ATLANTA — Attendees and exhibitors spoke of cautious optimism towards the industry and economy during the Specialty Tools and Fasteners Distributors Assn.'s 27th Annual Convention & Trade Show held in Atlanta, Nov. 2–4.

"As an industry, we're looking good going into the third quarter," said outgoing STAFDA president Jason Bader in his state-of-the-industry address during the convention's General Session.

Bader's comment came on the heels of his statement that distributor sales are rising, and have been since last year. He said distributor sales were down .2 percent in the last quarter of 2002, but in the first quarter of 2003 they increased 1.6 percent, and in the second quarter of 2003 they increased 1.2 percent.

Kim Reynolds of M.K. Morse, who delivered the associate state-of-the-industry address, also said the industry's outlook is improving. He said that while corporate profits are beginning to show up again, the same is true for the rest of the industry. In addition, Reynolds said the manufacturing sector still is something of a concern, the labor force is shrinking, and that manufacturers' reps have more demands on them.

Aside from the optimistic news delivered by Bader and Reynolds, the buzz after the General Session was all about Frank Abagnale. The session's Keynote Speaker, Abagnale captivated the audience with a description of his youthful exploits, which, famously, include check forging; airline-pilot, medical doctor and night-box guard impersonations; and a worldwide chase that eventually landed him in prison in France, Sweden and the United States. Abagnale entertained, but ended his speech with a somber message for working fathers: appreciate and enjoy what you have as a father, or you may lose it forever. His most poignant statement may well have been, "Anyone can be a 'father,' only someone special can be a 'daddy.' Go and be a 'daddy' for your kids."

Said Georgia Foley, executive director of STAFDA, on Abagnale, "Most attendees probably had a preconceived idea of what Frank would be like, or what his talk would entail. But he surprised everyone. His heartfelt, poignant speech left the entire audience misty-eyed. And that's a first."

In addition, John Satagej, president of the Small Business Legislative Council, gave a legislative update during the General Session, including information on the Estate Tax, a potential tax break offered to domestic production companies, health care costs and product liability.

As for attendance, Bader reported that 2,617 companies were represented at the convention, including 1,154 distributorships, 1,130 manufacturers, 314 rep firms, and 19 media outlets.

Bader also talked about the association's partnership with McGraw-Hill for research information, and Monster.com as a premier tool for finding and hiring the right employees. He announced a new look for the association's Web site, and reminded attendees that the Trade News, the association's newsletter, is STAFDA's oldest and most-prized asset.

As outgoing president, Bader was awarded the Peddler Award by Jim Henderson of Dynamic Sales, in appreciation of his service to the association.

The Tech & Consultants' Fair drew a large crowd, and attendees were given the opportunity to wander the room at their leisure, investigating software and computer options for their businesses, and/or spending time with consultants and service providers discussing personnel, credit and collections, logistics, etc. Two workshops given by STAFDA tech consultant Steve Epner also were full. The first was titled, "CRM/Sales Force Automation," and the second was, "Getting More ROI from Your Technology." In the ROI session, Epner said attendees need technology, and those that don't have it will lose out on valuable business.

The Industry Panel, the first of its kind for STAFDA attendees, also drew a large crowd, which was treated to distributors, associates and manufacturers facing off over topics such as: best practices, including forming partnerships, and the advantage of marketing plans; worst practices, which included marketplace over-saturation, price matching, margin erosion, and national marketing plans made with no distributor consultation; the power of branding, where all agreed that branding is important; the functions of manufacturers and distributors being moved onto the reps; and "value-added," where some panelists asserted that the phrase is little more than eye candy.

As a last question, panelists were asked to tell "one thing" they would like the attendees to walk away from the Panel with. Those responses included: "know what to do," "treat your customers, vendors and reps as you would be treated," "understand the end user and their value preferences," "communication," "complement your core business," "focus activities on what customers want and need," and "know what motivates your customer."

"We were pleased with the reaction to the Industry Panel, which was a new program this year," said Foley. "Michael Marks did a terrific job moderating the panel of distributors, manufacturers and rep agents, who addressed pressing industry issues."

After the Panel, distributors, reps and manufacturers split into individual Rap Sessions where they discussed the panelists' topics and opinions in more depth.

Attendees who took part in the educational workshops were treated with information on stopping memory loss, presented by Dr. Bill Cone; visual merchandising, with Greg Gorman; marketing to Hispanics, presented by Natan Feldman; dealing with price objections, conducted by Tom Reilly; generational issues, with Bob Wendover; and rep marketing, conducted by John Haskell. While attendance at the earlier sessions (8:30 a.m.) was light, by the start of the later sessions (10:30 a.m.), attendees were jostling each other for places to sit.

The Trade Show itself was a sea of matching shirts and colorful and active booths, where attendees took advantage of show discounts, free prizes, networking, and first looks at new products.

Said incoming STAFDA president Craig Russell of Active Sales Co., "This year's convention boasts 756 booths in its Trade Show, more than any Trade Show before it."

Observed Foley, "Comments on the trade show have been excellent … The 'buzz' on the show floor was upbeat, and distributors were buying, indicating an optimistic outlook on their business and the economy."

STAFDA's 28th Annual Convention & Trade Show will be held in San Francisco, Nov. 14-16, 2004.