Three year's ago I didn't just attend my first CONEXPO, it was my first construction trade show ever. As much as my colleagues tried to communicate what it would be like, no matter how carefully I thought I'd prepared, it was a complete trial-by-fire experience. I won't sugarcoat it. After I got home from that eight day stint, I felt exhausted and like a total failure. If you've ever hear of "imposter syndrome" then I was feeling like the living embodiment of the idea. Privately, I told my family that I wasn't sure that I wanted to be around by the time CONEXPO returned.
Thankfully, I didn't let those feelings of failure win, because shortly after leaving Las Vegas behind, I started to figure out how I was going to make this role my own. If I'd come back and decided this wasn't for me, and walked away, I can confidently say that I would have deeply regretted it -- a sentiment only confirmed to me by my return this month to Sin City itself and the trade show that almost beat me.
It's Too Late To Turn Back Now
Three years is just long enough a time period to feel distant, and at the same time, it feels too close to justify claims of major changes or growth. However, as I walked through the massive halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center's sprawling campus, things felt different.
It's still too big of a show to see EVERYTHING there is to see, or even all that you want to see, because of its sheer numbers. But the biggest difference maker this time wasn't just knowing more about the industry or having more trade show experience, even while both of those are true. The real difference maker is the same thing it always has been in our industry: relationships.
As each year goes by and I'm in this role as your editor-in-chief, that only grows in relevance and affirmation. That isn't just true on the manufacturing and media side of the industry, no, it's also true of the long-standing contractors who've survived many decades, economic seasons, and innumerable difficulties. The relationships they forged, both in business and in their personal support structures, those are what made the real difference.
Three years ago, the construction world met and was licking its wounds from the sting of a global pandemic. In 2023, everyone sighed for even the slightest indicator of normality. We looked ahead. In 2026, I would argue that things feel less normal than they did then. In videos and interviews and off-the-record moments I had, people rephrased or out-right avoided words like "uncertain" or "challenging" though it was clearly what they wanted to express. What has me concerned is that there are times when it's the careful things no one is saying that loom largest.
See you on the road.
