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Vancouver’s �鶹��ýӳ�� community has a new trade show unlike anything that’s come before.

On Sept. 24 the Vancouver Regional Construction Association hosted its inaugural BUILDFest, a twist on the conventional �鶹��ýӳ�� trade show at the Pacific National Exhibition ground in Vancouver.

VRCA president Jeannine Martin said the event is intended to change up the traditional trade show experience and has been in the works since she joined the organization three years ago.

“The VRCA member experience manager said then we needed a trade show and we just could never find the time to fit it in to all the other things happening and demands on our member businesses,” Martin said. “But finally, Erin came in with an idea, ‘trade show meets Coachella,’ and so there was our first BUILDFest.

“It’s trade show meets music festival, and we tossed in BuildTalks where we solicited industry to submit topics for BUILDFest, ended up with 15 submittals and picked the six that would resonate the most with the crowd,” Martin added.

The atmosphere at BUILDFest is fast-paced, informal and meant to encourage networking.

“We’re sitting in this beautiful beer garden listening to a BUILDTalk that’s a 15-minute hit (of information) and it’s meant to be come and go, mingle in and out,” Martin said.

The VRCA partnered with the British Columbia Construction Association (BCCA) and Martin termed president Chris Atchison as the “yes department” in terms of support and encouragement.

“We’ve been in discussions with the team at VRCA for a while to put something on the calendar that’s fresh,” Atchison said. “Earlier in the year when Jeannine and her team brought this idea forward we said, ‘That’s the idea. That’s exactly what this calendar needs.’

“It was a bold idea but something you could see the industry getting behind and having a lot of fun with, so we were an easy mark to say we’d come on board and partner with this.

“We leave it to our regional partners to come up with events and run them. We don’t host a provincial event, but this is as close as we’ve seen to be the opportunity to really celebrate the industry and provide a forum for what could be seen as traditional but then add value in terms of being more casual and future-forward in terms of presentation,” he said.

Martin said BUILDFest was designed from the start to facilitate moving between learning, networking and enjoying the event in a seamless manner.

“It was meant to be organic, come-and-go throughout the day. We’re expecting another wave of people in the afternoon and the evening with a band and a beer garden, which we’re calling the (�鶹��ýӳ��) block party,” she said.

“Even walking into the venue, the flow is just there,” Atchison said. “You’re coming here to meet friends from across the industry, finding them and spending time with them. It works and it’s a comfortable environment that doesn’t feel sterile,” Atchison said.

“It’s visually stunning, atmospherically. It’s where we want to be and we couldn’t be more proud to be a partner with the VRCA in this.”

The Journal of Commerce will have more coverage of some topics explored at the event in subsequent articles.