Glass Expo Southeast Shines Brightly in Florida

The sun wasn’t the only thing shining this week in Orlando. The glass industry was as well, as Glass Expo Southeast ‘22 took place at the Rosen Plaza hotel there January 6 and 7. The event combined in-depth education through seven different seminars and from more than 50 exhibitors. Attendees from 31 states and five countries were represented, as well.

The first-time event had been postponed from last January due to COVID, though it did not seem to suffer from the delay.

“Exhibitors have reported good traffic,” says event director Tricia Lopez, “and that attendees are here to learn and to source new products. We’re delighted everyone is so happy.”

Glass Expo Southeast offered a full seminar series to attendees.

Attendees chose from Thursday’s educational sessions complete with economic forecasts for the Southeast and the country from Nick St. Denis; the use of glazing systems in delegated design by Stewart Jeske of JEI Structural Engineering; understanding glass railing codes from Mark Jacobson of Kuraray; and C-Suite changes coming in the contract glazing business as detailed by Attila Arian of Schüco USA. (Check here for an USGNN Video Report.)

These sessions were followed by a presentation from noted body language expert Janine Driver about understanding the cues you receive in sales and employee situations. Driver, who was at the tail end of a COVID quarantine, gave an interactive presentation from her home in Virginia and used the body language of those in the audience as examples of behavior signals.

The show was busy the entire time it was open Thursday afternoon, and continues today through 2 p.m. Glass handling equipment was prevalent on the show floor, including items from Quattrolifts, Woods Powr-Grip, Haffner, Jobsite8 and more. Exhibitor Defenselite was also one of the more popular places to stop, as visitors learned about its smash-and-grab and other security products.

Friday began with seminars on two topics of growing importance to the industry: Large-sized (jumbo) glass and door hardware. A panel consisting of Sofia Bower, director of operations with Protectapeel; Chip Olson, national sales manager of Quattrolifts USA; Barry Wood, vice president of marketing and commercial development of Wood’s Powr-Grip; and Emily Losego, manager of MSVD Coated Products of Vitro Architectural Glass discussed ways to take jobs that involve such large installations and do them well and without incident. The session elicited many questions from the crowd, most of whom said such installations were becoming increasingly more common.

Adam Smith, director of sales, and Chance Lloyd, estimating manager, of Door Controls USA, closed out the seminar program with a practical discussion on contract and replacement hardware. The trade show remained open until 2 p.m. today.