Yes, I remember Launching a trade show doesn’t happen overnight. It starts with a need, followed by an idea that’s backed by a lot of hard work. That’s how Win-door got its start. When I joined vinyl extruder Engineered Profiles (now Westech) in 1990, I noticed that suppliers to the industry exhibited at industry trade shows like NARI and IDEAS. These shows were well done, but were directed to renovators and dealers. For us suppliers of components, equipment and services, there was little choice, we had to reach the window and door manufacturers in some way. The Canadian Window and Door Manufacturers Association (CWDMA) held meetings in November in Toronto every year. These were well attended by owners, managers and technical people from the industry. The sales crew at Engineered Profiles, John Middlebro’, JP Braaten and I decided to promote our products at the Win-door North America celebrates 15 years. 1994 meeting. We set up shop in a room next to the meeting area. As the people came out of the meetings, they were “encouraged” to check out our mini window assembly operation. From the success of this venture, we kicked around the idea of having a show targeted to window, door and fenestration product manufacturers only. John brought in his Shriner friend and trade show manager, the late Harold Shield. We put together a proposal to hold a show starting in 1996. This was presented to the CWDMA board in June 1995 at the summer meeting in New Brunswick. The board was excited about the idea and voted to go ahead – but why wait a year? Do it in the fall. With a lot of hard work Shield & Associates and the show committee organized the first show in November 1995 at the Congress Centre near the Toronto Airport. It was a small show, about 35,000 square feet but it was very well received By exhibitors and visitors. The combination of dedicated trade show and industry meetings proved to be successful and the show has grown dramatically over the last 14 years. In 2001, it was moved to the Toronto Convention Centre where we typically cover 125,000 square feet with 150 plus exhibitors and more than 3000 visitors. There were lots of suggestions for a name, but coming from Winnipeg, I always liked the name Dorwin Industries. In one short word, it told you what they do. Not wanting to copy, we went with Win-door. It was changed to Win-door North America in 2005 to reflect our North American coverage and that is where we are today.