More than 550 people attended this year's convention of NIBA: The Belting Assn., held at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel Sept. 19-22.

More than 70 percent of NIBA's members turned out for the meeting, according to Cie Motelet, NIBA's associate services manager. The mix of distributors and manufacturers was about 50-50, Motelet says—the highest distributor attendance in recent years.

NIBA president Rene Morf praised the strong turnout in his address to members at the opening session. Morf, who is also president of VIS USA, encouraged attendees to volunteer for NIBA's various committees.

“The things I get back from NIBA pay me back a thousand times,” Morf said.

Conference booths and educational sessions were well attended, including a workshop led by Michael Marks of Indian River Consulting.

Addressing the current business climate and state of the economy, Marks predicted 2008 to be a solid year, in part because presidential election years are rarely poor economically. Marks also urged his audience to maintain perspective during slow economic times.

“How many here have been in belting long enough to have been through a downturn?” Marks asked. The vast majority of audience members raised their hands.

“Don't react to extraneous information,” Marks told them. “There is a lot of misinformation out there. But prepare for a downturn [because] one always comes around.”

NIBA's Distributor Employee Scholarship winners were announced in Baltimore. The recipients, NIBA distributor/fabricator company employees, will receive up to $1,000 towards the cost of furthering their education.

This year's recipients were: Dorcia Mann, Midwest Industrial Rubber; Rosemary Northrup, Stellar Industrial Sales; and Travis Williams, Lewis-Goetz & Co.

Longtime NIBA members were concerned at hearing the news that Harry Robb Jr., president of Rubber & Accessories Inc. of Lakeland, Fla., was not able to attend the meeting, having suffered a mild stroke before heading to Baltimore. Robb's daughter, Jackie Britt, financial officer at Rubber & Accessories, says all is well, however.

“He's doing fantastic and he's back hard at work,” Britt says. “He's driving, working and talking fine. Three weeks later, he's back to normal.”

Britt will take over as NIBA president in 2008—the association's first woman president and its first second-generation president.