NAED Western Feedback

As you know, we weren’t at the recent NAED Western, but we’ve received some feedback on the meeting:

• Registered attendance appeared to be strong (as determined by the registration list) but a number of people have commented that there appeared to be less than was at the NAED Eastern. Whether this was because people were in hotel rooms having meetings, decided to not attend, or canceled but were not removed from the registration list, we do not know.
• Some of the people who called us did say that they like the “smaller” meetings as it gives them more time with manufacturers.
• Overall mood according to some was “surprisingly upbeat”. People were talking -5 to -12% for commerical contractor business, up a little for residential and up somewhat for industrial and institutional.
• Heard from a solar manufacturer who said essentially said (we are paraphrasing), “not the right venue for me, but at least I didn’t pay to register and could drive to the meeting”.
• Many distributors commiserated on 2009 with revenues down about 30%.
• And, as expected, the Southwire rumor was a little kept secret.

Here’s hoping to a better 2010.

And for the record, we’d like to see lots of people at the NAED SouthCentral in Marco (register here). Why? It’s good for the industry, can be good for your business if you schedule your time wisely, is good for NAED so they can make their room block and not waste member monies on cancellation fees and, from a selfish viewpoint, this is where we get to meet you (perhaps call or email us for a time to get together!)

If you attended, or know someone who did, what did you think / hear?