Why State Tradeshows Rock - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Justin Shirley from State Roofing and RCAW. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

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Megan Ellsworth: All right, hello everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth here at Rooferscoffeeshop.com, and I am very excited to be chatting with Justin Shirley today, with the RCAW Association of Washington. We're going to be talking about the 2024 Trade Show. So, hi Justin, how are you?

Justin Shirley: Good morning, Megan. I'm doing great. How are you doing?

Megan Ellsworth: I am doing just dandy. Super excited for the 2024 RCAW Show. So let's dive right in and have you just introduce yourself.

Justin Shirley: Okay. Again, Justin Shirley, currently VP of Operations at State Roofing, which is one of the largest residential roofers of Washington state since 1968. Then also, I have the privilege and honor of being the President of the RCAW, the Roofers Contractors Association of Washington. This is my third year as President. And I am just grateful to be a part of the association and super excited for our trade show coming up.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's great. To give a little bit of inspiration to people, why are RCAW state trade shows so saliant for the roofing industries?

Justin Shirley: Well, I've been in roofing for 30 years. I've been going to trade shows for 30 years and I never get tired of them. Trade shows, you have your large ones. I go to REI that's coming up and we have Western States Trade Show, we have Middle Con. I've been to all of those and I love them, but I love state trade shows because it is about your community where you're from. Local vendors, local business owners talking about what's relative in your area for us, the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, what's going on, what's involved, products in our area and people in our area that represent you, your business and promote growth for you where you're at. I love local trade shows.

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing. I couldn't agree more. Going off of that, what are some key benefits that you've taken away from the RCAW show over the years?

Justin Shirley: Our local trade show, since I've been involved with it, I have met so many people in the roofing industry or attached to the roofing industry that has helped me personally and also any business that I've been associated with, and that's whether it's the RCAW or the business, the roofing contractor business that I've had partnerships with, from insurance, from marketing, from manufacturing, from products, anything involved in my business, I have met people that have helped me grow personally and that have helped every business that I've been a part of grow substantially. They are dedicated and they are fixed on the locations or location that I am at in helping me promote growth. You can't get that anywhere else on that kind of level. There's people and there's companies that are nationwide, but when you get to meet your local reps for those companies that are nationwide, or you get to work with smaller companies that are in your backyard, it promotes your company and gives it that distinction in your area like nothing else.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, amazing. Yes. I couldn't agree more already. Can you tell us a little bit about history on the RCAW trade show, when it started and how long you guys have been doing it?

Justin Shirley: We have been doing the trade show on and off for years since early 2000s. It hasn't been annually every year and definitely with things that come and go such as COVID, stuff like that, we haven't been able to, but since the early 2000s we had one at least every two years. We've been fortunate for the last three years to have it on the West Coast here. We try to have it in different locations because Washington is a fairly large state. We are divided by some mountain ranges and geographic locations. Last year we had it north up in Marysville, which is Snohomish County. This year we're having it towards down south in Auburn. Our trade show is an important factor that kicks off our year for 2024. It is a pinnacle point in our year where every vendor, business owner, get together after the end of the previous year and after the holidays.

It's kind of like our first rallying point where we get to see everybody, meet new people. It's a community hub, I can't describe it anymore, where it's like it sets the tone for the year. Every year it grows and gets a little bit larger, gets a little bit better and people get more involved. It's something that has grown every year. It takes off and it just sets a great mood for the year to start off and see everybody, see people you haven't seen for a while, meet new people and what you can talk to them about and maybe incorporate in your year coming up in the roofing season that maybe you didn't think about. It sets the tone for the year.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely, absolutely. What are some events this year before the show starts that you're looking forward to? Any networking events, roofing events?

Justin Shirley: The evening before our event, so March 1st is the actual trade show. The night before, the Thursday night before starting at six o'clock, we have a networking event from six o'clock to nine at the casino where the trade show will be the next day. We have a live band, a Billy Shew Band. They actually played last year, and everyone loves this band. We've used them at many of our events. Everyone loves their genre of music and really gets involved in their music. It has hors d'oeuvres and drinks. It's just a chance for everyone to come in, like I said, Washington's a large state, so people will be coming from all over, even Oregon, Idaho. They'll be coming in, getting their room, showing up early. About six o'clock, seven o'clock people start to congregate and meet up. Like I said before, it's just a community where people come together. You might not have seen them or talked to them for a while. It's a little chance to unwind, talk about what vendor they're excited to see, or what presentation they're excited to see the next day, or how they've been since you haven't seen them. It's three hours of just socializing, industry talk, of course, but just setting the mood and getting anticipation for the trade show the next day.

Megan Ellsworth: Yes, that sounds amazing. I remember that band from last year. They are amazing and it was so fun to have live music at that event.

Justin Shirley: Yes. They always come ready to jam and they always impress.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. I know you all do educational classes in the morning of the trade show. What classes are being offered this year?

Justin Shirley: This year we have a lot of classes. They start at seven o'clock and they go till about 10:00 AM. We have a marketing class, Marketing 101, put on by Integrity Northwest. Just going to get to the basics of marketing. Whether you have a small company or a large company, back to basics is a phrase that we use all the time. We also have a CPR and first aid class that's put on by Safety Matters. They always do our classes. I use Safety Matters in my business. Great class if you need to get CPR trained and certified. It's in Spanish, so if you have Spanish employees, they can get certified and trained as well. We also have, man, there's a whole list of them this year. We also have Ruth from Stock Claims. Stock Claims is an excellent business that I've used over the years. They help you with any L&I, labor and industries, citations, any incidents that you have on your job, taking care of your employees and also taking care of your business. They're a one-stop shop for that, and Ruth is also a terrific speaker and educator.

We have a Roof-All, we have Mike Goldstein from Roof-All. He's going to talk about technology and roofing, and this company is the spirit of technology roofing. I believe he's going to talk about drones. Over the last 10 years, drones have taken over roofing as far as evaluations and estimatings and keeping us safe, not having to get up on the roof when we're not actually doing work on it. He's going to go into their drone program and talk about that, how it can help your business. We have Business 411 about structuring sales for success. Everybody knows that that's where it's all starts is sales. You got to sell the roof. They put on a great class.

I think that's all of them, but the man that's a lot. That's six of them, five or six more classes than we've ever had. We have three big classrooms this year so there's a lot of people that can sit in. I think it's up to 50 or 75 per room. We have the volume that we can take anyone that wants to register. All those classes, you can't go wrong in going in any one of them. I know for one person you can't get to all of them, but any one of those classes that you pick will definitely benefit you personally and benefit your business.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. Absolutely. That's so exciting. Roof-All is so incredible and Mike is so knowledgeable. I think that's going to be just such a fabulous class. I look forward to that one.

Justin Shirley: I agree.

Megan Ellsworth: Tell us about the Fastest Shingler Challenge because I saw a version of this at the Western States last year and it was so fun to watch and I'm so excited that you guys are doing something similar.

Justin Shirley: Yes, the Fastest Shingler Challenge is something that trade shows have started with the last few years because just like you said, they are fun to watch and participate in. This year is our first one we're ever going to put on. We're fortunate to have Donovan Gladstone from GAF Roofing. He's sponsoring and holding this event for us.

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing.

Justin Shirley: He's going to do a great job as he does with everything. The competition basically is the same as probably people have seen before. 12 competitors, there's room for 12 competitors. They're going to install GAF HDZ Shingle, which has a wide strike zone on it. It's built for speed; it's built for attaching and nailing fast and they're going to be graded on speed and accuracy. You might have the speed to put on shingles fast, but you need to be accurate and know how to lay out shingles as well. There's three prizes. We're going to have a first, second and third winner, and the first place winner has the ability to win up to $500. It's not just accolades. It also has some money behind it, so I'm sure those 12 spots will fill up fast. I'm sure that it's going to gather a big group of people. We actually have it on a stage so you can stand or sit down and watch it. It's going to be between 12:30 and one o'clock Friday afternoon. I think that we're going to have a large group that's going to be in that area of the trade show at that time because like you said, it is fun to watch.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing that and we'll get some video of it. Anyone else that wants to see, don't worry if you can't make it, there will be video taken of it so people could watch. How do you register for that contest? Do people just show up? You said there's 12 spaces.

Justin Shirley: There are. There's 12 contestants. We'd like to do more, but the time only allows us to do 12. You could sign up at rcaw.com when you register for the event. If by chance there's any open spots at the trade show, you'll still be able to sign up there. You'll have to go to the GAF booth and talk to Donovan Gladstone if there's any available left, but I'm sure they'll fill up fast. But when you register for the event, you can register for that single competition as well.

Megan Ellsworth: Okay, great. That's great news. Everyone else can go to rcaw.com can register as well as you can find all that information on the RCAW, R-C-A-W directory on Roofer's Coffee Shop as well. What are attendees going to see this year that they didn't see last time at the show?

Justin Shirley: Well, this year is going to be our largest trade show event ever. We have up to 45 vendor booths. We have up to six classes. We never had six classes before. We're going to have vendors from all over the nation as we're going to have local ones, and we're going to have the shingle competition that we just talked about. We have never packed in this much information, this much vendor booths and this much community into a trade show yet. This year is going to build on what we have done the previous years, they'll just be bigger and better. We're at the Muckleshoot Casino. The brand, brand, brand new hotel is finished, just opened up in January, so you can have a hotel room the night before, the day after. You can get into town that Thursday, check into your room, a brand new room, then come down to the needle event and meet everybody the night before. Get a glass of your favorite beverage, enjoy the music, be able to go to bed, wake up the next morning refreshed, go down and get breakfast and walk right into the trade show and enjoy a full day of the classes, the vendors, the competition, all in one spot.

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing. Well, I know that the Roofer's Coffee Shop team is so excited to be attending again and we're all just really looking forward to networking especially and getting to chat with all of our Washington friends and contact other members so I think it's going to be a great year. Going off of that for manufacturers and distributors, how can they get a booth? How can they get involved?

Justin Shirley: The easiest way is to go to rcaw.com and register online. You can also email directly to director@rcaw.com. Amanda Fields, who is our executive director, will more than happy talk to you about registering for the event, either as a participant or as a vendor. If you Google RCAW trade show, it comes up. Those are the multiple ways that are the easiest ways to find out information for the trade show.

Megan Ellsworth: Okay, amazing. Amazing. Any manufacturers or distributors out there listening, you should definitely get a booth. This is absolutely going to be a great show. Then you said contractors can register also on the website. Everyone can go to the RCAW directory on rooferscoffeeshop.com Lastly, if people come to the show and they're just super jazzed, how do they become a member of RCAW?

Justin Shirley: Well, becoming a member of RCAW is one of the reasons why we have the trade show because we want to build our association and build our community. As far as registering, I want to touch on, if you are an RCAW member, the trade show is free for you. If you're an RCAW member come to the show. You have no excuse, it is free for you. If you're a non-member, it does cost you a small price to get in, so that's one of the reasons to become a member of the RCAW is you get benefits like this trade show that are no cost to you and you can enjoy all the benefits for free.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely.

Justin Shirley: The other reason to join the RCAW is because all the classes that we're offering, all the vendors that are going to be there are a part of our roofing community in Washington. If you are a member, you get to be a part of that community and you get to have the knowledge from those people. You get to have the companies, you get to have the support at your fingertips, at your fingertips all the time being a member and being an exclusive part of our community. Our community is growing. I think we grew by thirty-two members just last year, 32 contractor members. The year before, 27. As our community grows, as our association grows and gets more support, these events like the trade show coming up on March 1st, allows us to also grow that event. It gets bigger and better as our community grows. If you are in the roofing industry or have anything to do with the roofing industry, if it touches your life in any way, by joining our association, that promotes the events like the trade show coming up that we get to do, and it just makes the vendors that we bring in, the support, the competitions, the community, it grows and it feeds upon itself. That's why every year this trade show just gets better and better.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. Oh, so true. Well Justin, thank you so much for sharing the history, your excitement and enthusiasm about the show. Roofers Coffee Shop is so proud to be a part of it and so excited. Everyone come on out March 1st to the Muckleshoot Casino in Washington state and we'll be seeing you at the RCAW Trade Show. Justin, thank you. This has been so great.

Justin Shirley: Megan, I had a lot of fun. Thank you for inviting me. I can't wait to see and hopefully participate with Roofer's Coffee Shop at the trade show.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. We're going to be doing our live soundstage. We're going to be taking video of all the events so everyone makes sure to subscribe and notified every time we post a new video because there will be lots of content coming from the RCAW Show. All right and we will see you on March 1st. Justin, thank you.

Justin Shirley: Thank you. See you there.

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