Expertise matters
Ben Wallace, managing director of the Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF), looks at the value of learning from other people’s expertise and explains what all sectors of the industry have to gain from attending the industry’s Glass Conference this October.
Any successful business will have an eye on the future and be thinking about how to drive the company forward given the latest market opportunities and challenges.
It often means stepping outside of your comfort zone to explore new ideas and strategies, but it pays off because it keeps the business ahead of the competition. To develop any company successfully you need to draw on relevant expertise, and this doesn’t always come from within.
With customer expectations rising all the time, we’re all expecting more from our suppliers. We expect them to have all the answers, and we expect these solutions to be conveniently available when we need them.
We want expertise. But of course, none of us can be an expert in everything and while it’s fairly common practice for businesses to hire external expertise into a company when it comes to accounting or legal support, this doesn’t always extend to other areas.
The industry Glass Conference being organised by the GGF, the FIT Show and FENSA on 16 and 17 October is an opportunity for installers, fabricators, trade counters, systems companies, and anyone else in the industry, to benefit from a whole range of expertise.
The conference will feature unrivalled quality keynote speakers from all sectors of the industry who will deliver content and learning sessions that are both informative and practical and will be genuinely valuable for companies wanting to stay ahead in our ever-evolving industry.
Elevate your offering
Topics that will be shared by our selected experts on the day include the latest industry statistics and consumer trends including data up to the end of Q3 2024, the most up to date information on building regulations, how to empower our future workforce through training and apprenticeships, mental health and caring for employees, how to elevate your customer service, sales and marketing strategies, building regulations, the Future of MTC (Minimum Technical Competencies), home improvement trends and much more.
As well as having access to this expertise, all attendees will be given a FENSA Guide to Compliance, a bespoke industry data report produced through a collaboration between the GGF, Business Pilot and Keystone, practical training sessions around MTC, and hot desks on building regulations so that all delegates can have their questions answered.
The quality speakers that will be sharing their expertise on the day include: Kev Jones, senior technical officer, GGF; Chris Beedel, head of government advocacy & stakeholder relations; GGF, Nick Caddy, founder, Adverto Media; Sanmukh Bawa, founder & director, The Glass Company; Sam Davies, technical manager, FENSA; John Mannell, technical officer, GGF; Elton Boocock, managing director, Business Pilot; Alex Lewis, business manager, Renolit UK; Lee Galley, technical manager, RISA; Lis Clarke, operations director, FENSA; Natalie Little, commercial director, Truhouse & GGF president; Laura Molineux, director, Halley’s Windows; Guy Hobson, senior recruitment consultant, Chase Taylor Recruitment; Remi Gruszka, national sales manager, Smart Vision Systems; Jennifer Young, sector market manager, Saint-Gobain Glass UK and Ireland; and Ryan Johnson, managing director, Emplas.
Valuable insights
Just as installation businesses understand fitting windows and doors like no-one else, and systems companies understand extrusion like no-one else, all our experts can offer genuinely valuable insights into their specialist areas. It’s a rare opportunity to have access to this level of information and support and these unique perspectives into how to drive your business forward and future proof against upcoming changes.
The glazing sector is in the middle of a more challenging landscape, but there is still plenty of market potential. We hope that by giving the industry access to experts in different fields at the Glass Conference it will help to generate new ideas and support businesses to become better prepared for upcoming trends, Building Regulations and legislation.