Betsi Robinson
Associate Editor
I came away from the International Sleep Products Association’s Industry Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, March 4-5 feeling grateful for the opportunity to meet so many mattress industry professionals in such a relaxed and beautiful setting.
Unlike rushing from one showroom to the next in Las Vegas or High Point—with notebook and pen never out of reach and no more than a few minutes to say hello—I tried to take advantage of my first Industry Conference to spend time with as many of you as possible and learn more about what you do.
Turns out other “newbies” to the mattress industry were doing the same, including Matt McGuire, a territory manager with Innocor Inc. and golfer extraordinaire. (He swept up every award at the tourney!) At lunch on Thursday, McGuire and others at our table talked about how nice it was to rub shoulders with veterans in the industry.
“It’s a chance to put names with faces,” he said, “to just sit back and listen to the people who have been in the industry for a long time. I’m glad it happened to be the 100th anniversary of ISPA. It’s neat to learn more about the history of the industry.”
Victoria Basso, another first-timer at the conference, has worked for QAI Laboratories for three years but in sales for just six months. “There is so much to learn here, just talking to everybody,” the account manager said. “For me, it’s been interesting to hear what challenges the mattress industry is facing. Because our company is on the testing side of it, I think now I can go back and think of solutions to help.”
Basso’s co-worker, QAI Operations Manager Brian McDonald, told us he attends the biennial event to keep up with what’s happening in the mattress industry and connect with clients.
You can bet some business occurred during our buffet lunch. I soon discovered it was no accident that Harrison Murphy, president of Ventex, took a seat with McDonald and William Barone: Murphy’s company deals in fire barriers; Barone’s Japanese trading company, Mitsui, supplies flame-retardant fibers to the industry; and McDonald’s QAI conducts fire-barrier testing.
That’s when it clicked. These guys normally conduct business via phone or email. When an opportunity comes along to connect in person, they search one another out to catch up. I saw that time and again during my trip to Florida, driving home the point that ISPA’s conference is as much about relationships as it is hearing from some of the top speakers in business circles today. (Although we did plenty of that, too.)
“In the long run you have companies, but it’s the people that make the difference,” Murphy said. “It’s about creating those relationships and being able to talk to people face-to-face. You get a spark. You might meet later. I think this conference plays a really important role in this.”
Basso came away from the conference impressed with the expertise and energy she encountered while there. “I’m going to go back and tell my bosses we need to be a bigger part of this,” she told me.
Now that’s what I’d call a success by most any measure.
