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NEMRA Annual Conference in Las Vegas Draws 1,900 Attendees

Feb. 9, 2023

The 1,900-plus attendees at this year’s NEMRA Annual Conference enjoyed a busy four days in Las Vegas that were loaded with hundreds of one-on-one sessions; an inspiring keynote presentation by NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback Kurt Warner; an Emerging Leaders meeting that drew more than 80 attendees; and the annual NEMMY Awards program.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association (NEMRA) honored several rep agencies and manufacturers in its NEMMY Awards program and recognized Rick Angel, Lutron’s senior VP, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Encore Wire won the 2022 Rep’s Choice Award, and the 2022 NEMMY Partnership of the Year Award went to Stuart Hall and his team at KMS Sales, Youngsville, NC, and Eaton. Synergy Sales, Fairless Hills, PA, won the 2022 Manufacturer’s Choice Award.

Attendance for the conference topped last year’s event in Dallas by approximately 300 people. NEMRA hadn’t used a casino hotel for its annual conference since the 1987 meeting in Reno, NV, and the venue seemed to handle this year’s conference quite well. While you always have folks who either love or hate a casino property for a meeting or traveling to Las Vegas, few attendees with whom Electrical Marketing spoke had any major complaints about the Virgin Hotels facility.

The booths for the one-on-one meetings were all close together, and the hotel was able to accommodate NEMRA’s requests for dozens of the innovative modular privacy suites on the show floor, which gave reps and manufacturers more privacy than the standard “pipe-and-drape” booths, and the ability to book a suites in several different sizes, from 10-ft by 10-ft up to 20-ft by 20-ft with a large conference table. Many NEMRA manufacturers and independent reps customized their booths with custom signage, and from all reports, attendees like the idea of not having to race to meetings in suites all over the hotel, which has been a challenge in years past.

NEMRA service providers and new manufacturers/vendors at the show seemed to be satisfied with booth traffic at the conference. Phoenix Lighting, a provider of LED lighting fixtures and solutions for mines, ports and other industrial applications, and Aida Corp., a manufacturer of wiring devices, had two of the busier booths at NEMRA, with plenty of reps checking out their products. Salespeople from both companies said they were happy with the traffic at the show, and that they had plenty of independent rep agencies to evaluate for open territories.

The 2024 NEMRA Annual Conference will be held Jan. 29-Feb. 1 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas.

About the Author

Jim Lucy | Editor-in-Chief

Jim Lucy, Editor-in-Chief, Electrical Wholesaling magazine and Electrical Marketing newsletter.

Over the past 40-plus years, hundreds of Jim’s articles have been published in Electrical Wholesaling and Electrical Marketing newsletter on topics such as the impact of new competitors on the electrical market’s channels of distribution, energy-efficient lighting and renewables, and local market economics. In addition to his published work, Jim regularly gives presentations on these topics to C-suite executives, industry groups and investment analysts.

He recently launched a new subscription-based data product for Electrical Marketing that offers electrical sales potential estimates and related market data for more than 300 metropolitan areas, and in 1999 he published his first book, “The Electrical Marketer’s Survival Guide” for electrical industry executives looking for an overview of key market trends.

While managing Electrical Wholesaling’s editorial operations, Jim and the publication’s staff won several Jesse H. Neal awards for editorial excellence, the highest honor in the business press, and numerous national and regional awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors. He has a master’s degree in Communications and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Glassboro State College, Glassboro, N.J. (now Rowan University).

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