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WinDoor preview: What’s up at WinDoor 2023?

WHAT
WinDoor is Canada’s national trade show for the fenestration industry hosted by Fenestration Canada. It takes place every year and alternates between Toronto and Montreal locations. It is a two-day event featuring a supplier exhibition, a professional education conference and social networking opportunities. The sold-out show floor will include booths and displays from about 100 industry suppliers. Products on hand will include fabrication machinery, finishes and finishing technology, lineal and framing systems, hardware, insulating glass, production and ERP software, screen, assembled windows and doors, sill and flashing systems, testing and certification services and more. 

The Main Event is Fenestration Canada’s social banquet and awards night, held on the evening of the first day of the show. Anyone can buy a ticket to attend. Suppliers often buy entire tables at the event and give away seats to their clients and prospects…perhaps ask your salesperson before buying your own. The night includes a gourmet dinner, an open bar, entertainment and the presentation of Fenestration Canada’s big awards for leadership in the industry. These include inductions into FenCan’s Hall of Fame including the Lifetime Achievement award for business success, the Industry Pioneer award for innovation and the C.P. Loewen award for overall contribution to the industry and the association. The 2023 Main Event has a Fire and Ice theme – attendees are encouraged to dress accordingly. 

Each day of the show will include two professional education sessions hosted in the show floor lecture hall and free to all attendees. See windoorshow.ca or the online show guide for details. Topics on tap this year include interior low-E coatings and their effects on condensation; a panel discussion about the differences between residential and commercial fenestration; embodied carbon; a presentation from the Canadian Federation for Independent Business; and a codes and standards update from FenCan technical director, Terry Adamson.

WHEN
WinDoor 2023 will take place Nov. 15 and 16. The show floor opens at 10 a.m. each morning and closes at 3 p.m. each afternoon with education sessions ongoing throughout the day. 

WHERE
The show venue is the Toronto Congress Centre at 650 Dixon Road, just a few blocks from highway 427 and a ten-minute drive from Pearson airport. It’s a good half-hour drive (in light traffic…bet on an hour to be safe) north of the downtown core. It is also very close to Toronto’s major fenestration manufacturing centres in the Woodbridge and Concorde areas. 

The Main Event will take place at the Embassy Grand convention centre in Brampton, Ont., approximately 20 minutes away from the show venue. 

WHO
WinDoor is for anyone involved in putting windows, doors and glazed building envelopes on residential, commercial, industrial or institutional buildings. Fabricators, glazing contractors, dealers, installers, consultants, architects, building engineers, educators and researchers all attend WinDoor. The show is open to all occupational levels from business owners through managers and supervisors right to shop workers and students. Booths are staffed by supplier sales staff and often senior executives, managers and marketing personnel. All staff, board members and committee chairs from Fenestration Canada are typically at the show, as well as representatives from other major North American fenestration associations. Fenestration Review is WinDoor’s media partner and editor, Patrick Flannery, and brand manager, Leslie Osborne, will be there, too.

HOW
Attendees can register online for WinDoor at windoorshow.ca. Registration costs $75 for Fenestration Canada members and $175 for non-members. Pre-registration is not necessary, walk-in attendees can register and pay on the day.

Main Event tickets can also be purchased online at windoorshow.ca for $200 per seat or $2,000 for a table of 10. 

The WinDoor official show hotel is the Delta Hotels by Marriott Toronto Airport across the street from the venue. The original block of discounted rooms is sold out, but really any hotel advertising itself as a Toronto airport hotel will be in close proximity. 

Road travel to WinDoor is via 401/407 to 427 from the west and east, and 400 to 407/401 from the north. Flying into Toronto Pearson airport puts you minutes away. Coming out of downtown Toronto is via the Gardiner/427, though a less annoying option would be to take the UP train from Union Station (20 minutes) and Uber/taxi over to the Congress Centre. 

WHY
It’s not complicated. WinDoor is Canada’s national show for the fenestration industry and if your business depends on contact with our sector there’s no better opportunity to meet the people and collect the information you need. 

There’s an extra reason for anyone involved with the commercial aluminum side of the industry to come to WinDoor 2023. Fenestration Canada has made an unprecedented commitment to serve the Canadian architectural glass sector, with new staff and technical experts dedicated to Fenestration Canada Commercial. Partnering with Top Glass, Canada’s architectural glass trade event hosted by Glass Canada magazine,  WinDoor will offer education and exhibits for ICI glazing contractors and glass fabricators in addition to the usual content targeted to residential window and door fabricators and dealers. Come help Fenestration Canada build an event that brings both sides of the fenestration industry together!