Every day, our industry builds communities throughout the Northeast.

We supply the lumber that frames a family’s first home. We provide the materials that help schools expand, hospitals grow, small businesses open their doors, and neighborhoods recover after storms. Whether it’s through independent lumberyards, hardware stores, manufacturers, or supplier partners, our work quietly shapes the places where people live, work, and raise their families.

Most of the time, we’re busy helping build everyone else’s community.

But once each year, we have the opportunity to build our own.

That’s what NRLA’s LBM Expo has always been to me.

Yes, there are new products to discover. New technologies to explore. New business ideas that can help all of us become better operators. Those things matter.

But they aren’t the reason I keep coming back.

I come back for the people.

As Convention Committee Chair, one of my favorite moments each year is welcoming someone attending LBM Expo for the very first time. I know what that feels like. Walking into a room filled with successful people from across the Northeast can be intimidating. It doesn’t take long, however, to realize you’ve stepped into something different. Before long, you’re shaking hands, exchanging ideas, and having conversations with people who genuinely want to see you succeed.

That’s who we are.

I also look forward to reconnecting with friends I’ve made over many years in this industry at LBM Expo. Some of our best conversations happen while walking the show floor. Others happen over breakfast, between educational sessions, or over a cold drink after the day’s events have wrapped up. We talk about our businesses, our families, the challenges we face, and the opportunities ahead.

Those conversations matter.

They’re where ideas are born. They’re where problems get solved. They’re where partnerships begin and lifelong friendships are strengthened.

Our industry has never been defined solely by the products we sell. It’s defined by the relationships we build, the trust we earn, and the willingness to help one another succeed. In a business that continues to evolve, that sense of community has never been more valuable.

For generations, LBM Expo has been where those relationships come together. It has become more than a convention. More than a trade show.

It has become our annual reunion.

This December 9 and 10, we’ll gather once again at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. We’ll celebrate what’s new, learn from one another, and prepare for the future of our businesses.

More importantly, we’ll invest in something that has always made this industry special—each other.

If this will be your first LBM Expo, I look forward to personally welcoming you.

If you’ve been attending for years, I can’t wait to shake your hand again.

Because when the booths come down, the lights go out, and everyone heads home, you may not remember all the products you saw, but you won’t forget the relationships you made.

Because every day, we help build communities across the Northeast. And, on December 9 and 10, we’ll build our own.

I hope you’ll be there.

Sincerely,

Robert T. Bicknell
Convention Committee Chair
The Bicknell Corporation, Potsdam, N.Y.