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Newcomers’ Reception After making the difficult decision to move the Newcomers Reception inside due to the more than 100-degree heat, the Newcomers Reception kicked the Convention off in style, as more than 100 GAWDA New Members, Past Presidents, and members of GAWDA’s Member Services Committee gathered in the Wildflower Ballroom to mix and mingle and show off their hand in a fierce putting contest. Winners from last night’s putting contest will even bring home some hardware and be recognized from the stage during tomorrow’s Opening General Business Session, so stay tuned! Thank you to all who came and all who…

The purpose of Ask Your Board is to ask common business questions that all GAWDA members might be dealing with and to see how GAWDA’s Board of Directors are dealing with these issues within their own companies. To submit a question for GAWDA’s Board Members to consider, please email [email protected]

By Gary Halter and Steve Guglielmo Gary Halter officially took the oath of office as GAWDA President in Maui, Hawaii in 2023. Since then, he has devoted each day as President to fulfilling his promise of “Leading with Purpose and Serving with Heart.” When he took the office of President, Gary laid out his agenda as President, coming back to the acronym IMPACT Leadership. Now, as Gary prepares to hand the baton of President off to Eric Wood in Phoenix, we had the opportunity to speak with Gary during the Northeast Regional Meeting as he reflected on this long and…

Craig Wood GAWDA President 2012-2013 O.E. Meyer Company Obviously, this is a very special year for our entire family at the 2024 Annual Convention. It’s an honor to have this opportunity to share my thoughts as one of a long list of Past Presidents who have unselfishly served in this role. Back in 1997, Rod Belden and I made a trip to Wisconsin, hosted by Bill Higley on a fact-finding mission, while we were preparing to break ground on a new facility. We spent a couple of days with Bill. He was clearly instrumental in our master plan! As he…

Making the Most out of Networking 360 At the 2022 GAWDA Annual Convention in San Diego, the GAWDA Industry Partnering Committee debuted the “Networking 360” program. The event was conceived as a sort of “speed dating” for GAWDA distributors and suppliers to be able to network in a more controlled and intimate environment than the hustle and bustle of the Contact Booth Program. The Event premiered to great fanfare, as 105 supplier members had the opportunity to spend 5-minute sessions with 53 distributor members who participated. “I would pay my entire dues for the year, just to attend this event,”…

Congratulations to all GAWDA Members celebrating anniversaries in 2024 The past several years have represented a dramatic shift in the gases and welding industry. We’ve seen the industry get leaner, as M&A activity continues to shrink the industry, while the internet, and the rise of AI and other technology makes the entire world smaller and more connected. But, in a larger sense, the fundamentals of the business remain the same. This industry remains a relationship business. While the X’s and O’s may look different today than they did 100 years ago, the overall playbook remains very similar. And there’s a…

The purpose of Ask Your Board is to ask common business questions that all GAWDA members might be dealing with and to see how GAWDA’s Board of Directors are dealing with these issues within their own companies. To submit a question for GAWDA’s Board Members to consider, please email [email protected]

The Southwest Regional Meeting took place near Houston from May 20-21. Nearly 100 attendees were on-hand at the South Shore Harbor Resort & Conference Center to see presentations from from Jesse Thompson from the Federal Reserve of Dallas, Chuck McConnell from the Center for Carbon Management in Energy and an incredibly motivational presentation from Nick Scott a two-time world powerlifting champion and wheelchair bodybuilder. Thank you to Regional Co-Chairs Ashley Madray and Gary Degenhardt for organizing this year’s event and to everyone who attended. Click the button below to see pictures from the event. If you attended this year’s event…

Keeping tabs on one’s competitors is not a bad idea, particularly when they come from alternate channels and are somewhat out of sight. Welding and Packaged Gases distributors began seeing some industry specific SKUs slip into alternate channels with the emergence of e-Bay. Managers would become distressed when a customer would appear in one’s showroom, sight a machine sitting on the floor, and remark that they had just purchased the identical product from an e-Bay site. At that point, terms like B2C and B2B were not even in our vocabulary.  We learned quickly that Amazon, and a whole group of…