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Moen MotionSense faucet

Terry Bradshaw is no stranger to the home improvement arena. The former football quarterback and current sportscaster was recently a Kickoff Breakfast speaker at a Do it Best market in Indianapolis, a guest keynoter at a BMC sales meeting in Las Vegas, and years ago was the featured speaker at HCN's own Pro Dealer Conference.

He's now playing for Ferguson, the plumbing and HVC giant.

Home Depot chairman and CEO Frank Blake addressed the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business on Oct. 25, joined by his son, Home Depot district manager Frank Blake Jr., who also serves as an adjunct professor in the School of Business' Executive M.B.A. Program. The senior Blake spoke as part of the business speaker series at the Charles G. Thalhimer Family Executive-in-Residence program.

The Specialty Tools and Fasteners Distributors Association (STAFDA) announced Jim Fall, business & operations director for 3M Industrial Adhesive & Tape Division will be STAFDA’s associate State of the Industry speaker during the group’s Nov. 4-6 convention in Orlando.

Fall has 25 years of experience with St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M. He is a member of the Pressure Sensitive Tape Council and chairman of the 3M Converter Markets Advisory Committee.

She was formerly the Secretary of State in the George W. Bush Administration. Later this year she'll be the keynote speaker at STAFDA's Orlando Convention & Trade Show Nov. 4-6.

Condoleezza Rice, currently professor of political science at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., will speak on politics and the U.S. and global economies Nov. 5, the day before the Nov. 6 presidential election.

Previous year STAFDA speakers include Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (2011) and Sarah Palin (2010).

When Newt Gingrich was first mentioned as a long shot to be considered as a presidential candidate, I had the following conversation with a salesman.

“Remember when Newt was our keynote speaker back in 2008? What if he makes a strong run for the Oval Office?”

“Well, then,” said the salesman. “You’d have a column for the magazine.”

Here is that column.

Last year, the Specialty Tools & Fasteners Distributors Association (STAFDA) thrust itself into the political realm, booking and delivering the controversial and confrontational Sarah Palin as its keynote speaker for its annual convention. This year, the speaker selection is less partisan and more personal.

Arlington, Va. — At last year’s Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI) Spring Conference, the assembled researchers, guests and partners — all thirsty for good news — were told by Morgan Stanley analyst Ian Sugarman that the modest, pre-bubble year of 1999 is the “new normal.”


Fast-forward to this year’s event, held here at the Doubletree Crystal City, and a very similar group of attendees were told to brace for even more simulated time travel — this time to 1996.


Consumers still want bigger houses. Plus, design is more important than price.

Those were two of the somewhat surprising results of a consumer survey shared by the keynote speaker during the 2011 Building and Infrastructure Conference last week.

John Burns, the keynote speaker and president and CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, said 44% of consumers said they would want to buy a bigger house in the future, compared with only 22% who said they want a smaller house.

Tom Barfell, director of international sales and category development for Do it Best Corp., will be the featured speaker at the Worldwide DIY Council Global Conference, May 9, 2011.

The annual Council meeting and conference will be held at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.