Another Summit is in “The Books”

The 2023 edition of National Comfort Institute’s (NCI) High-Performance HVAC Summit took center stage in Branson, MO from April 17th to the 20th. More than 100 contractors, preferred partners, and other industry luminaries gathered to celebrate the importance of taking the critical steps to building a solid high performance maintenance program.

This year’s HVAC Summit program format was all interactive and driven by the attendees. Facilitators led every session but attendees drove the conversation themselves.

From the pre-conference kick off to the closing luncheon, excitement radiated as contractors networked, interacted with exhibitors, and spent three days learning.

Some of the key highlights of this year’s program include:

  • Reach For The Summit: Returning champion Dawn Mroczek of GV’s Heating faced off against Hunter Wallace of Progressive Heating. Contestants answered multiple-choice questions from real-world installation and service scenarios. Then, the audience voted via the NCI Summit 2023 mobile app for the answer they thought was correct.

After each question, commentary from the tag team duo of David Holt and David Richardson discussed the merits of each answer and which way they felt the audience would vote.

Based on audience voting, the winner was Hunter Wallace.

  • Idea Meeting: This contractor-only session was hosted by Vince DiFilippo of DiFillipo’s Service, Paoli, PA and Mike Weil of NCI. The session was divided into two one-hour sections: one dedicated to High-Performance Lead Generation and the other to Sales.

Attendees presented their ideas on each topic and then voted for those they felt were the best. The winning ideas were from Dawn Mroczek of GV’s Heating (Lead Generation) and John Whitehead from Honest Heating and Cooling (Sales).

  • Exhibitor Showcase: Twenty-two exhibitors shared the latest technologies and services with attendees throughout the HVAC Summit conference. Their tabletop displays were in the general session ballroom providing contractors the ability to speak with them during breaks and regularly scheduled show hours.

Exhibitors also participated in NCI’s annual Preferred Partner Prize Drawing. Attendees received “game cards” that had to be stickered by each exhibitor, then turned in to be eligible for the drawing.

  • State of the High-Performance HVAC Industry: Dominick Guarino delivered the state of this segment of the HVAC Industry and the impact Rob Falke had on it.
  • Summit 2023 Awards and Recognitions: This event is the highlight of every HVAC Summit. Here the NCI management team recognizes excellence in the High-Performance HVAC industry. The 2023 conference marks the 19th year that NCI recognizes excellence in many different categories.

Summit Winners

  • Small Contractor of the Year: JN Electrical, Bowersville, GA
  • Medium Contractor ofthe Year: Crossway Mechanical, Tomball, TX
  • Large Contractor of the Year: Cardinal Heating and Air Conditioning, Sun Prairie, WI
  • John Garofalo Implementation Excellence Award: Getzschman Heating, Fremont, NE
  • David Debien Award for Technical Excellence: Cliff Dennis, Vassers Service of Richmond, Mechanicsville, VA
  • Scott Johnson Training Excellence Award: Hearn Plumbing and Heating, Madison, OH
  • High-Performance Sales Excellence Award: Will Horner, Canco ClimateCare, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
  • The Rob Falke Servant Leader Award: This new award is in memory of Rob “Doc” Falke. The inaugural winner is Mike Greany, Aire Rite AC & Refrigeration, Corona, CA
  • The Spirit of Excellence Award: This also is a new award. The 2023 inaugural winner is Tom Turner, Austin Energy , Austin, TX.
  • The Preferred Partner Award: Daikin Comfort Technologies
  • The Chairman’s Award: Greg Wallace, Progressive Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing, Newnan, GA.

We will cover the entire Summit in more detail online very soon.

And stay tuned: Summit 2024 will be in Asheville, NC.