Attendance was strong at this year's Industrial Supply Conference & Trade Fair, as 1,688 people turned out for the three-day meeting June 1-3 at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont, Ill. According to ISA's executive vice president John Buckley, 223 distributor companies attended, along with 361 manufacturers, 77 manufacturer-rep agencies and 55 service providers. The attendance was about the same as last year's meeting in Las Vegas, Buckley said, adding that he was pleased with the overall numbers and that ISA's executive board will review ways to improve on this year's success for next year's meeting in San Antonio.

ISA executives were especially satisfied with this year's Trade Fair, which for the first time was held on the opening two days of the meeting. Normally, the first day is devoted to educational sessions, but this year those sessions took place on the final day.

“We were concerned with the format change, but it all seems to have worked out nicely,” Buckley said. “The booth sessions were packed throughout the day, almost until the time the lights were turned off.”

This year's Manufacturer's Trade Fair, which featured more than 400 booths, included 30 new-member companies. The Distributor/Independent Rep Trade Fair featured more than 250 booths and included 25 new members.

The educational portion of this year's Conference & Trade Fair took place on the final day of the show; members packed the room for the presentation of ISA's new Industrial Markets Report, which gives detailed product consumption data for 14 ISA product categories (abrasives, fasteners, rubber products, safety products and saws, to name a few). For each of the 14 categories, the report gives product consumption data for the U.S. and Canada, offers statistical trend data and lists the top 100 U.S. metropolitan areas and counties based on consumption data.

The purpose of the report is to help members quantify markets, identify sales potential and better manage sales resources, according to ISA.

The 14 product classes represent nearly $134 billion in sales, according to ISA committee members John Jacobsen of Sandvik Coromant Co. and Ed Gerber of Industrial Distribution Group Inc., who gave an overview of the report.

Bill Hodgdon of Hodgdon Consulting Services ran the second part of the presentation, explaining how ISA members can use the Industrial Markets Report to grow business. Among his key points, Hodgdon warned members against being seduced by the big numbers in the report.

“Consider your size, your [market] share and set meaningful goals,” he said, explaining that a $10 million distributor with 4 percent market share in Pittsburgh probably shouldn't be lured to Philadelphia by the promise of huge market potential for his products there. “Don't look at these big numbers and set lofty goals. Take a realistic look. … See where your share is and then concentrate on building share in your region.”

Other workshops included a sales presentation for independent reps presented by consultant Dave Kahle; two management sessions, “The 1% Difference,” by Murray Lyons of business consulting firm Lyons and Associates; and “Driving Results by Engaging Employees,” by Bill Fotsch of The Great Game of Business Inc.; a session on relating to customers of all generations by Robert Wendover of The Center for Generational Studies; and Bob DeStefano's “How to Build an Online Marketing Machine.” DeStefano is president of SVM E-Business Solutions, an online marketing consulting company.

The ISA show also included a host of “lunch and learn” sessions following Monday's Distributor/Independent Rep Trade Fair. They included the annual Small, Specialty and Emerging Member Luncheon, which this year focused on new study data on employee recruiting conducted by Dr. William McCleave of W.R. McCleave & Associates. McCleave's presentation was titled “Enhancing our Most Important Resource Base: The Continuing Quest for Human Talent.”

Other “lunch and learns” included a presentation geared toward manufacturer reps by Bryan Shirley of the Manufacturers' Agents National Assn.; a Canadian members' luncheon hosted by John Duffy of Triumph Tool Ltd.; a technology session with ISA's director of e-business Paula Giovannetti; and a safety session presented by George Hayward of United Sales and Craig Lindsay of Pacesetter Sales & Associates.

The safety session was aimed at industrial distributors interested in adding safety items to their product offering.

“When you're selling safety products, you have to realize that it's not a commodity or just another product,” Hayward told attendees. “People's lives are on the line.”

Lindsay pointed out the opportunities for distributors in safety products, particularly as international openings present themselves. He broke out the various categories for each major safety area and the products that fall within those categories. He identified the product areas as: personal protection, instrumentation, traffic control, first aid and signage.

ISA elected officers for 2008-2009 during the conference. They are: Alan Gilbert of Quality Mill Supply Co., president; Phil Hanson of The C.H. Hanson Co., vice president; Kathleen Durbin, General Industrial Tool & Supply, treasurer; and Jack Schron, Jergens Inc., secretary.

ISA also announced the winner of the American Eagle Value Added Partner Award for 2008 and presented awards to the previously announced American Eagle winners in the distributor, manufacturer, independent manufacturer rep and corporate citizenship categories. The awards recognize ISA members' efforts to add value for customers and business partners and for corporate citizenship programs.

This year's overall Value Added Partner Award went jointly to Bruckner Supply and Saint Gobain. The award recognized the tremendous cost savings program Bruckner and St. Gobain developed to reduce costs at two Pratt Whitney manufacturing plants in Connecticut. According to ISA, the companies worked on seven different projects that resulted in Pratt Whitney saving more than $4 million. Bruckner is an integrated supplier and division of electrical distribution giant Wesco International. St. Gobain makes building materials, construction supplies, abrasives and other related products.

The other American Eagle awards went to: T&A Industrial Distributors of Brookfield, Wis., Value-Added Distributor; Seco Tools Inc. of Warren, Mich., Value-Added Manufacturer; The Tooling Support Group of North Canton, Ohio, Value-Added Independent Manufacturer Rep; and Haggard & Stocking Inc., Corporate Citizenship.

ISA also presented the $10,000 Gary L. Buffington scholarship, which goes to a senior in an established college or university industrial distribution program. This year's winner is David Karr, who will begin his senior year at the University of Alabama at Birmingham this fall.

ISA's 2009 Industrial Supply Conference & Trade Fair will be held April 19-22 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and the Marriott Rivercenter in San Antonio, Texas.