Can Our Industry Stay Engaged?

I’ve been in the commercial building, interior design, and commercial furniture manufacturing (did I miss anything?) industry for almost 30 years. We tell ourselves that the industry is based on design. We woo the designers and chase Best of NeoCon Awards like they’re magazine covers, but I’ve come to know something all of you also know. As important as product design is, and as much as I love good design, it always always always comes down to relationships. This is true, and any salesperson will tell you. We buy from people we like. We spec product from salespeople we can rely on. If you have the relationship in a project, you are truly in the driver’s seat. I think we all know this. We continue to focus on design, because that defines our industry, but it doesn’t sell product.

Here’s something else we all know. Email doesn’t work anymore. We are all email fatigued. Our inboxes are overstuffed and most of us are barely keeping our head above water, responding to only those emails that are dire. Email is a way to share information, but it’s no way to communicate. How many times now do we begin an email with “Hey-just sending this to get it back to the top of your inbox!”. People don’t read anymore. They certainly don’t read emails. Mostly.

So, how do we stay engaged? How do we maintain our networks? How do we stay informed? Are we expected to sit at our desks and read newsletters all day? Certainly not. I am fresh off of HD Expo last week. I was fortunate enough to be presenting with my podcast partner, Verda Alexander. Together, Verda and I produce a podcast called Break Some Dishes. I made time on day 1 to walk the expo floor. While there appeared to be fewer exhibitors, I loved the energy of the industry all under one roof. We need this. We need these opportunities to personally engage, to allow that biochemical interaction. Before COVID, we thought conferences and tradeshows were dinosaurs. Washed up. Old fashioned, expensive and difficult to measure. While they are still hard to measure, we know that the virtual events don’t work for us. We need to press the flesh. This is how we maintain our relationships. We know this.

Listen to Break Some Dishes here!

So, I’m looking forward to ICFF and NYCxDesign coming up in a week and I’m feeling bullish. I think NeoCon will finally feel “normal” again and we’ll be back in business. To all of you on the fence about the tradeshow/conference model, please jump off. Our industry needs this.We need places to gather, meet, learn, and be inspired.