conference for a group of reps and manufacturers was the fireside chat conducted by David Long, CEO of NECA. This became a fireside chat with over an hour of Q&A given that people sought earlier flights. For those who don’t know, NECA is the association that represents union contractors.

Some highlights from this session included:

• NECA represents over 4,000 electrical contractors who are responsible for about $202 billion in construction in 2021. It’s members employ 432,000 IBEW members and another 170,000 staff.
• Believes that the electrical industry must work “smarter” and “together”, especially given the increased demand for electrical labor / work.
• Shared that the federal government recently established that any project over $35M must be covered under a collective bargaining agreement.
• NECA sees its members increasingly merging the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) disciplines under one business.
• Interestingly, during the past two years, Electrical Contractor magazine subscriptions increased.
• He emphasized that “reps need to get to the contractor” to bring new products and help contractors accomplish their projects more efficiently. He commented that “the electrical industry ‘fights’ over the customer rather than identifying ways to work together.” As part of this he shared that the average contractor doesn’t know the local rep and that distributors are a “firewall” who believe that the contractor will sell them out. In reality, trust is needed for all to work together.
• Electrical contractors are embracing technology but that the business is still “all about relationships.”
• He sees the larger contractors, who are doing business in multiple geographic areas, are aligning with specific distributors who can serve their needs.
• A tidbit for introducing new, productivity-oriented products … connect with project management, not field staff. Project management is interested in labor savings. Best time is sponsoring a safety session / providing a safety video.
• While prefab is a well-discussed trend, only about 250 union shops, out of 4000 have prefab shops.

This was a very honest, direct, and open discussion that many found beneficial.

Jim Johnson, president of NEMRA, discussed the “State of the Association”, which is very bright.

While the association was forced to adapt during COVID, it implemented a number of new programs to support the membership.  Some highlights included:

• The theme of the conference was “Meet the Challenge. Expect More” with the focus being that reps met the challenge over the past couple of years, and the association did also, and that all should “expect more” to deliver more for each other.
• Manufacturers who sell through reps have advantages, most notably, more “feet on the street” and deeper local relationships, that are consistent, with distributor personnel as well as contractors and end-users. In most cases, reps have been able to interact with end-users during the pandemic due to long-term relationships whereas many direct people were constrained by corporate restrictions.
• Rep functions have changed … and been expanded, over the year with reps more responsible for customer service, training, local / field marketing, calling on end-users, deploying specialists and more.
• NEMRA is “the association of possibilities.”
• More members are actively involved in the association than ever before, contributing ideas and participating on committees.
• Shared initiatives from the Strategic Advisory Council and the Technology Advisory Council.
• A major initiative of the association, and the Strategic Advisory Council, is promoting the Rep of the Future report to help each rep better understand market trends and provide all with a blueprint that they can adjust to help their business grow.
• Jim introduced a video titled “Expect More” which communicated a rep vision for the future. NEMRA will be releasing the video for the public in the near future.

NEMMY Awards

The annual NEMMY Awards were also presented:

• The 2021 Partnership of the Year Award went to Legrand and Lyle W. Williams
• The Rep’s Choice Award was presented to Atkore.
• The Manufacturer’s Choice Award was presented to JMA Group (John Moore & Associates)

Congratulations to NEMRA on a very successful conference, and its commitment. Now the industry “expects more” for NEMRA23!