Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Special Guest - Arnie Didier - International Mass Timber Conference 2025
Discover the future of sustainable construction with insights from our annual guest, Arnie, as we explore the exciting developments at the upcoming International Mass Timber Conference. Delve into the innovative projects that are redefining mass timber's role in construction, such as the striking ceiling installation at Portland Airport. With over 200 exhibitors and attendees spanning 40 countries, this year's conference promises unparalleled networking and learning opportunities. Uncover how mass timber is becoming a key player in large-scale projects, with case studies like Microsoft's data center and Walmart's campus demonstrating its incredible potential.
A spotlight on the Women in Timber event reveals a remarkable growth story, set to draw over 500 dedicated professionals eager to learn and connect. This episode covers the dynamic schedule of the conference, offering generous networking breaks and exquisite dining experiences. Learn from advanced workshops led by top architects and engineers, and hear about groundbreaking projects that tackle real-world challenges. The theme focuses on the tangible impact of mass timber and strategies to amplify its application in future endeavors.
Trace the global evolution of mass timber construction over the past decade with Arnie, from pioneering projects to today's megaprojects by giants like Google and Walmart. This episode will guide you through the transformation of mass timber from theory to practice, emphasizing the role of technology and policy in overcoming industry hurdles. Explore the potential of modular and sustainable buildings as urbanization and migration trends reshape our cities. With strategic advice for attendees and the announcement of a new multi-year partnership with Trifecta, this episode is a must-listen for anyone invested in the future of construction.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are live. This is the moment you all have been waiting for. It's time for the global sensation, the one, the only the undisputed heavyweight podcast in the world the Mass Timber Construction Podcast. And now here's Paul Kramer, your host.
Speaker 2:Good morning, good afternoon or good evening. Wherever you are in the world today, Welcome to the Mass Timber Construction Podcast, and you don't need to have an introduction to this gentleman. He's on every year. It's now our annual catch-up. He's on every year. It's now our annual catch-up. It's January 2025. We're probably less than a few months out from the International Mass Timber Conference and I'd like to welcome Arnie to the podcast. Arnie, welcome, Say hello to the listeners.
Speaker 3:Thanks, paul, appreciate you having me on again. It's nice that we keep repeating this at about this time. So we're getting fired up for March 25th through the 27th at the Oregon Convention Center again and got basically a whole new agenda this year. So it's just really exciting to see what's happening.
Speaker 2:Well, we'll get into that in a minute and I just want to say this is the fifth year we've done this in a row. My friend, this is being sort of COVID times. We have um sprung out of the gate and things are on an upward trajectory and it sounds like, from all the media coverage that's currently available, we're a very proud media partner with the team and the amount of LinkedIn activity it's going to be bigger than ever before, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the energy is huge, I mean, and I think it's indicative of the space itself. You know you're seeing growth around the world in all aspects of, you know, sustainable development, mass timber as a part of that, and others, and it's just encouraging to see it. And you know, I don't mean it to be arrogant, but the conference has kind of become a home base for everybody that if they can go to one place, you know, and consolidate their travel and, you know, see kind of all parts of the supply chain at once. And then obviously ours is heavy on education and interactiveness and all of those kind of things. So that's what's driving it is. There's so many real projects, so many real projects and Portland considers to be, you know, considered to be a what they quote, unquote the international capital of mass timber. You know, I think there's making sense with so many projects to choose from and and manufacturing facilities and so much political will in that area of Oregon.
Speaker 2:So I can't believe that you convinced the Portland airport to put in a huge mass timber ceiling just for the conference. Is this true? Is this rumor true?
Speaker 3:Well, it's actually an interesting story because that was presented and founded at the conference. Bill Browning gave the first kind of sneak peek into that. So many of the partners that are part of the conference played integral parts in that particular project and it's a real showcase. It's actually where one of the tours, which is about sold out it does a pretty good in-depth look at the airport and then the Port of Portland is actually going to be present at the conference and they have what's called the T2, which is Terminal 2, which is expanding and becoming a huge mecca for mass timber testing modular units. All of that that's part of the tour as well. But yeah, you look at the partners I hate to list them because there's so many, but whether it's ZGF or Timberlab or Zip Laminators and Western Archrib and on down the line, it's Skanska, obviously a huge player in that, and Swinerton and so many partners touched that project and it's really a showcase for the world to see what can be done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've been impressed by the imagery that's come out and people that come to the conference will be able to experience going through this massive area with this mass timber structure and it's a real great entry or foray into coming into the city. And then, of course, it's at the infamous Portland Oregon grounds that we've always held, with the Hyatt and obviously, our famous rooftop bar that everyone likes to go to either before or after the event, depending on whether you're having a breakfast meeting or you're catching up for drinks afterwards. It's a great venue.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they've really gone out of their way and they're going to do a lot of special things as people come in to the airport. You know, in 24, we had 38 countries. We're hoping to break 40 this year and it looks pretty likely. And what's cool about that is it's real. It's a real project. I mean there's not many people that can do that kind of a huge scale project, but as you look at it, that kind of a huge scale project. But as you look at it, there's multiple airport projects around the world happening and other types of projects. But it really shows an interesting dynamic in terms of what sustainable building practices can mean and how you can accomplish a huge goal like that. How you can accomplish a huge goal like that. And I give them so much credit. And it definitely helps showcase mass timber at the International Mass Timber Conference when you got an airport like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an impressive project and there will be people who have worked on that project. So anyone listening that's international going. How do I catch up on the supply chain or the way that the procurement worked, or the way that the procurement worked or the way that the construction happened or the way the logistics worked in an international airport? You can probably catch up with people at the conference, which is another great reason to you know. Book your ticket, book your accommodation and get down to Portland and on top of that, you've got one of the biggest exhibitions happening in the conference ever. Right, there's more space being consumed now than ever.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have the. You know, go back in the day where we had a quarter of the facility. Now we have the entire facility of the facility. Now we have the entire facility. We just crossed 200 exhibitors. To put that perspective, in 2016, we had 28. So it's pretty dramatic and they're all bigger and so we're taking the entire footprint. Very, very interactive. You've got Woodworks is doing a live build of a building inside the facility. Again, this is the second year and that's going to be kind of on steroids and doing even more. The Union Brotherhood of Carpenters and Plenaries are putting on a showcase of you know kind of hands on activities Multiple, multi, multi story exhibit spaces to show off products. Yeah, it's a different kind of a style and, like I said, you know, we kind of reinvented the entire conference because of the need for additional opportunities for education first, and then networking as well, and then how do you expose people to the new products? And that's really happening, you know, and it's really cool to see it unfold.
Speaker 2:I think that there's been a genesis of activity that's happening in Oregon, with the two universities getting some significant grant funding recently to look at mass timber, volume, social and other housing, and you've got this vocational education coming through with the building of the building in the exhibition hall, and so we've really got the whole gamut right. Higher education's being covered, but also down to what does it mean for tradespeople and what does it mean to actually practically put things together. And then across that you've got machine and equipment suppliers and you've got software people that come through that help complete the ensemble of the supply and fabrication supply chain.
Speaker 2:So really, there's something for everybody, no matter where you come from in the supply chain, from forestry right down to trades on site. There's something in there for everyone, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's. You know we always start with the forest first and then you go from there to these beautiful, incredible buildings and projects that are being done around the world and you know you're going to have chances to see that. You know. I mean, we have actually five tours this year, you know, and we had to make hard choices. There was, you know, 50, 60 applications for those 15 slots and they show the whole gamut.
Speaker 3:You know you got all the way from an airport to a modular ADU unit that you can put in your backyard made out of CLT. You've got an opportunity to go visit which is a huge, huge, growing aspect of mass timber is warehouses. So you know you got companies, the big name companies, pro logistics, going to present around why they built mass timber warehouses. You know you got the Frears company with their MPP, the mass plywood product pretty incredible. You know dynamic product that are getting showed off.
Speaker 3:But then you've got, you know, forestry tour. You've got manufacturing of bolts. You know the Portland Bolt is hosting a tour. So you know, all of a sudden you get pretty in-depth and then you get some really interesting buildings that you're going to have one shot to see them and then they close up because some of them are pretty security filled and all that other stuff. But as part of that goes, it just showcases what can be done. And, as Craig Rawlings, my business partner a lot of people know him that'll be listening, but Craig always says entrepreneurs win the day and that's what we're seeing now in this mass timber space. You know, roloblast is coming up with new fasteners or Hilti is coming up with a new fire stop. I mean there's all kinds of product additions that are coming to the table, along with manufacturing facilities like solder, timber, timber and and other folks like that.
Speaker 2:pretty cool to see it unfold and I think a big shout out has to go out to the uh organizing committee, and my good friend, nick houston from australia, who's formerly from the uk, is on that committee with you and it seems that the agenda that's starting to come out at the moment is really robust. Tell us about some of the key highlights coming through from the committee that you've decided. This is the direction we're going and these are the people we're bringing to the stage.
Speaker 3:Yeah, nick is a great addition. He's actually moderating a panel around moisture control and managing those projects, which is that was actually the highest rated program in 2024 was the one around moisture and coatings. So we've got several folks like Sanson and others, timberpro, hermajink and others that are coming to the table with their products. But when I say we reinvented it, in a sense we did. If you can imagine, the most education sessions we've ever had at the conference was in 2024, with 16, which is a lot. This year there's 24. So it's really focused and there's a couple of pretty significant new things happening on the agenda. So Tuesday is the day of the tours. That kick off everything and then you have the big reception. But what we've done is we're starting the tours earlier, we're streamlining them to get everybody back by three o'clock to the Oregon Convention Center, because the conference actually kicks off at three o'clock in a big way on that Tuesday. Prior to that, woodworks, our co-producer, is hosting a Mass Timber 101. That's a workshop that's really worth your time going to. It's got lots of information that will kick that off. That starts at 1230 that day and that stops before the 3 pm. But we have two keynote panels prior to the reception and the idea is to stimulate conversation at that networking event and then throughout the conference and then the sessions are tied all the way through. But as an example we have it's called sustainable lumber, and where does engineered wood products fit into that? Well, we've got the president of Georgia Pacific going to talk, fritz, and we've got Monica from Boise Cascade and Katie from Weyerhaeuser and Jason from Redbilt in Hampton. You know big, big producing companies that aren't always about mass timber but they're about sustainable lumber production as well and engineered lumber products. You know, and they're going to talk as kind of an open forum. Pete Stewart's the moderator. He's been around, everybody knows him in the industry for 30 years.
Speaker 3:Really interesting kickoff. Simultaneously we have the head of the union with actual contractors that built buildings and Jason from Woodworks who's very instrumental in all the actual processing of the buildings. Buildings they're going to be on a separate stage talking about safety, which is a huge topic, and talking about real world application techniques, and then you can take that forward and go on the floor and see those in use. So that's a totally new thing that we're doing. We think it makes sense. People are there, they're ready to go and you know the workshop has a little additional cost to cover the stuff in it. That's through Woodworks and it's a really great program.
Speaker 3:But then there's 3 to 4 pm on Tuesday and then at 4 is the big, you know, kind of opening reception and then people, you know that goes to about six and then people go out. So that's a really interesting start. We're really jacked to see how it goes. We think it's going to be very embraced and get some really high profile people. But again, it's all about sparking conversations and dialogue during the conference. And then what can you do to make things happen, to solve some issues? And that's where the other keynotes come in and in the sessions. So really, um, a fun way to start and we're just happy that you know these people, really high level people that have a lot to say, a lot to give can come to the table and really share you, you know, spark conversations basically.
Speaker 2:I think it's a brilliant idea, I think, create the genesis of ideation in the mind, then allow people to explore and then let that to continue to a point. And, of course, my favorite is that welcoming event, because it's the first time all the exhibitors are set up, everyone's in the hall, everyone filters through, you get to see all the exhibitors are set up, everyone's in the hall, everyone filters through. You get to see all the latest and greatest and catch up with people before you head out and you have a bite to eat and then settle down for the evening. And it's probably one of the most joyful and probably the most important networking sessions. And, of course, is the app back this year. So can I go on the app and plan to meet you, arnie, at Skanska's or Timberlabs stand at, you know, 4.30 in the afternoon in that event time, so that we can catch up and say hello and exchange a business card and then later on potentially go out for dinner. Can I organize all that before the event?
Speaker 3:on, potentially go out for dinner. Can I organize all that before the event? Yeah, that's a great point and we invested a lot into that, energy and money to get it even better and that actually will come live. March 1st is the expected date for that to be live. And, just like you said, it's a little bit like LinkedIn you got to be careful with, you know all of the security and all of that kind of stuff and privacy rules, but it's yeah. Hey, paul, this is Arnie. I'm interested in talking to you about XYZ. Oh yeah, I'd like to do that. That's part of it.
Speaker 3:And then there's some formal things happening at night, particularly Wednesday night. You know, woodworks has a big event with the Wood Innovation Network, and then something we started this year and I give them a lot of credit. Aaron from Swinerton and Whitney with Skanska and our Shelby who's with the Mass Timber Conference, along with several others, put together a women in timber event. Last year it was during the, during the conference break, but this year it's so big we're expecting 500 or more folks at that. It's not just for women, it's for you know, but it's focused in that direction. Non-binary and that, that. But it's focused in that direction, non-binary and that. But that's actually right after the conference, social ends at 530 on Wednesday. So that's going to be a very big event. But you've got lots of those kind of things doing it going on. But what we did is we the schedule. We always have big breaks and we're going to do that, and we have a big lunch and a very nice lunch by business partner. Tom's a total foodie and we never skimp on that. It's really good food, but it also is a way for people to talk and then later on, after you know the session was pretty, pretty intense, you can go have a beer, cup of coffee, whatever it is, and we have expanded that. But then ended the hours a little bit earlier so people can go to dinners, can go to do things. Portland's such a cool town to take advantage of, um, it just all kind of ties together the. The flow feels really good.
Speaker 3:But you know, there's a couple of things that are new. One really big thing that's new is case studies. So case studies are kind of hard because sometimes they feel like an infomercial, you know, and you just don't want that. So we have expected them to bring real numbers to the table and we had, I think, 80 submissions for 10 slots. Very tough to pick those. The list is going to be incredible. That is going to be posted here in the next week.
Speaker 3:And so there's kind of mini case studies. They get 15 to 20 minutes to say this was the challenge, this was the project, this is how we did it. Here's the basics. Boom, boom, boom. We can talk in depth and we're open to meet with you and talk about how we got it done. So that's a new big deal.
Speaker 3:We have advanced topics, which is like an advanced workshop run by some of the best kind of engineers from your world and architects of the world that we've handpicked for that Really intricate things, you know, and all the CE credits that go with that. And then we have a couple of really in-depth case studies. We call them. One is the Microsoft data center that was just built. So those folks are going to present real things and how they got it done, very in-depth, 60-minute type, in-depth about materials and choices and why they did this and why they did that. So you got the Microsoft one. And then on top of that we're going to have Brian Brashaw is moderating this and he's been intermittently involved in the birth of Mass Timber and it's about the Walmart project which we got a chance to visit last October.
Speaker 3:It's extraordinary. I mean, it's beyond extraordinary. You walk into the fitness center for the employees of Walmart and it's all mass timber and it's dramatic. And that campus alone is going to have upwards of 15,000 people working at it and they're going to have 10 or 12 mass timber buildings by the time it's said and done on that campus. So really intriguing to get an insider look at that project. That's, you know, kind of a big new thing that's happening and exciting, you know, to see that kind of energy in real projects. And that's kind of the theme this year going forward is these are real and how do you tweak it to make it even better. So yeah, really informative I believe it's going to be. We're testing some things out. There's going to be a lot of interactive things happening as well in the sessions, out of the sessions, in the networking time and the app you mentioned and some of the other things that are going to be available.
Speaker 2:I think that's brilliant and I am finishing off a paper at the moment and it's called A Decade in Mass Timber, and so I personally have pinned Stathouse and the Forte building here in Melbourne as being the first sort of global foray into volume mass timber buildings in the world to start this genesis of the current spread. So if that was happening in sort of 2009 to 2012, you know, my very first big published paper on mass timber is 2015. So 2025 is a decade, so it's a great bookend. And if I look at the immense change that's happened and if we follow that same trajectory based on the the international mass timber conference, 2016 to now, next year will be its, its decade. Right, it is huge change and I agree with you.
Speaker 2:We we struggled back in the early days to get evidence-based case studies, so we had quantity surveyors compare concrete and mass timber buildings and look at preliminaries and add backs, but a lot of it was theoretical Now to have these tangible cases and people like Microsoft and Walmart being involved in projects. I had a question Did you get Google to come on board at the conference this year?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, they're in a big way. You know they've presented before they just did the new project, one of the new projects there. There are multiple folks from there are attending and talking. You know, in addition to you know, when I mentioned these case studies, there's multiple international case studies as well, and they're not all big, huge projects. There's some regular projects that everyday people and developers are going to be able to do. You know, one of our partners this year again is ULI, the Urban Land Institute, both the worldwide one and then ULI Northwest, and they're bringing in a whole cadre of developers with real numbers and things like that and bringing that to the table. You know, those parts and pieces are what drive the business, you know, in the end, and it's exciting.
Speaker 3:The other thing that's happening and like I said it's basically been reinvented.
Speaker 3:The opening keynote is a panel and that's on Wednesday morning. So most people in this space know Thomas Robinson. It happens to be his hometown, right, and they're doing a project with multiple partners and they're going to unveil a bunch of that. But they've got $300 million worth of mass timber projects going in this one area and the area can be replicated in terms of in other communities and it's about bringing communities together. It happens to be in an African-American area that there's a lot of history to that and that's going to be discussed. But more in depth than that, it's real. There's projects being built, already built in the future.
Speaker 3:So that keynote is going to spark lots of conversations and the idea behind that is it's real projects. There's an incredible museum that the person's going to talk about and how they were able to do a lot of interactive stuff because of the sustainability design and all of that goes into that again sparking conversation. And then on Thursday we have a group of people. It's going to be really interesting, some of your old friends Paul King from Built by Nature is going to be on that panel, lucas Epp from StructureCraft, amy Helig from Ball Software and then another individual his name is Scott Francisco and the idea behind that.
Speaker 3:That's a little bit more of a futuristic look and it's you know, hey, there is still some barriers out there. We're going to talk a little bit about that, but then they're going to talk about how you incorporate AI into the solution, how you incorporate some of this structural analysis processes that Amy and Lucas are experts on. You got Scott and Paul looking at it from a policy side and what's worked, what's not worked, and we have a partnership with Built by Nature and really have a lot of common bonds.
Speaker 3:But that I'm excited about to tie in the whole thing and then that leads itself into the last day, on Thursday. But when you look at it it's about reality, probably more than ever, because there is so many projects out there, there's production coming on stream, there's new products coming to the table. You know a couple of the big buckets of new products. One I mentioned earlier is this warehouse space and the data center space. Huge opportunities there for sustainable buildings, let alone the modularization of products. I was on a project that was supplied by Kalisnikov and done by some really cool people Peter Rose out of the Boston area really cool people. Peter Rose out of the Boston area, his architect firm designed it and then his firms from Europe and elsewhere put it together. But essentially modular, stackable workforce housing done in CLT, and Craig Tom and myself and my wife Debbie and Carol Craig's wife got to go see that the Friday after our Thanksgiving. And what's intriguing about that is it's real. I mean, kalisnikov is going to have a booth showing off products that are ready for sale.
Speaker 3:So you want to do a workforce housing project? They're ready. You want to do an affordable housing project? They're ready. You want to do an affordable housing project? They're ready. You want to do some other things in that gamut that seem to make sense. Maybe it's an ADU in the backyard because you need additional revenue to float your mortgage or whatever. That, or mother-in-law suite or man cave or whatever you want to call it. There's some opportunities there. That modularization do you know better than anybody can be a very big part of the solution. We're going to have those units on the floor.
Speaker 2:That's impressive and I think being ready is an important distinction, more now than ever, with an urban expansion and a densification condition.
Speaker 2:An important distinction, more now than ever, with, you know, an urban expansion and a densification condition that exists in most modern cities. With migration patterns changing and pressures put on social systems, we need to look at different ways and this phenomena is global, it's not just local. It's happening here in Melbourne, it's happening over there, where you are, it's happening all over the place. And then, obviously, there's this drive to obviously meet the Paris Accord and 2030, 2040, 2050 emissions targets. All of this needs to be considered as part of the total solution and I'm so pleased to be associated with you know, yourselves and the wider global community in trying to find strategies and initiatives and be entrepreneurial, as you mentioned in, you know, configuring a way forward. Who's going to be the big names that are coming? I know I ask you every year and sometimes you can't tell me because it's under embargo, but can you give us a bit of a taste of as to who's coming through?
Speaker 3:Well, the way I would look at that is think of the technology companies Google, facebook, amazon, microsoft all attending, all talking about what they're doing. Then, all of a sudden, you go to multiple layers of people from Europe and in New Zealand and Australia and all parts of Asia coming in. You know, when you have 40 countries represented, we've got delegations coming from Korea, from Taiwan I mean multiple delegations coming in because they can see all parts of the supply chain at one time. So, but at the same time, it's not too rushed. You know there's a lot of information coming at you, but one of the things we're also doing is we started the International Mass Timber Report in 2019. And this year we're going back to our roots in a sense, but that report is actually going to be over 300 pages this year report is actually going to be over 300 pages this year. Real numbers associated with real pricing, pricing indexes, all kinds of information in that report. And you're not only going to get a PDF this year, but we invested to have everybody get a hard copy. It's expensive as heck to get those printed, but we think it's worth it because it's going to be in hand. You're going to get to feel it and touch it.
Speaker 3:But you mentioned universities earlier. We actually have one special Lunch and Learn that's going to be led by. I think that I saw Virginia Tech is on it. University of Arkansas, peter, our friend Peter there is on it. Our University of Arkansas, peter, our friend Peter. There. Michigan State's on that and that's going to be a special session around what are we doing on curriculum for mass timber, you know, and wood and those kinds of things. So they're going to be discussing that at length. We're actually going to the Softwood Lumber Board is really excited about that, and so they're going to have actually it's going to be like a lunch and learn on top of the session Something new. It's just another new piece that comes to the table. It's a way to spark conversations but actual results. So a combination of all those universities, then these manufacturers come into the table, all the pieces and parts within that, and then really big construction companies. You know you talked about, like you know, xl construction and Turner construction and you know worldwide companies Cree is going to be there. You know they have a booth this year, weyerhaeuser has a booth. So you know, all of a sudden you start seeing that and then you got a lot of startups that are going to be showing projects and products. We're helping facilitate that. So you're going to see some big displays.
Speaker 3:One thing I would mention, obviously in your space, the academia we do the poster sessions. Again, that was just posted on LinkedIn and social media. Around these poster sessions they get a huge amount of press. I mean because people want to see that, they want to feel it, those students most of them are PhD students that are presenting at that and it's going to be a live, interactive piece. The Tallwood Institute you know that joint venture between University of Oregon and Oregon State. They've got a big space.
Speaker 3:So it's just, and then it's. You know, it's just fun, you know, because you're around people. One of the other things we did, I mean it just goes on and on. It's fun. But one of the ideas was to create four cafes we call them within the exhibit hall so you can go have a cup of coffee, have a beer outside of that main area. Frears is hosting that huge area in the middle. There's going to be all kinds of fun, cool games happening in there. You know it's fun to bullshit. At the end of the day, you got all this information coming at you. But these cafes Weining is hosting one, the SFI those folks, which are awesome is hosting one, the Port of Portland, and then actually another company is hosting one. We're going to do testing around, monitoring around that and that's going to be really cool to see.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, we're just kind of fired up when you get into the agenda, which is almost it's probably 90 percent posted on the website now, with who's going to talk and what the basic talks are. You know, yeah, it's just kind of all facets, but we determine the content from the committee and then we do discovery meetings. You know hundreds of those throughout the year and that's how we decided we need to have sustainable lumber and engineered wood products from outside the mass timber space because people want to know about that. We need to talk about safety and proper installation. People need to know those kind of things. We need to talk about a real, significant project. That's why Thomas Robinson is hosting that keynote.
Speaker 3:We need to talk about AI and some of the structural analysis and architectural analysis, projects and possibilities out there, because that's coming every day quicker and quicker. And then I guess you know, going back to something I mentioned earlier, this women in timber thing. Who would have ever thought we're going to have 500 people at that thing? And it's fun and they do cool things and they have. You know, it's encouraging. And then everybody goes out and has dinner and has a beer or whatever it is and tries to rally for the next day and not be too hung over it's brilliant.
Speaker 2:It sounds like the star of the show is the planet, because there's just so much coming from a global perspective that, uh yeah, it's so diverse. You know there isn't one concentrated element, and so I guess that leads me to some advice for listeners. If you've come for the first time we haven't been for a while make sure you plan which sessions you're going to go to. Go on the website now. Have a look at the program. That's 90% complete. Plan out where you're going to go. Look at the app when it opens up March 1st and see who you want to connect with and really make the most of the time, because it goes so quickly. It is just a flash in the pan and it's over, and then everyone's saying goodbye and it's another 12 months, and then the 12 months actually just gets shorter and shorter. For us, arnie, it seems like only yesterday I was speaking to you about this very thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we're implementing some things to make it easy to continue conversations, both with the app and on our expanded website. That includes the report features and those kind of things. But you know, the other advice I would tell you is you know there's only a few spots left on these tours on Tuesday and the workshop. So the workshop has a lot of meat to it. It's a really great starter on Tuesday to get your juices flowing. Woodworks does an incredible job, bill Parsons and his team.
Speaker 3:If you can do that workshop on Tuesday afternoon, that's an awesome place to go, or one of the tours. And then I would encourage you know people as they plan be at those 3 pm keynotes right before the four o'clock reception. You know, it's just a great way. You're getting to hear some people. You might want to meet them. You might want to meet somebody. You're sitting next to getting to hear some people. You might want to meet them. You might want to meet somebody you're sitting next to. And what a better way. You just go down the hall and timber labs is buying a beer for everybody again, which is awesome. Thank you, chris evans and and that whole team and they're growing. But you know, you got beers in there or water, whatever you want, snacks and then you know just a couple hours of networking and then you go do your dinner thing. But take advantage of it.
Speaker 3:The other thing I can't recommend high enough is we serve a full breakfast on Wednesday and Thursday. It's seven to eight or it's like 645 to 745. And it's designed that way. You come in. It's amazing how fast they can serve people. Great breakfast, set up a meeting at breakfast and then you go to the keynote at 8 o'clock, you know, because we kind of shut it down at 745. So you got a kind of a window there. It's worth getting up for it.
Speaker 3:It's always great to have some food to start the day. It's healthy food. Have a cup of coffee and then you hit that. You get a nice break and then focus to your point. Paul, pick out which ones you want to go see. It's always a hard choice. And then you got another networking event with a great lunch. You should have a meeting planned already and then you go to the sessions you want in the afternoon and then you have, you know, wednesday we have another reception, the women in timber thing going on.
Speaker 3:Very cool opportunities to network, connect, dig deep and have fun. You know, I mean, there's nothing wrong with us having fun at a conference. It doesn't need to be boring, it needs you got to have networking capabilities. You got to have educational resources, ce credits, those things are all very important. Along, you know, having good food helps, having camaraderie, live interactive products, new products that are coming to the table. You start hitting those four or five main things and then it's just up to you as an individual.
Speaker 3:It's a great investment, it's an investment in time, it's an investment in money. We understand that. So again, the tours are getting close to sold out, literally. The hotels may be sold out already. The ones right next door, they're getting really close. But we've got commitments from like five or six others. So there's rooms available. But I would get on that pretty quick. And then you know there's still it's a discount period. You know that ends. I think it's the 18th or 19th of February. You know you still get a nice discount off the initial price.
Speaker 3:It's expensive, you know I. I mean I look at spending $200 for a hotel room. I think that's crazy. But I'm an old farm boy. But you know you go to Los Angeles or San Francisco or Chicago. It's 500 bucks. That's why Portland's attractive that way. It's a big investment. One thing I would say about the exhibitors that I learned through our partners Trifecta is a normal return rate of exhibitors to a conference like this is 70, 73 percent. We're 97, 98. And there's a reason for that. The exhibitors make money. They make, they get leads. They make money at the show. They do projects at the show, they sell equipment, they sell products. They get to see a lot of people. At one time you know this had 3,000 people. We think it's going to be 3,500 or more this year.
Speaker 2:It's brilliant and a great way to round it off, and I just want to say thank you so much for allowing us to partner with you. We've been running the ads for the conference on the podcast for oh, I reckon nine months now, or something like that. It's some ridiculous number and we firmly believe in it. We back it, we support you, we support global expansion for the technology and it's a privilege to have you on the podcast every year Without fail. You answer the email, you come on, you give us a great rundown and it's just a privilege to be part of it and you, tom and Craig and everyone else behind the scenes in the team, plus the committee members, it's yeah. Thank you so much for putting on an amazing event.
Speaker 3:So you always want to get something right. The big announcement.
Speaker 2:Are you ready?
Speaker 3:I'm ready. It's not going to come out until next week on the PR release and it's exciting. Give me the scoop. So Craig, tom and I made a decision with Trifecta and have partnered to commit to multiple years with the conference. So we're here to stay. Hopefully everybody likes that, but it's so fun for us, we're so excited to be a part of it.
Speaker 3:The Jennifer and Bill at Woodworks are just huge partners of ours. We can't say enough about that partnership People like yourself who have supported us from day one. And I agree with you, we all need to lift everybody up and encourage the sharing of dialogue and new ideas. I think the conference does that. It's March 25th to the 27th. You just go on the International Mass Timber website. You know it's easy to see the agenda and see what's being unfolded. Those case studies are going to be populated over the next week, but we just love to share things and bring people to the table and we're excited to be a part of that go forward for the next several years to come and it's it's a blessing and we know that and the people around us these attendees and exhibitors and sponsors are friends and colleagues and lifelong partnerships and it's really great to see people succeeding.
Speaker 2:That's brilliant. Look, I always tell this story intermittently to people that I speak to or on the podcast. Back in 2016, 2017, when we were setting up the X-Land plants here in Australia, I would be struggling to find 10, 15 articles about mass timber projects any month around the world. Now that's sort of 20 plus a week, and I have to be really discriminant about which ones I put on the LinkedIn feed or talk about on the weekly update or on the podcast. So the growth is exponential.
Speaker 2:And to hear that you guys are staying on for another defined period of time as part of the conference, I think you, collectively, are the soul of of the conference and I think that's an important thing to to acknowledge, because conferences are about people. Uh, you know, my my role here is to create that conversation and keep the conversation going. Yours is exactly the same, so we're aligned in that, and I just think that's why it's successful, because people want to be party to a conversation, they want to be listened to in the conversation, they want to learn something from a conversation. I think those three things are vitally related to what we do collectively. So thank you so much for all you do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I appreciate that and don't hesitate to reach out. I'm available. Craig Rawlings is available. Tom Waddell, Shelby, Nelson. You know, Melissa, we're available. Just LinkedIn's a great place to reach out, email, whatever you want. But we're ready to help and ready to serve and just love this industry and it's it's our heart and soul. And, Paul, I can't thank you enough for your friendship and what you're doing and congratulations on you know, getting through this year of in-depth study and doing all the things you're doing. It's you're a better man than me and smarter than I ever will be, but and I love to see that it's it's, it's people like you that bring everybody up and that positive attitude and willingness to help, and we're here to help. We want to help. We want to help people succeed.
Speaker 2:We can transform the world together, arnie. We can't do it by ourselves. That's the key. I think, right.
Speaker 3:Right on.
Speaker 2:And Wood is still cool. Brother, wood is good. I thought I was going to ask you, have you changed it again, arnie? But you've come out with. Wood is cool. I actually was going to say, do I ask him again or do I not? But no, wood is cool, that's good. You'll be able to hear arnie on the main stage. He'll be saying come on through people, filter down the spots at the front.
Speaker 1:Wood is cool and that's good time great to talk with you and looking forward to seeing everybody.
Speaker 3:Uh, jesus, not too far away.
Speaker 2:March 25th comes quick not too far away at all. 25th comes quick, Not too far away at all. So just remember, hit the International Mass Timber Conference website for registration. Look out for the early bird registration. Get your flights booked, which is probably going to be an important one. Get your hotel booked probably more important. Book your tour. Book your workshop. Book your appointments on your app from March 1st to try and make sure that you make the maximum use of the time while you're in Portland. Appointments on your app from March 1st to try and make sure that you make the maximum use of the time while you're in Portland. Make sure you look up when you're in the PDX and make sure that you enjoy yourself and have good conversations Right on, brother.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Thanks, arnie, have a good one. Thank you.