There has been a lot of talk about the upcoming IWF show in Atlanta, now less than six months away. Some of the largest equipment manufacturers and distributors have announced that they will not attend the show in Atlanta Aug. 25 to 28.

This is still the largest event on the North American calendar, and there will be many new products and innovations at the show, along with a full educational program.

To forego the exhibition because it won’t be as large as 2008’s event would be a mistake. If you skipped this one, you wouldn’t have an opportunity to attend IWF again until 2012.

And let’s not forget what the major equipment companies are doing.

There are open house events, machinery demonstrations, educational seminars, and specific workshops on such subjects as sanding and solid wood manufacturing. These events are being held at locations all over the United States and Canada.

You could probably get an invitation to one of the events if you ask nicely. They would be glad to see you.

By not being involved at all, you would also miss the benefit of networking and meeting other companies with problems similar to yours.

The temptation is strong to simply hunker down and wait for things to get better.

Maybe you can only send two people instead of four to the next major event. Maybe you have to be more selective about which events you attend. We’ve had to do that ourselves, and not go to some functions that we normally have in the past. But disconnect completely? That would be a mistake.