Pacific Northwest dealer biggie

flespite a year that had a number I/of people in the business apprehensive (and worse), the Western Building Material Association nonetheless drew more than 1600 participants to its 77th annual convention and building products show. The attendance figure, off only slightly from last year, was testimony to the strength of the group, which serves members in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska.

The convention and accompanying show were all under one roof this year, at the Portland Maniott, a year old hostelry on the Willamette River, which flows through the heart of Oregon's largest city.

The Western dealers besan their

Story at a Glance

Professionalizing financial management seminar and talks on operations management, economic forecasts and review of the new scene in Washington, D.C. highlight 77th annual Sid Voorhees chosen new president.

schedule, appropriately, with a Western Round-Up cocktail/dinner session Nov. 15, with the balance of the evening spent strolling through the show exhibits.

The exhibitors had another crack at the Quick Pitch Selling Talks. Each firm had a severely limited time to proclaim the merits of its goods and services. The lone-winded were quickly gavelled to 6 stop. An electronic accounting and computer management session was the next scheduled event, demonstrating the ever increasing dealer involvement with electronic data processing.

Among the speakers during the (Please turn to page 1 1 )