Report of the MCAA Convention Committee

Educational Programs
We have expanded our educational programs for the 2005 show, offering attendees information on current hot topics and requested advanced programs.

Our Educational Seminars have increased to 4 topic offerings from the 2 that we previously held, Foreman Development and Basic Estimating. We had a sold out Foreman Development course at the 2004 show and will be offering it again this year. In addition, new to our seminars is an Advanced Masonry Estimating course, Wall Bracing Seminar and OSHA 10 hour Construction Safety seminars. Contractors have been asking for an advanced level estimating as well as a wall bracing course. We also feel safety is a large issue on jobsites for our contractors and OSHA was more than willing to step in.

In addition to our seminars, we have expanded our education workshops to now include 16 session topics. We have a great line up of current hot-topic discussions and detailing workshops to address recent issues/trends contractors have been experiencing. Also, with our new partnership with Construct America, we will also be presenting topics with an Architect/Specifer focus, promoting the sustainability and detailing of masonry systems to these attendees as well. All attendees of Construct America will be available to attend the three show educational programs after registering for educational packages at any three associations.

Social Events and Keynote Speakers
The Opening and Closing Banquets have been scheduled. To start off, the program a Joint Construct America Welcome Reception will be held at the Field Museum. All three show’s attendees will be available to network together at this event furthering relationships with our construction industry partners and suppliers. The closing event program will include a Chicago Style Dinner followed by a comedy show at Chicago’s famous Second City Theatre.

Speaker for the Opening Session Lunch (Gary Fencik, Chicago Bears Superbowl Champion).

New Highlights
New highlights for the 2005 Masonry Showcase include increasing exhibits from 2 to 3 days. As mentioned earlier, attendees of any three shows will be able to attend the education offerings of any 3 shows with an education package registration. New to our competitions will be the Masonry: It Makes a Village competition. This competition will promote masonry systems to architect and specifer attendees by highlighting the creativity, sustainability and showcase various masonry products that can be included into projects.

For 2005 our show marketing efforts will include:

• Over 125,000 total brochures will be mailed to mason contractor firms throughout the US and Canada. These include over 18,000 mason contractor firms, 1,000 MCAA members and also a new list of 7,000 US mason contractors, recently purchased.
• Focus of mailings will be direct mailers to all 25,000+ contractor firms and MCAA members, surrounding IL state mailings to promote to local contractors and the drive-in factor of the show, ride-along brochures with our Masonry Magazine Mailings reaching over 18,000 subscribers
• Monthly show advertisements in Masonry Magazine and industry affiliate magazines
• Distribution of Masonry Showcase brochures to MCAA’s nationwide chapter affiliates for distribution to their membership base
• Masonry Showcase information posted online at www.masonryshowcase.com, our website, experiencing over 5.4 million hits per year

For exhibitors we have also brought back the “Showcase News” newsletter to further inform them of the current events and to further promote exhibits and showcase events.

Exhibits
Exhibit sales for 2005 have exceeded numbers in comparison to last September, even with the show being a month later. This time last year we were at 8,000 sq. ft. Currently we have 55 exhibitors (19 new) and 10,700 sq. ft. contracted in comparison to a total of 60 exhibitors and 16,400 sq. ft. at the 2004 show. We are 60% to our goal of 18,000 square feet with over 6 months left to sell. We have added more exhibitor potentials to our list and have been in contact with over 1,000 companies and are well on our way to our goal of 18,000 sq. ft. Exhibit rates for 2005 have increased $10 to $32/sq. ft. as a result of our new partnership with Construct America. The additional benefits of the co-located shows have not deterred many exhibitors from paying the increase.

Following is a breakdown of exhibit sales and projections:

The following companies have not committed to either side yet. I have urged these companies to stay with us. On the CSI/MCAA fence:
Blok Lok
Cav Clear
D-Cut Products
LaFarge
Mortar Net

Undecided Companies from prior years:
Action Scaffold
B&B Cut Stone
BilJax
Bon Tool
Carelift
CeeJay Tool
Crick Tools
EZ Scaffold
HEK
HYDEK (MidAtlantic Scaffolding)
Ingersoll Rand
LiftKing
Masonry Estimating & Consulting
Pentstar
SealTech Block
Sterling Handling Equipment
TUT Software

Strong Potentials:
Restoration Direct
Midwestern Industries
Samuel Strapping
Beldon Brick
Belmont Rose Granite
Avanti International
Construction Specialties
Gillis Quarries
Edwards Cast Stone
Ultra Diamond
Iwanski
El Dorado Stone
McCausey Lumber

2004 Exhibitors not returning:
Crank Up Scaffolding - World of Concrete
Game Over Scaffolding - Out of scaffold business
Gehl-1200’ - Per Terry, “taking his money to World of Concrete”
Halfen - WOC, AIA, PCI
Hydra-Flow Mortar Mixers – exhibit rate too expensive
Kraft Tool -
Partner Industrial Products - New CEO doesn’t do shows
Pettibone Michigan - not this year
PR Diamond Products - short staffed and too expensive
Professional Products of Kansas – does not like Chicago and CSI
Star Industries - Too expensive
Independent Stamping - wants booth for $20/ft