This year’s record-breaking International Roofing Expo (IRE) in Las Vegas was a big one for the industry, and a big one for me, personally. 

It marked my 10^th IRE since joining the industry as editor of RC. Looking back, I remember that first show as being a Herculean effort from a logistical and execution standpoint. We were largely a print operation – a magazine with a 30-year-old reputation and mailing list  that dabbled with a fledgling website in those days.  

My, have the times changed!

Challenged by my colleagues to write this note upon returning from the most recent IRE in Las Vegas, I started to reflect on both of those shows, and with a little research couldn’t shake the connections between the two. At first glance, the show – and industry – was much humbler then. Roughly 9,500 people representing 460 companies visited the IRE show floor, which covered 120,600 square feet of display space at the Orange County Convention Center in 2016.

By comparison, last month’s expo set a new benchmark as the largest show in the event’s history, spanning more than 230,000 net square feet and featuring more than 700 exhibitors.

In 2016, getting a chance to interview and meet keynote speaker Beck Weathers was an absolute thrill. Earlier in my career as a newspaper reporter, I had the opportunity to meet another member of the fateful expedition up Mt. Everest in 1996 that claimed the lives of eight others, and was stunned by their stories of survival, determination, and personal strength. Starting my new career in roofing with that background allowed me to ask Weathers insightful questions and draw out his story of perseverance and humility in a way that had me contemplating my own mortality, and I hope that readers did too. 

What else do I remember from that show?

• Peyton Manning made an appearance via GAF fresh off his second Super Bowl victory. It was amazing to meet arguably the most accurate passer in NFL history, and looking back, the timing made it all the more memorable. Manning, likely still sore from taking a few shots during the Super Bowl 50 win over the Carolina Panthers just a week earlier, was contemplating retirement. Though he didn’t let on, watching him uncomfortably turn his entire torso to meet and greet roofers because of the discomfort that came with turning his neck probably told the story. Barely a month later, he formally announced the end to an 18-season, Hall of Fame career. 
• Also making news at the show was another retirement —that of long-time NRCA Executive Director Bill Good. After 28 years at the helm, he was ready to cede way to Ried Ribble, who coming from Washington, D.C., started the organization on a new path of modernization and professionalism with contractor certification programs, political activism, and models for scalable growth.
• That IRE also hosted the first formal meeting of National Women in Roofing. Now a signature feature at the event every year, that first get-together featured Lindy Ryan, the NRCA's first female chairperson, who spoke about her remarkable corporate career and years as a trailblazing leader in a traditionally male-dominated industry.  Ryan's positive message of focusing on the job, not the gender, offered a powerful lesson in developing talent across our rapidly diversifying industry in desperate need of capable workers.

The State of the Industry keynote at IRE 2026. From left: RC Group Publisher Jill Bloom, NRCA CEO McKay Daniels, Adams & Reese Partner Trent Cotney, BNP Media Co-CEO Mitch Henderson and RC Editor-in-Chief Art Aisner.
Photo: Shadi Absi

Coincidental Connections?

As I prepared this column, I had to chuckle thinking about how at this year’s show, the NRCA awarded Ryan with its highest honor – the JA Piper Award. And the presenters made it clear, it wasn’t only because she shattered roofing’s glass ceiling, but because of how she operated and understood the roofing industry in a way that most people don’t. 

It also wasn’t lost on me that Auburn University edged out the University of Florida team in the Roofing Alliance’s 13^th annual Student Construction Management Competition. Ten years ago, it was Florida edging out Auburn for the title in Orlando.

I mentioned the Beck Weathers keynote experience earlier. Since then, I’ve had the pleasure to cover eight other IRE keynote addresses and have to say I was impressed by them all — with Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Jesse Itzler and the previously mentioned Ribble standing out among my favorites. While covering those talks was special in their own ways, this year’s keynote paled in comparison to the honor of actually participating in the event. 

In our role as the official publication of the show, and the industry leader in providing news, research, and information, we partnered with industry experts Trent Cotney and the NRCA’s McKay Daniels to share the latest survey data from our State of the Industry Roofing Report, and laid out the prospects for the industry in 2026 and beyond.

Words Matter

Ok, so about the Word Cloud. What was designed as way to include the audience in setting the stage for the data discussion turned out to the longest 90 seconds of the entire hour-long keynote session. If you were there, you know what I’m talking about. If you weren’t, I can’t quite recreate the moment in an article, but allow me to offer some context. 

Prior to arriving in Las Vegas, I asked Cotney and Daniels to sum up the prior year in a few words and thought to use them in the presentation. We then thought posing a similar question to the audience about what they were looking forward to at IRE 2026 would “break-the-ice,”and get them comfortable with using their phones to participate in the multiple live polls we incorporated during the presentation. 

Jill Bloom artfully tossed the question to the crowd, and responses to the QR-code prompt on the big screen flowed in. The responses were largely unsurprising and on target for the subject matter … for about the first 20 seconds. Then the responses started plummeting downhill -- from respectable “Education, Networking, Shingles,” to “strippers, booty,” and other body parts. Again, I guess you had to be there, but where else can you get a keynote address like that? 

The show is always a whirlwind with a of series of meetings, events, product demonstrations, coordinated pitches and chance encounters. But what I took away more than anything else is that still after 10 years, relationships matter so much in this business, and that you can walk into a story at any moment. I get fired up thinking about the undefined. That’s what keeps me excited about what’s next. 

The year ahead is full of coverage possibilities with our four leading brands, and there’s a lot to unfold and understand better. Looking forward to it!