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The AAMA Fall Conference was a great moment in industry history, as it was the final in-person event to take place before the historic unification of AAMA and IGMA. The Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA), the combined organization, will debut January 2020 and the first-ever FGIA Annual Conference will happen February 10-13 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. In the meantime, here are some highlights you may have missed from this month’s Fall Conference.

Skylight Recruitment Efforts

AAMA’s efforts to recruit more skylight manufacturers to the association continue. The Member Benefits for Skylight Manufacturers web page is now available. It even has a friendly URL for easy access: aamanet.org/SkylightMembership. And remember that members who are mentioned in a new Category 1 manufacturer’s membership application as having been influential in their decision to join receive a complimentary registration for one national conference.

AAMA Video Promotion

Per the request of the AAMA Board, a new video promotion project is being pursued, and many members volunteered to be interviewed during the AAMA Fall Conference. Special shout out to all those folks for your time! The interviews will be used as testimonials for the unification of AAMA and IGMA, promotion of the new FGIA organization, and promotion for various programs and services. To have input on this process, join the Video Promotion Task Group.

AAMA Education Update

The first set of FenestrationMasters® 2.0 courses is due to be available in November with Groups 4 through 6 being released in stages by February 2020. The first opportunity to take the final exam will be in February. Contact fenestrationmasters@aamanet.org for purchasing information, including group orders and discounts.

Potential for Substitution Allowances in Acoustical Product Designs

The AAMA 1801 APG/RPG Acoustical Substitution Task Group is seeking acoustical test report data from manufacturers via submittal to AAMA staff. No identifying information pertaining to the contributing manufacturers will be available to task group members. The purpose of the data collection is to look for trends that could be used to predict acoustical behavior and possible creation of a future document that would allow substitution of material or components in acoustically rated products. Contact Steven Saffell, AAMA Technical Director, with questions or join the group.

VMC Moves Forward With Weathering Study

In Vinyl Material Council, a motion passed to initiate a weathering study, allowing for the start of a project to test outdoor exposure for the course of a decade. Vinyl profile samples from participating companies will be tested for color and impact throughout. Results from a voluntary study like this keep our manufacturers at the leading edge of product development to satisfy the ever-increasing demands from the changing markets they represent while staying relevant to their consumers.

What Fall Conference Participants are Saying

A post-conference survey of participants underscored the broad value the event delivered. Here are just a few of the comments received:

  • “All of the task group work sessions were informative and full of information due mainly to the participation of all present”
  • “Networking is the most valuable asset of these events; the ability to meet people in our industry whom I have not had the opportunity to meet before.”
  • The benefit of “obtaining additional industry knowledge from multiple perspectives that I can't attain from working in the office.”
  • “AAMA absolutely runs the best conferences I have ever been associated with in my 25 years in the industry.”


Thank you to all who responded! If you participated in the Fall Conference, let us know your highlights and takeaways in the comments below.