North America’s largest woodworking show and conference, the International Woodworking Fair (IWF) Education Conference, took place at Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA, from August 6-9, 2024. The gathering allows vendors to reach a large sector of potential customers, interact with other industry leaders, and explore recent innovations in the woodworking space.
This year, three of our FinishWorks team members who attended the conference offer details about their experience at the 2024 International Woodworking Fair. The event recap below consists of personal observations from Jason Byers, Director of U.S. Distribution; Shane Withers, Vice President of Sales and Business Development; and Matt Goode, Director of Business Development.
“I always look forward to IWF, the connections we make both with existing customers and new potential customers is of great value. The additional things I look forward to are seeing what the industry as a whole is focused on and what products or services our competition is bringing to market.”
—Jason Byers, Director of U.S. Distribution at FinishWorks
IWF: An Overview
According to its official website, the IWF Education Conference “provides woodworking industry professionals practical learning and development opportunities relevant to contemporary business operation and management.” Byers confirms that the fair is an excellent way to connect with both customers and business leaders alike, specifically those whom they don’t get a lot of face time with throughout the year, and serves as an organized meeting place for collaborative business planning and development. Withers agrees that IWF is “by far the best show” for attending brands to meet, educate, and reach customers.
About This Year’s FinishWorks Booth
The International Woodworking Fair is the largest show of the year for FinishWorks. The primary benefit of attending the event is the invaluable opportunity to connect customers with premium products that solve their unique needs. We also leverage our appearance to showcase entirely new products and technologies.
Withers notes that this year’s booth was particularly exciting, as it unveiled the new FinishWorks branding and the consolidation of Mohawk and FinishWorks into one cohesive brand. IWF 2024 served as a launching point for the updated branding and logo treatments to our product lines, sporting the eye-catching orange and other bold color choices to reflect the new vision. RPM Industrial Coatings Group, of which FinishWorks is a subsidiary, regards the merger as a "powerful partnership that provides a full range of products to make sure you get all the way across the finish line by leveraging each other’s strengths to make life easier for our customers."
New Product Offerings
This event is incredibly valuable for showcasing some new product offerings that have recently gone to market or are anticipating launch. One of the products we were delighted to announce and highlight at the conference is our new Cerus-N-Stain solution: a one-step cerusing system intended to simplify and streamline the liming process.
Jason Byers notes that our solvent 2k urethane system was also a product of interest amongst attendees:
“The new solvent 2k urethane appeared to resonate well with the crowd. That space is currently dominated by the Italian manufacturers, [but we saw] the need to produce a domestic product that is easy to use, cost-effective, and has short lead times to the end user customer.”
Introducing: Trendscape
Events like IWF are integral in the introduction of new product lines, tools, and application techniques to the wider market, but a single annual appearance can’t possibly showcase every noteworthy breakthrough. That’s why, fueled by our commitment to innovation, FinishWorks has expanded the Design Corner to include our regular Trendscape publication, where we bridge the gap between inspiration and reality by reporting the latest in color trends, applications, and design.
IWF 2024: Quick Recap of Events
The educational sessions at the conference featured various presentations and symposiums covering relevant industry topics such as business operations, manufacturing, design, marketing, workforce maintenance, and organizational culture. Additionally, there were seven winners of the International Woodworking Fair 2024 Challengers Distinguished Achievement Award, which recognizes innovative products, services, and techniques sweeping the industry.
Join FinishWorks and Other Big Names at IWF 2025!
These events are crucial to professionals in virtually any manufacturing sector. Not only do they provide a platform for launching new offerings, but conferences like the International Woodworking Conference also provide a designated space for peers to network and share their expertise with one another. Not to mention that IWF is the type of show brands must attend in order to be taken seriously as a contender in the industry. We hope to see you next year at IWF 2025!
Our responsibility as coating experts isn’t just to bring you the highest quality finishing solutions, but to reveal to you all that you can achieve with a little help from FinishWorks. For more inspiration and updates in color trends, applications, and design, check out the latest issue of our Trendscape publication.
