Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) wrapped up their first ever virtual year end Summit on Wednesday, December 9th.

The new virtual format welcomed 349 wholesaler attendees from 127 member companies for a grand total of 695 attendees from 270 member companies present at the virtual event. The Products and Solutions Showcase sold out with 30 vendors.

Popular speakers included Kevin O’Leary, who not only discussed how he has pivoted operations since the COVID-19 pandemic, but answered many live questions from HARDI members, tailoring his presentation to the HVACR industry. Another crowd favorite was Jim Donald, who emphasized the importance of building relationships not only with your customers but also your employees, in order to build healthy teams and organizations going into 2021.

Continuing from last year, HARDI presented the research from the second annual State of the Channel report. Sessions that branched out of the State of the Channel included The Voice of Suppliers: 2020 and the Critical Role of Inventory, The Voice of Contractors: 2020 and the Future of Sales and Service Expectations, and COVID-19 & the Small Distributor: Staying Competitive in Uncertain Times.

Presenters Senthil Gunasekaran and Pradip Krishnadevarajan returned to explore the challenges facing small distributors and offered insights on how they plan to respond in the coming year. The pair continues their partnership with HARDI by introducing two new certification programs for 2021: Inventory Management and Pricing Management.
Next year’s Annual Conference is expected to take place in-person at Palm Desert, California at the JW Marriott Desert Springs, December 4-7, 2021.

For more information or questions, contact Emily Frost at efrost@hardinet.org.

About HARDI

HARDI (Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International) is the single voice of wholesale distribution within the HVACR industry.

HARDI members market, distribute, and support heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration equipment, parts and supplies. HARDI Distributor members serve installation and service/replacement contractors in residential and commercial markets, as well as commercial/industrial and institutional maintenance staffs. HARDI proudly represents more than 480 distributor members representing more than 5,000 branch locations, and close to 500 suppliers, manufacturer representatives and service vendors.