Charlotte -- Ideally you will be able to take in two full days at the Charlotte Wood Pro Expo.  The event launches on February 14 with a full day that begins with a continental breakfast, Industry 4.0 guru Georg Frey's keynote, break out education sessions on lean, workforce strategies and sanding, a networking lunch and two tours (CABTEQ and Blum. Inc.).  The tours are sponsored by Wurth Wood Group. 

 

But if your Valentine won't let you get away on February 14, here's what you could do on February 15:

 

Begin with a cup of coffee and take in the free keynote address by FDMC's illustrious Will Sampson:  Seven ways you can improve your woodworking business, sponsored by Quis Machinery. A lifelong woodworker, Will Sampson has been an advocate for small-scale entrepreneurs and lean manufacturing since the 1980s. As editor of FDMC magazine, he has more than 20 years experience covering the professional woodworking industry.  His popular "In the Shop" tool reviews and videos appears monthly in FMDC and at WoodworkingNetwork.com. 

 

Walk the show floor, network and learn from Wood Pro Expo's 50 exhibitors.  See operating machinery, the latest in software, hardware, materials and supplies. Be sure to contact any one of the 50 exhibitors for a discount code to enter the show floor.  Here is a complete list of exhibitors.

 

Take advantage of a free education session. You'll hear how one cabinetmaker bid one-third as much as another for an identical project in Will Sampson's 2017 FDMC Pricing Survey. Sampson will deliver insights distilled from studying pricing in the custom woodworking industry for more than two decades, along with the results of the latest FDMC Pricing Survey.

 

Return to the show floor or go to the Nascar Hall of Fame for a couple of hours.  It is literally around the corner.

 

Go to the Woodworking Network Booth # 422 for the Young Wood Pro Reception.  Find out who the winner is for the Young Woodworking Professionals Competition, which recognizes outstanding projects and the young wood pros that created them. Almost 70 entries were submitted. 

 

Finally, if you can't make it on February 14 or 15 you still have February 16, which starts with a free keynote at 8 a.m. by the famous Wood Doctor, Dr. Eugene Wengert. Wengert will bring his unique perspective in a free keynote at the first Charlotte edition of the regional Wood Pro Expo woodworking show. 

 

Finish your day on February 16 by taking in the exhibits from 9 to 4 p.m.

 

For more information go to woodproexpo.com.