WICA Members gathered at The Grand Wailea Resort in beautiful Maui, Hawaii from Sunday, September 16 to Tuesday, September 18 sharing ideas, learning how to prepare for the future, and collaborating as industry leaders.

On Sunday attendees were offered a Catamaran Cruise that took them on a six-hour journey along the Maui coast. Attendees were taken on 2 snorkeling adventures where they were able to take in beauty of the underwater sea-life. It was a memorable afternoon of sailing the Pacific.

Members later met at the Lagoon Overlook for the Opening Reception and were surrounded by beautiful island vistas. Pictures from the Opening Reception can be found here.

Monday brought a morning of thought-provoking education with a lineup that encouraged attendees to begin strategizing for the future in all aspects of business from motivating new personnel to improving sales tactics. Between the Keynote Breakfast session and seminar taught by featured speaker Mark Matteson and an additional seminar presented by Jon McCleary with Performance Contracting, Inc., one theme that was heavily discussed amongst attendees was managing and attracting a younger workforce that is not easily motivated by traditional methods and incentives. During the Keynote Breakfast, Mark Matteson addressed the need to adjust company culture that embraces the changing workforce. He introduced his LESTER method, which stands for Listen Actively, Echo Emotions, Sympathy vs. Empathy, Thank, Evaluate, Respond which can be used in any workplace situation. Members were actively engaged sharing their thoughts on adjustments their companies could make to motivate the changing workforce.

Social events on Monday included a Hawaiian Cultural Experience Spouse Program where attendees learned to dance the Hula and make traditional Hawaiian Leis. Pictures and video of the Spouse Program can be viewed here. During the afternoon attendees took part in the Annual Convention Golf Tournament. After a challenging 18 holes of golf on the Gold Course of the The Wailea Golf Club, the foursome of Ken Gritter, Jake Erickson, Steve Watters, and Richard Cleminson emerged as the victors.

The final morning of convention, members were given an overview of the industry through presentations by Annual Sponsor Companies: Armacell, Foundation Building Materials, Ideal Products of America, ITW Insulation Systems, Owens Corning, RPR Products, and Zenith American Solutions. (Some company presentations can be downloaded below.) Additionally, the membership met for the 2018 Annual Meeting and discussed ideas and challenges that we face and how we can overcome them to strengthen and grow the membership and WICA. We are actively working towards addressing all of the concerns and ideas presented and will update the membership as changes are made. New leadership was also voted upon and will take effect in 2019.

For the final evening, members dressed in their resort best as convention concluded with a black and white themed President’s Dinner held in the Grand Dining Room.

WICA would like to sincerely thank the many sponsors who helped in making WICA 2018 Annual Convention a success. Without the support of these companies, the convention would not have been possible. They are:

3M, Acutron, LLC., AEROFLEX USA, Ins., Alaskan insulation Specialties, Alpha Engineered Composites, Armacell, Aspen Aerogels, Bay Insulation Supply, CertainTeed, Distribution International, DUNA-USA, Farwest Insulation Contracting, FastEST, Inc., Foundation Building Materials, General Insulation, Hudson Bay, Ideal Products of America, Insul-Therm International, Integrated Marketing Group, ITW Insulation Systems, JM Industrial Insulation Group, Johns Manville, Knauf Insulation, Merit Insulation Group, Midwest Fasteners, Inc., Owens Corning, Performance Contracting, Inc., ROCKWOOL, RPR Products, Unifrax, Zenith American Solutions.

We look forward to having an amazing Convention in 2019 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

FBM Sales Presentation

WICA 2018 Annual Convention Gallery