COLUMBUS, Ohio — Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) wrapped up its Annual Conference in New Orleans last December.
The event welcomed a record breaking 510 wholesaler attendees from 178 member companies for a grand total of 1,689 attendees from 582 member companies present at the event, an increase from 2018’s Annual Conference. The booth program sold out with 248 vendors.
Popular speakers included Vinh Giang, keynote speaker and magician, who used magic to show how perspective is the key to problem solving. Another crowd favorite was Ryan Avery, who taught attendees how to go from “A” Leader to “THE” Leader and how to provide “THE” product or “THE” solution by becoming more efficient, effective, and energized.
New to the conference was the State of the Channel report. HARDI announced the new research that will kickstart many new ventures in 2020 and beyond. Sessions that branched out of the State of the Channel included the Voice of the Customer and Voice of the OEM. These sessions were presented by HARDI’s industry partners, AHRI, ACCA, and PHCC, and discussed how the associations are working together to improve the industry as a whole. This new program falls under HARDI’s new Market Intelligence pillar, that was grown and expanded out of the Benchmarking pillar.
HARDI also used the time at Annual Conference to introduce new Directors for 2020.
- New Chairman of the Board: Tom Boutette, Johnstone Supply B&B Trade
- Laurent Roberts, cfm Distributors
- Carlton Harwood, Ferguson
- Rhonda Wight, Refrigeration Sales Corp (renewed for second term)
Next year’s Annual Conference will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Marriott Marquis, December 5-8, 2020.
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