Joel Viera & Alec Ward - Inside WRE 2025 - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with the Executive Director of Western States Roofing Contractors Association (WSRCA) Joel Viera and Director of Membership & Trade Show Alec Ward. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Hello everyone, my name is Megan Ellsworth here at rooferscoffeeshop.com and you are listening to a roofing road trip. Today I'm tripping over to the West Coast to talk with my friends Alec and Joel at Western States Roofing Contractors Association. And we're talking about the Western Roofing Expo, my favorite trade show of the year. Hi gentlemen, how are you? 

Joel Viera: Great, thanks Megan, thanks for having us. 

Alec Ward: Amen. Thank you. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. I'm so excited. always look forward to the Western States show every year. I've been attending since I was a little kid. So it's a real joy for me. To get started, Joel, do you want to kick us off and just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your role at the association? 

Joel Viera: Sure. My name is Joel Vieira. I'm the executive director of Western States. I've been with Western States since 2001. I originally started in a foundation events coordinator and then the trade show coordinator roles and kind of been a jack of all trades here. And in 2000, I took over as executive director. It's been almost five years now and it's been lot of fun. I really enjoy who I work with and who I work for and it's a pleasure to come to work every day. 

Megan Ellsworth: Love it, love it. Alec, do you want to introduce yourself and tell us about your role at the association? 

Alec Ward: Sure, sure, Megan. So yeah, again, my is Alec Ward and I am the director of membership and trade show for the Western Riviera Expo. I originally started a little over 10 years ago now, started out doing specifically membership. And then once Joel took over the leadership role as executive director, I started doing the trade show portion as well. Yeah. 

Megan Ellsworth: Cool. That's awesome. Wow. I love it. So, Joel, can you give us a little bit of a background on what is Western Roofing Expo and why is it such a cornerstone in the industry? 

 Joel Viera: Absolutely. The Western Roofing Expo is typically held in the fall in Las Vegas. We've partnered up with Caesars Entertainment and we've made the Paris Las Vegas our home. Sometimes seems like we're outgrowing it a little bit, which is amazing, but something about not getting too big and losing that personal touch is also important to us. So we really like where we're at. The Expo is a foundational piece for Western states because 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm. 

Joel Viera: It gives an opportunity for us to showcase our educational platform, which is the most important thing to Western states. I'm sure I'll say it again as we come through this is educating our serious contractors is our bread and butter. It's also a great place to network and have some fun on the side. know, Vegas is sort of a one stop shop where whatever your interest may be, they've got something there for you. And yeah, so we've been we've been with. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah.  

Joel Viera: Las Vegas shoot in my 25 years here, all but three years. And it's just a great place to call home. It's a lot of fun. And like I said, it's kind of cool to be at the Paris where it's almost like a full takeover, where we take over the hotel, we take over all of the convention and meeting space. And yeah, just see some old friends and make new friends along the way. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, I love it. I love going to the Paris every year because you're so right about it's a takeover. totally is. Everywhere you go, you see someone you know and I love that. When I was in middle school, I told people that I had been to Paris because I'd seen that Eiffel Tower and it was because I had attended the Western Roofing Expo and stayed at the Paris Hotel.   

Alec Ward: You   

Joel Viera: Was that an innocent slip up or did you think? Okay.   

Megan Ellsworth: I was trying to be cool and say that I had been to Paris. Alec, can you talk a little bit about Western States mission and how it's reflected in the expo each year?   

Alec Ward: Yeah, well, as you know, the Western region, it's got a huge variety of different climates, know, from tropical to, you know, Arctic and all these different things. And so we have unique needs in our region. And so with that, all the different kinds of manufacturing and services we provide that are going to be unique to the Western region are huge reasons to come to the show as well, just to get there. And just...   

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm.   

Alec Ward: With our region being such a large place too, it's just an opportunity to able to see everything all at once. You can't see every single one of your sales reps or all the latest products just in your own locality. So having this event gets you out there, seeing everything that's out there for the West.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. What is new or expanded this year for the Expo and are there any surprises attendees can look forward to?   

Joel Viera: I would say the two things that we're most excited about, I don't know about surprises, because we promote the heck out of just about everything we do. But last year was the first year we kind of stuck our toe into the bilingual side of things. And we had a seminar in Spanish and we had a great success with that. And so, you know, in all of our meeting space, we now have a room that we're going to dedicate solely to Spanish education.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, as you should.    

Joel Viera: And so we're calling it Western States en Espanol. And we four educational sessions and two lunch and learns that we're going to be doing there. Thank you to our partners, Techo Simas, who did a sponsorship for that. And then Certain Teed and SRS also sponsored the lunches. And our friends at GAF found us some speakers as well. So sometimes it takes a village, right? And so we're really, really excited about that, having six educational opportunities for Spanish speaking.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Joel Viera: Contractors and their crews. The other thing I think that's exciting to us is we haven't had IBEK as a partner to our show since pre-pandemic, maybe 17 or 18. So now the day after the show concludes, IBEK has five educational classes and breakfast and lunch. And it's their Region 5 workshop where you can get more IBEK and AIA credits.   

Megan Ellsworth: Wow.  

Joel Viera: On top of the four that we're already offering. So if you include IBAC and Western States and Espanol and our National Women in Roofing program, we 36 seminars this year, which is, you know, we're really, really proud of, like I've said and I'll continue to say education is something that we take very serious here. And it's hard to believe, you know, six or seven years ago, we used to offer eight sessions at the expo and now we're at 36 and we're completely maxed out of our space. But  

Megan Ellsworth: Awesome.   

Joel Viera: Whether it's business, legal, technical roofing, safety, we've got something for everybody. And it used to just be like, yeah, I'm going to the seminar at 10, 15. Now it's which of the seven seminars am I going to go to? And I need to put my team so we can split up. And so it worked out, it's working out really well. I think as we took education more serious and had more educational offerings, it's no surprise that our 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Joel Viera: Attendance overall to show really took a huge leap forward. Like I said, we're catering to the serious contractors and Vegas also has an element where the not so serious contractors can for themselves too. So we have the best of both worlds.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that's just such an exciting development from eight to 36 in like five years. That's incredible. Y'all should be very proud of that. That's really, really a feat. So from a safety and membership perspective, how do events like this elevate contractor knowledge and job site standards, you would say?   

Alec Ward: We did have some seminars that are catered to safety and focused on that. So anyone that's looking to expand their safety program at their company, I definitely recommend getting those seminar passes and attending those seminars specifically. Also, there's plenty of exhibitors out there on the floor that are safety companies. So there's consultants and there's also the manufacturers and sellers of safety gear.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's great.   

Joel Viera: And one of those safety offerings is our own safety advisor, Steve Zasedil. He has a booth on the show floor right across from ours. He also has a seminar. And for those of you that are not familiar with what we do membership-wise for safety, every Thursday morning, we have an e-blast that goes out at 8 a.m. with a roofing toolbox talk for your team to go over. We also just last year developed a new safety companion app, which is a free app for all of our members. 

You know, with training, videos, accountability, everything that you would want, especially for the smaller contractors that don't have a huge safety program or, you know, customers of a huge safety company. So it's really elevated our game in the safety areas. Well, that was something a few years ago that we thought there was really an area that we could really shine and really do more with and that's safety. we've...   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah.   

Joel Viera: We've really, really hit our goals as far as that goes. It's a whole other branch that if you're not a member of Western States, please take a look into it. Our dues are very economical. They're about $600 for a roofing contractor. And I promise you the safety program alone, probably a $20,000 program. So it's just something to think about as you move forward and make your selections of who you want to support.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah.  

Joel Viera: Because we're always just trying to make things better for contractors. Goal for everything. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah.   

Megan Ellsworth: And that app is huge. That was a innovative launch that you all did for your membership base. And I'm excited to see where it goes from here with all the things safety related y'all are doing. Okay, let's talk a little bit about the trade show floor. Alec, what should attendees look out for during the live demos and product showcases?   

Alec Ward: So those come out every hour or so. Think of the announcement, there's the live demo going on. So you can always make your way all the way down to the end of the trade show floor and hang out there. In addition to being a pretty educational spot, also if you attend, you get your name put into a raffle to win a cash card. you get to learn and earn at the same time. And so it's fun for that.   

Megan Ellsworth: Awesome.

Joel Viera: Learn and earn, I like that.   

Alec Ward: Yep, yep. And it's right by our booth as well as right across from the M.O. stage. So feel free to come over and if you're a contractor and you want to learn about membership, come over have a beer or water or even if you are existing members, come over say hello. Happy to get a beer for you there too as well.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's good.    

Joel Viera: And Megan, that is one thing that we're doing new and it's a surprise for our audiences. There's a woman you might have heard of her. What's her name again? Heidi Ellsworth. Heidi Ellsworth is her name. She's going to be taking one of those slots and going to be doing a very fun and relaxing interview with Chris Heitzman, who at that point will be our immediate former president and Stan Robinson, who will be our newly elected president of Western States. And, you know, let's be real when you're at the luncheon and you're in front of, you know, 300 people at the luncheon and it's a very nerve wracking time for them. This will be really cool to kind of just relax, being interviewed by Heidi. It'll be a little more comfortable, a little more fun. So there's going to talk about their last year and what, you know, what Chris accomplished. 

Joel Viera: Inclusion was her big focus of the year. then Stan, his big focus is going to be growing membership and just kind of hearing their goals and what they plan to do to accomplish those goals. That'll be a lot of fun. That's one more thing on the trade show floor demo stage that you'll get experience as well.   

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. That's so exciting. I actually didn't know that. So that's really exciting and I'll have to add it to the calendar, make sure I can catch it. And then are y'all doing the fastest roofer competition again?   

Joel Viera: Oh yeah, yeah, we end our show with two games, two competitions. I think some other shows are doing those now, but we like to say we're the first. So we do the Rufus Feud, which is a game show style trivia game that's hosted by Trent Cotney. It's kind of a playoff of a family feud where you got two teams and head to head you'll go up and the survey says.   

Alec Ward: One day, two, yep. The roofing games, yep.   

Joel Viera: And then followed by that, we do the roofing games, which is sponsored by Malarkey. Roofers feud is sponsored by certainty. Thanks to our sponsors, certainty to Malarkey for those two events. But Malarkey has been doing this with us, shoot, I think about 12 years now, where we get nine roofing contractors up on the stage and they try to build a steep slope deck as fast as possible without making any major errors along the way.    

Joel Viera: Yeah, we've got, for whatever reason, it's grown really well. And we have like some ringers that come out now and their times just keep getting better and better. Malarkey gives out some wonderful prizes. We give out a championship belt. So it's a really cool thing to keep our audience interested until the end of the show. A lot of shows really struggle with that last day or the last few hours. So we back load that. 

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome.   

Joel Viera: So to speak schedule to kind of keep things interesting and fun and light through I think that's one thing Western States has always done is made our show fun and You know interesting rather than just kind of a boring clinical walk through the floor talk to some people we have stuff going on that is bigger than just a trade show   

Megan Ellsworth: Yep, I completely agree. And I think that the exhibitors really appreciate that style of, like you said, having, you know, backloading the schedule because it is that those last few hours on the second day, those can definitely slog by, you know, at trade shows. So having stuff that's bringing people in and getting them excited and keeping them interested is so nice for the exhibitors because they can just build off of that energy and say, hey and also get involved. So that's something I really enjoy about this trade show. Going back to the education lineup, I'd love to know if there's any sessions that really stick out to you that you're looking forward to the most. mean, obviously the NS Spaniel track is really exciting, is there anything else being offered that would be really important for roofers in 2025?   

Joel Viera: Yeah, absolutely. Ken Klein, who's our technical advisor, he's doing a TPO membrane performance. That has been something we've been working on for decades long. So it's pretty cool to continue doing that. I think one of the best sessions will be Trent Cotney is doing a state of the industry from a legal perspective and things are changing so much now, know, regardless of your political tendencies. We're in a totally different era than we've ever been in before. And things are different with tariffs and delays and getting your materials and things to that nature. So I think that'll be another great one. Like I said before, we've got six Spanish seminars. Another cool one, Jared Rible, Reed's son, is doing a Turning Your Workforce Development into Dollars Recruit, Train and Retain. Those are big things where we're always looking for employees. 

Joel Viera: And I would say one last one is Trent and another partner at Adams and Reese, Ben Briggs. They're doing a navigating immigration regulations, which is also a huge topic right now, especially in the West, especially in the closer to the border states. So I think those are great ones. I've got many, many more I could list, but those are the ones that I think are really great. National Women in Roofing always put together a good roundtable as well and roofing professionals will be doing a roundtable this year as well. So a lot of different avenues to go for sure.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. It's that's really awesome that you all are tackling some really important topics that are affecting the industry, not just, you know, the same old, same old topics that happen a lot of the time. So that's going to be really educational. Alec, I'd love for you to tell us a little bit about how Western states supports contractors throughout the year beyond the expo.  

Alec Ward: Okay, yeah, it's funny because a lot of people that are at the show, they don't even realize that we are an association. I think we're strictly a show. so, tell them, no, once you remember, we're gonna help you all year round. so, big three are gonna be the legal support, you have access to, just mentioned, Trent Cotteney. He's our counsel, general counsel for the Western States. And he also gives free consultations, I think, free 15 minutes every month to any member as a legal issue or a question. And then of course, there's always the safety app that Stevens Acidil made for us. That's free with a membership. And so you can use that weekly and record your meetings and just educate your crew, them safe, saving you from fines and OSHA, or just keeping your crew members safe completely, not getting hurt. And then also, I also mentioned Ken Klein. He's also someone that you can call along with his whole consulting firm, if you have an issue on the roof, you can always submit what's going on to him and someone from his group will reach out to you and give you some free advice. And so those are some of the, those are the big three things as well. And on top of that, just there's certain discounts that a lot of our associate members offer Western States contractors. And so you take advantage of a few of those even and you're also making up for your dues. 

So there's plenty of ways that the ROI of our membership is huge. mean, you don't have to even use everything. Just use one or two benefits and you're going to make your money back really quick. mean, 695 is nothing. And for, if you join the show, it's only 556, you get a 20 % discount when you join the show. So it's a, it's definitely a good investment. Your business. Yeah.   

Megan Ellsworth: That's really good and that's good to know.   

Joel Viera: That Alec, you know, no shade given to any of our former boards or former presidents along the way. They've all helped build the foundation, but I feel the current board that we have right now has never been deeper. We've got so many contractors that are on our board there that are just trying to advance the industry as a whole and make roofing more attractive to people coming into the industry. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah.  

Joel Viera: We have never, ever, ever put more membership value on the plate as we're doing right now. It used to be maybe once a month you'd get a technical bulletin or something to that nature. Now you're getting eight technical bulletins and 12 legal bulletins and weekly safety plus the app that's just daily. we're really, really trying to drive value to our members.   

Joel Viera: Rarely raise our dues. think in the last 10 to 15 years we've raised our dues once. It's very fair. It's never been about making money here at West Coast States. It's about making things better for the roofing industry. And I say that with all my heart. It's not about how much money can we make or what can we do. It's all about what can we do to make things better for our fellow roofing contractor.    

Joel Viera: And we've really, really done a great job doing that because it's not easy. And there's more competition than ever for us right now. When I first got involved, it was us and then RCA and MRCA and a few state and local associations. But now there's all these new shows that are out there. some of them I'm recently looking and seeing that what they charge is unbelievable, right? The amount that they charge.  

Joel Viera: $10,000 for a pass and things of that nature are not about making money. We're about getting as many people the help they need as possible. And that's when you have an entire team of five staff, eight trustees and 20 associate advisory members and 24 roofing contractor board members all with the same goal. It makes life really, really easy and makes your accomplishments really fun and it's a really rewarding path that we've all chosen.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's really, that's again why I love Western States. It's just such a great, it feels so much like a big family. And I know so many of the board members right now and I couldn't agree more with you. It's just what a great lineup you all have. So what advice would you two have for someone attending for the first time? my gosh, I'm so jealous. I want to attend for the first time again.  

How can they get the most out of their Western States Western Roofing Expo experience?  

Alec Ward: Okay, yeah. that first time, would say definitely try to come both days. In fact, you can come the third day so you can go to the welcome event in auction. That way can just network with lot of people right from the get-go and just know that that first day is going to be, the Shreed Show is going to be really hectic, lots of energy. It's a good time to just kind of just get the lay of the land, just see what's out there, see what kind of exhibits and just kind of just mark them in your head where you want to go.  

Because day two, like we talked before, it's a nice slower pace, it's quieter. It's actually a really good opportunity to meet with the folks that you really want to have a discussion with. And you can have a conversation more at more length because on that day one is just people coming at them all directions. And so, yeah, if you're there on day two, you'll definitely be able to make a really good connection there and have a conversation of substance more.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's awesome.   

Joel Viera: For me, for me, Megan, a first timer, need to come on Sunday, fun day. And that is all proceeds. All of our events are Davis Memorial Foundation events. This year we just upped the ante. We're giving out $75,000 in scholarships and another five in SkillsUSA grants. So it's $80,000 a year we're giving to back to the industry, right? We're trying to, we're trying to feed the industry. And so we have a golf and a sporting clays tournament, Sunday morning. It's a great time out, it's fun, you're gonna get paired up with people you don't know and you'll make some new friends out of things and learn some things that you may or may not have known. Then that evening is the welcome party and auction where we have food and drinks and usually about 15 live auction items. again, our auctioneers are fellow roofing contractors and not paid auctioneers and Heidi runs the paddle raise. it's literally, we're out there raising money for kids that are either going into the industry or are directly tied to the industry because they're your kids, right? So for us to go out and, know, bust our butts to make money that basically funds their education, there's no better feeling. it's, you know, every year when we pick the scholarship winners, it's so fun to call them and talk to their parents because talk about a rewarding experience. There's nothing better than calling somebody and telling them their kid just won $5,000. It's just a great celebratory moment to share with people. those three events take place on Sunday. Those are must do in my opinion. They're great networking opportunities. They're fun. And then like Alex said, walk the trade show floor. The first day is what makes us who we are. You can hardly walk down the aisles. I walk the trade show floor and just try to thank our major players. And sometimes I can't even get to them because there was a crowd of people around each of them. And so like Alex said, the first day is almost all about quantity, It's just being real. The second day is quality, right? So it's a really, the show dies down, but it's not dead. And-   

Joel Viera: You have the opportunity to make some sales as an exhibitor. And so I've heard it over and over and over like, yeah, it was quiet today, but we like it like that because we sold three units and just made some lifelong customers and that's what we were here for. And so we kind of, like I said, I used the best of both worlds earlier and it's like the first day is just shock and awe. And the second day is just a really, really good business environment. 

For you to showcase what you've got or if you're a contractor, you want to see what's new out there, it's the best opportunity to talk to these people and meet these people and just see what's out there that can help your company grow or save money or be safer or whatever you're looking for. It gives you that opportunity.   

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Yeah. And I have to say, received a Davis Memorial Foundation scholarship when I was attending college. And it really was honestly a life-changing experience. And I was able to be less stressed and pay for everything. And it was just so wonderful. So everyone, definitely go and do the events on Sunday, sporting clays tournament, the golf tournament and go to the auction in the welcome party, because it is so fun. You get to see everyone, all your friends that you haven't seen in a year. So it's definitely the best day. I couldn't agree more. Well, I'm so excited. This is getting me absolutely so excited for the event. And what are the dates and how can people still sign up to attend?   

Joel Viera: Yeah, we're absolutely taking registrations at westernroofingexpo.com. Anyone that wants to attend, we are sold out on the trade show floor. Alec is who you'd want to contact for that. you're looking for a booth, you could reach out to Alec. It's alec at wsrca.com. Registrations for attendees, that's just wide open until the day of the show. And the show is the 28th.   

Megan Ellsworth: Perfect.   

Joel Viera: Through the 30th of September. It's at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel. We've got a room block at the Paris. We've got a room block at the Horseshoe, which is connected to the Paris. And a room block at Planet Hollywood. And one of the nice things about being in hotel the size of the Paris, which are very big hotel, but in Vegas standards, it's not that bad. But you literally can be from closing your door at your hotel room to the trade show floor in like five minutes.  

Joel Viera: Pretty darn cool because like, you know, we've been like Mandalay Bay and the kind, know, a few other places that are out of properties, right? But like we have that joke, like, I hope you didn't forget something in your room because round trip, that's like a, like an hour and half walk. Right. So yeah, whether you're at the horseshoe or at the Paris, literally like, um, know, you poor exhibitors are exhausted at the end of the day and their feet hurt. could be laying on your bed five minutes after you walk out of the trade show.   

Alec Ward: Yeah, it's a trip to get back. Not at Paris. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, not at Paris. Yep.   

Megan Ellsworth: You know, it's great. It's awesome. Well, gentlemen, thank you both so much. And thank you for everything that you do for the industry as well. And this great association. This has been a fabulous chat. And I can't wait to see you at the show in September.    

Joel Viera: Absolutely and I know Roofers Coffee Shop has a whole bunch of new stuff going on. They're gonna be out in the Hall of Mirrors out at the hallway. Really nice spots, so they're gonna be right in your face. it's a really, really cool thing. yeah, we're really, really excited this year, again, to have another great show and see some friends.   

Alec Ward: Yeah, we'll see you there, Megan. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, likewise. Everyone definitely go to the WSRCA directory on RoofersCoffeeshop.com to learn more. You can register there and find all the links and info that you need to attend. And hopefully we get to see everyone at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas in September for the Western Roofing Expo. Thank you both again for chatting with me.   

Joel Viera: Thank you. Thank you. And don't forget, Roofers coffee shop has five full packages that they're raffling off. Don't forget, don't forget to go to see how to win.    

Outro: Yes, yes, you can win a ticket in a package to attend the show. There's more info on the site and I'll put all the info in the show notes below as well so you can find how to enter to win a package. Woohoo! To attend. Well, thank you so much and everyone out there listening, you can go to rooferscoffeeshop.com to learn more and we'll see you next time on the next Roofing Road Trip.