Article by Rich Donnell,
Editor-In-Chief
With attendee registration opening online January 1 (www.pelice-expo.com), the 2018 Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELCE) kicks into high gear. Panel World magazine serves as the media host for the biennial event, which will be held April 13-14, and which will be held for the sixth time at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
This PELICE will also celebrate a special anniversary that almost caught us by surprise. It’s been 10 years since the first PELICE in 2008. Which begs the question, what were we all doing in the spring of 2008 when the first PELICE was called to order.
Frankly, the organizers of that first PELICE, including yours truly, were quite nervous. We were saying to each other, “We must have been out of our minds,” and accusing each other of “getting us into this.”
When I say “we,” I mean FredKurpiel of Georgia Research Institute, who had approached me in the summer of 2006 with the idea of starting PELICE, and I mean me, who had responded to Fred that it sounded like a good idea.
By the time we got serious about it, in mid 2007, a booming housing market had already stalled, home foreclosures were increasing drastically by the month, and the subprime mortgage industry was collapsing. About the time of our first PELICE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen more than 20% in five months.
Our country hadn’t named it yet, but we were in The Great Recession, which the Federal Reserve would ultimately recognize as beginning in December 2007 and ending in June 2009, though its aftershock permeated our industry at least into 2012.
Despite all of that, the first PELICE attracted 500 industry personnel, which told us there was a need for an event that combined the non-structural and structural segments of the panel and engineered wood products industries. If you were there, you may be thinking there was no way 500 people were there. That’s because the conference was spread out all over the Omni on three floors. Now you remember. Fortunately since then PELICE has been exclusive to the Grand Ballroom North of the Omni Hotel.
Also fortunately since then the economy has continued to improve. Particularly during PELICE 2014 and PELICE 2016 much of the discussion was about new plant projects and expansions, and PELICE 2018 looks to have more of it.
The recession of 10 years ago taught us that things can change in a hurry. We seem to be rolling along rather smoothly now and we know there’s potential for more building growth. So as the good times roll, PELICE is planning a champagne brunch on the second morning of the event not only in recognition of its modest longevity, but also to salute the resiliency of the panel industry during the same period.
By the way, the above headline is a quote from Winston Churchill. See you April 13-14.