Rick Damato

I was delighted to come across a YouTube video of Chad Collins testifying before a Congressional committee looking into  the Green Roofing Energy Efficiency Tax Act of 2009 (GREETA). 

I really do. I love change. It makes my writing job so easy. Getting words structured into proper sentences and spelling words right is not much of a challenge when you have spell checker along with talented and educated editors fixing everything you mess up (thanks, y’all).

Writing on the topic of worker safety in this column a few issues back I casually mentioned that cutting back on marketing efforts in tough times is a bit like tossing out the clock to save time. While I certainly cannot take credit for coming up with this bit of wisdom, I do buy into it. 

For the two of you (hi Mom!) who are regular readers of this Blog, I will begin this one by apologizing for the long absence. For some reason I was hit with a world-class case of spring fever this year. Was it me or was that the longest and coldest winter in recent memory?

It has been years since news of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina passed from page one to section two to the occasional retrospective documentary. The work of rebuilding, however, is still very much on the minds of the people of New Orleans.

During a time in which trade shows have been reporting declining attendance and less than stellar results for exhibitors, the 2010 International Roofing Expo (IRE) somewhat bucked the trend in that the trade-show attendance was basically flat from the prior year and seminar attendance was actually up. 

A tough economy often means that R & D dollars are harder to wring out of the budget. However, there are still innovations to be found at the roofing industry trade shows, including the International Roofing Expo (IRE), held this February in New Orleans.

February 25, 2010 – from 33,000 feet

It is not uncommon for a commercial roofing contractor to have the “what to do after we leave” discussion with his building-owner client.

This time next week I will be packing it up and heading to New Orleans for the NRCA Convention and the International Roofing Expo. After over 35 years of these things you would think I might be tired of them, but I am just as excited this time as I was in 1974 when Julien (the late Julien P. Benjamin Jr.) footed the bill for me to attend my first roofing convention.