',rhe hoftest show in the lumher induslry"

his is not your father's trade show. No elegant resorts. No golf tournaments. No banquets. No spouses' programs. And, best of all, no disgruntled exhibitors, hands in their pockets, grumbling about the slow floor traffic.

After just two years, the North American Wholesale Lumber Association's annual Traders Market has become arguably the hottest show in the industry, a hit for both attendees and exhibitors. The accent here is on trade not show.

The no-nonsense, no-frills market is perhaps the lumber industry's purest attempt yet at getting back to basics, a business function where people actually do business. "It's the best show we participate in. Period," says exhibitor E.J. Langley, Anthony Forest Products Co., El Dorado, At. "It's not a 'play' show; they don't have a golf tournament. It's a working show, short and strictly business."

"In 43 years in the lumber business, this is the best show I've seen," adds Willie Goyne, Gulf Lumber Co., Mobile, Al. Its reputation continues to grow due to "word of mouth," he says. "I tell everyone they should go."

Attendees agree. "It's the association event of the year," says Doyal Marks, Marks Forest Products Co., Birmingham, Al. "It provides a tremendous opportunity for traders to network."

fl Show for tha Traders

The idea grew out of a NAWLA strategic planning committee meeting held in Chicago in 1994. Interaction between manufacturers and wholesalers was promoted during the popular contact sessions at NAWLA's annual meeting each spring; the only problem was that typically the attendees were owners and other executives, not the employees doing the actual trading.

Suppliers would say that it was great to meet the ceo-he just didn't return to the office and tell the trader to give them a call.

According to Steve Killgore, Willamette Industries, Albany, Or.: "NAWLA as an organization is always trying to bring value to its membership and has always promoted contact with manufacturers and industry vendors. Senior management would go to the annual meeting, but not sales managers or salespeople at the mills. It didn't have a trading floor atmosphere."

So, NAWLA decided to sPin off and expand the contact session into a separate show "for the guys who really make it happen," Killgore explains.

"Usually the owner goes to the trade shows, but the owner doesn't know the (vendor's) salespeople. For him, it's usually a vacation," adds Goyne. "But the guy who attends this show is the guy who actually issues purchase orders. They aren't just walking the floor; these people are on a mission."

What NAWLA didn't want to do,

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according to Steve Snavely, Snavely Forest Products, Pittsburgh, Pa., was to "cobble a show together just for the sake of having a show."

One goal would be to keep it convenient and affordable. The association wanted to hold the Traders Market in a centrally located "hub" city for a major airline that offered a reasonable climate in the fall, to separate it by six months from the annual meeting. The choices were Denver, Chicago and Dallas. Dallas was selected as the most affordable, most accessible site.

Registration rates would be kept below 9200 and hotel rooms under $100. "It's economical enough so that you can justify a six-month, one-year, or lO-year buyer being there," says Doug Honholt, Universal Forest Products, Inc., Grand Rapids, Mi.

For further convenience, the show has been held at an airport hotel. "It's easy to get in, easy to get out," Anthony's Langley explains. "Most people can get a direct flight from their hometorvn. It's easier to get to than some resort on a beach."

The show is not held during the middle of the week, ensuring more affordable room rates and airfares (by meeting the common Saturday night stay requirement) and not taking away preclous selling time in the office or field.

"Because it's a weekend, managers will encourage rather than discourage their traders to attend," explains Tom Tomjack, North Pacific Lumber Co., Portland, Or.. who served as committee chairman for the first two NAWLA Traders Markets.

It's equally affordable for suppliers. Exhibitors are limited to a single 8-ft. by lO-ft. space, allowing as many different suppliers as possible to participate-on an even playing field. "You don't want one manufacturer to dominate the show," explains Snavely, who served as NAWLA president during the market's first year. "A large producer with locations across North America has the same size booth as a small pine mill in Maine. Both booths have the same curb appeal. The booth can be inexpensive; how nice it looks doesn't matter. You don't need to build a big Taj Mahal and spend $4,000 hauling it down there."

Both suppliers and their customers see the market as an economical way to see each other. "It has enabled the wholesalers to cut down on their mill trips and accomplish more by spending less money and exposing more traders," says current NAWLA president Stephen Boyd, Manufacturers Reserve Supply, Irvington, N.J.

Attendees are limited to wholesaler distributors and pur- wholesaler-processors. No nonexhibiting primary manulacturers are allowed on the floor. No manuf'acturers' representatives. No retailers. Ntt buying cooperatives. No builders. No contractors.

"We make such a wide varietY of patterns that typically ir retailer can't take a whole truckload. so the wholesale distributor is our target customer," says Mark Junkins, McShan Lumber Co.. Inc.. McShan, Al.

There are also more restrlctrtrns than at most other building material shows regarding who can exhibit, reserving the always-sold-out booth space for lumber, panel and engineered wood producers. The Traders Market does feature a few exhibitors selling services and companion products such wood treaters, prefinishers and hardware manufacturers, but the focus is clearly on wood.

"The rest of the shows are so diluted," Junkins says. "Most will have software vendors, trucking companies, even phone comPanies. NAWLA is so strict on who theY allow in."

The handful of software comPanies allowed on the premises will have

(Continued on page TM 8) nc. ..........................308

I his list includes companies scheduled to exhibit at the 1998 NAWLA Traders Market and their booth numbers. Please double check the official directory at the event for any changes. Advertisers in this supplement are in bold.

Malloy Lumber Co. ..............................906

Mary's River Lumber Co. I 2 I 3

McCausey Wood Products ...................6 I i

McShan Lumber Co.........................1102

Memphis Hardwood Flooring Co....... l0l 3

Midwest Wood Treating... I 2 I 5

Mill River Lumber Ltd. 309

Norbord I nclustries.............................. I I 06

Srhedule of tvents

Ihmdott{oY.5

5:00 - 6:30 p.m. Earlybird Cocktail Party tddlt lloY.5

8:30 - I l:30 a.m. "Power.Tools for Power Sales" (telephone sales seminar by Judy McKee)

I I :45 a.m. - l:00 p.m. All-Delegate Luncheon featuring keynote speaker Joe Gritfith l:15 - 5:00 p.m. NAWLA Traders Market Open

5:00 - 6:30 p.m. lce Breaker Reception

Sllurdlt 110.7

8:00 - 9:15 a.m. Magellan Club Breaktast: "European Market Insights" (optional international trade program by Eddie Pearce, Southern Pine Council, moderated by Bob Owens)

9:30 - I l:30 a.m. Educational Sessions

"A Peek Behind the Scenes at Crow's and Random Lengths" (featuring Dr. Sam Sherrill and Jon Anderson, moderated by Doyal Marks)

"second Place on the All-Time List (or Cross Currents in an Aging Economic Cycle)" (economic forecast by U.S. Bancorp chief economist John Mitchell)

I l:45 a.m. - l:30 p.m. Lunch Buffet booths down the hall. off the main trading floor.

"At LAT (Lumbermens Association ofTexas' annual convention), you have to go down two aisles before you see a lumber person," says Langley. "You pass nails, machinery, steel gates, plastics. It's turned into more of a hardware show."

Un the frcding lloor

Ironically, it was NAWLA's associate members who at the outset seemed to demonstrate more faith in the idea; the first Traders Market, in 1996, sold out its 103 exhibit spaces. "At the first one, nobody knew what to expect, so they sent their sales managers or the most expendable person from the office," recalls Dale Catt, Boise Cascade Corp. wholesale division, Boise, Id. "They liked the format and the concentration of suppliers, so by the second one, everyone had time to prepare."

NAWLA was able to make room for 157 exhibitors in 1997 and 175 this year.

Attendance jumped from about 750 in 1996 to 1,300 last year, with more than 1,500 lumber traders expected this year. Universal Forest Products sent fbur buyers the first year, eight the second and will increase its representation this year to double digits.

"The first year I was the only one from our office to attend," ogr."i Bob Mai, Potlatch Corp., Lewiston, Id. "Last year, we only left one person behind."

As for exhibitors, there's a waiting list to get in. "By going, we saw about 5OVo of our regular customers, including IOOVo ofour top 20 customers, and we've picked up new people," says Junkins.

Several liken the market's effectiveness.to the Western Wood Products Association's spring meeting at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, one of the many events it has drawn people away from. "With all those people milling about in the hotel lobby, you couldn't have a conversation," Killgore says. "It was kind of mayhem."

WWPA and other sponsors have seen event attendance decline in part because they are regional. On the other hand, Bill Scott, Simpson Timber Co., Arcata, Ca., says buyers and sellers are going to the Traders Market "because there's no othcr show where they can see that many people in one place. Most of the other shows we exhibit at are area shows, where you go to Denver and see people from Denver or. at most, from a two or three state area."

"We'll man a booth from l: 15 till 5 or 6, and we'll have people literally lined up to talk to us," says Art Parker, Pope & Talbot, Inc., Portland, Or. "We can see all of our customers and many prospects we've heard about from all over, Canada, the South, the Pacific Northwest. At the Canadian Lumber Association show in Montreal in February, there will be 500 or 600 people total. This is double, maybe triple that."

The show's continental scope has helped southern pine manufacturer Keadle Lumber Enterprises, Inc., Thomaston, Ga., expand out of the South. "We can see more people from more areas of the country," says Dan Phanis. "At the last show, we met a lot of wholesalers from the West who are looking at pine lumber, and we picked up a few customers. Plus, we see the wholesalers we normally sell to."

Although most showgoers can issue (Corttitrued on page TM l0)