The 2018 NFPA Conference & Expo has come and gone. With several thousand people attending the event – from manufacturers and engineers, to contractors, to us tech guys – it was truly a great opportunity for us to share Inspect Point and make lots of new contacts!
If you have never attended the NFPA Conference and Expo, I 100% recommend checking it out next year. Each year, gets better and better, and provides a great opportunity for those in the fire protection world to get together, share the mission of our companies, and see where the industry is heading.
This year, Inspect Point was set up in booth #608, along with our good friends from Nuvo Solutions. I’d like to thank them for supporting us at our booth. It was great meeting Dave and learning first-hand about their services. If you are in interested in cutting data expenses or looking for new mobile tools to pick up workflow, please be sure to check them out!
Around our booth, we were able to speak with other exhibitors. For example, just across the way, there was a gentlemen from Auto Fire Guard showing off their brilliant Automatic Fire Extinguisher! This was definitely a hit, as people were stopping by to check out just how a 10-pound extinguisher in a 3-pound ball really works.
To the right of our booth was MDM Publishing – the publishers of several well-known fire protection related magazines, including International Fire Protection, International Fire Fighter and several more. It’s always great speaking with other exhibitors and learning what they do.
In between exhibit times, when we were not busy at our booth talking about how Inspect Point supports inspection businesses, we were able to walk around and take in just how truly massive this convention was. Some of the set-ups around the convention I can honestly say blew me away (this was my first time ever attending an event on this scale). From checking out the future of virtual reality (VR) at NFPA’s home of the future, to live demonstrations of Honeywell products, to Johnson Controls towering screen that welcoming you into their massive exhibit space, the size and impact of this industry was hard to miss.
Of course, no NFPA would be complete without Sparky and the gang, right? It was really nice to see him walking around and taking pictures with everybody.
As for Fire Truck Sparky, it’s safe to say he brought a smile to everyone when he’d drive up and just start talking! I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the the man behind the voice and controller, and he was truly having fun. That was really nice to see!
While we were busy during exhibit times, we were able to sneak away and attend a few education sessions, such as, ‘Reliability-Based Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance Planning’, and ‘Fire Inspection – A Vital Need?,’
With training sessions and information all over Mandalay Bay, along with smaller spaces within the same convention room as the exhibits, it was hard to not learn from everyone – all coming from various positions and fields across the industry. I hope to take advantage of this more if I have the chance to attend future NFPA events!
With attendees representing countries all over the world, you are easily able to see the impact the NFPA has on fire protection at a global level. Attendees from places such as Korea, Nigeria, Paraguay, Brazil and many others, stopped at our booth, looking to find a software to aid in their inspection process – I couldn’t have loved it more! We rejoice in the idea of having a global footprint, and to help companies with their constant strive to have an efficient workflow, all in one organization, and frankly – to cut ties with the tedious pen and paper process!
Overall, Las Vegas was a great time! If you are a company debating on whether you should put the time and money towards attending events like this, do not hesitate to pull the trigger! I think it really comes down to the classic line of, what you put into it is what you’ll get out of it. If you come in with the right mindset and prepare for success, your company will find itself in a better place after.
Coming off of this event, we are excited about the future and are ready to share our software with clients all around the world! We’d like to thank NFPA for having us and providing the opportunity to demo our product to attendees curious about how software is helping inspection companies succeed and grow. We hope to see you next year in San Antonio!
If you didn’t get the chance to check out our booth and are interested in what Inspect Point can do for your inspections business, please feel free to request a live demo!
