Pacific Coast Builders Conference Focuses on How to Understand Your Customers and Their Home Tech Needs.
Customers can be tough nuts to crack. After all, ask just about any builder, and they’ll probably tell you they have a love-hate relationship with their clients.
As a result, the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC) has taken the theme "Cracking the Customer Code" for this year’s event, which will be held June 15–18, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif.
The question haunting most builders is "How do you know what your customers really want?" according to John Firth, public affairs director for the show. "Homebuyers are more diverse than ever before," he says.
With record housing starts and home sales, and a rapidly changing homebuyer demographic, Firth is right. Which makes it increasingly harder for homebuilders to anticipate exterior housing styles and interior desires.
Solving those challenges is the aim of this year’s PCBC show, which will feature approximately 625 exhibitors and expects to draw an estimated 25,000 attendees.
Other than the annual International Builders’ Show (held this past January in Las Vegas), this is the largest trade show for homebuilders in the country. And, while the show is sponsored by the California Builder’s Association, it attracts a national audience.
Its number-two size status may be the largest appeal of PCBC, according to Firth, who notes that the IBS can be a daunting event to any first-timer.
What is new for attendees to this year’s PCBC is an increased focus on technology—both technology in the home, and technology used to build the home. In addition to several technology-focused sessions with the educational tracks of the show, there is an all-day technology-for-the-builder preshow event on Tuesday, titled "Technology for Builders: The I.T. Essentials You Need to Know."
"The construction industry has become more dependent on software and technology," Firth says, "and the pre-show session will help builders to do effective evaluations and purchases of technology for their business." Headlining the session will be Maggie Geoffroy, vice president of builder relations at CDCI in Atlanta, and Joe Stoddard, principal with Mountain Consulting Group LLC in Elkland, Pa.
Other notable events at PCBC include keynote sessions with Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven; Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference; author and actor John Cleese, best known for his Monty Python days; Kevin Carroll; William McDonough, an internationally renowned designer.
For more information on PCBC or to register, visit the Web site www.pcbc.com, or telephone 800-956-SHOW or 916-325-9300.