The MSR Workshop headed west to Idaho this spring to a resort destination that lived up to its reputation! The annual event hosted by the MSR Lumber Producers Council in late April welcomed 68 attendees, including five guests, to the Coeur d’Alene Resort for three days of networking, education, and a little R&R. [For all photos, See PDF or View in Full Issue.]
“I enjoy the Workshop because of its intentional focus on creating opportunities for valuable face time,” explains Ben Evans from Birmingham International Forest Products. “It’s a lot more intimate than other shows I attend during the year, which makes it a forum where you really get to know people and they get to know you.”
In addition to a golf outing and dinner cruise at the resort, attendees said the self-contained venue lent itself well to networking before, during, and after scheduled events.
“I really liked the laid-back pace of the Workshop compared to the more chaotic atmosphere of a big tradeshow floor,” says first-time attendee Sam Lewis from Pineridge Lumber. “I felt like the actual impact of each conversation was better than at a big show.”
The beautiful venue and stellar networking were rivaled only by the lineup of high-quality educational sessions – another mainstay of the MSR Workshop – that kept attendees engaged and conversations flowing. The topics covered this year included an economic forecast, information about sustainable forest practices, and an overview of softwood lumber markets in Europe. The group also took a closer look at how innovation is driving the use of mass timber in high-rise construction, an area of potential growth for the MSR lumber industry.
“I appreciated the relevant and diverse topics that were covered in the educational sessions and that participation was high among attendees,” remarks Sam, whose company just became a member of MSRLPC. “The overview of the building market was really good, and I thought the discussion of modern innovations in the industry tied well to our tour of Mercer Mass Timber.”
Sam says Pineridge Lumber has been in business for five years, and he has heard nothing but positive comments about MSRLPC and the Workshop. “It played out really great,” he says. “It’s a much more tight-knit group than you get at bigger shows. I found a good homogenous mix of suppliers, brokers, and end users that wasn’t too skewed toward one group. That made for good conversations that track with reality. We will try to attend every year in the future!”
Stay tuned for the date and location of next year’s MSR Workshop at msrlumber.org/workshop.