Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International took attendees of its Annual Conference: NOVA 2017 on a high-flying trip earlier this month, Dec. 2-5 in Las Vegas.

"There's More To Discover" was the message seen repeatedly across screens and signage throughout the event, with former U.S. Navy Blue Angels lead solo pilot John Foley's closing keynote tying up the end of the speaker series.

As he met with attendees and signed autographs, Foley could be heard telling them to "burn the paint off," referencing a story in his presentation where he took his plane up to the stratosphere, and then plummeted straight down to earth to test the limits of his machine, burning off all the paint on the body in the process. 

Speaking of high limits, NOVA in Las Vegas shattered the previous year's record, with 1,611 registrations and 1,557 of those attendees checked in throughout the four days.

This event also implemented the use of RFID tracking to better analyze and improve the content delivered at HARDI events.

"I truly believe that the performance of this year's HARDI Annual Conference is a testament to the growth in value that members see in HARDI, and the ever-growing potential they see in the association as the industry expands," said HARDI CEO Talbot Gee. "I hope everyone had a great time in Vegas, but more importantly that they received some takeaways that they will be able to implement into their business practices immediately. We will keep you updated, but stay engaged with the resources HARDI provides to ensure that wholesale distributors are the channel of choice for HVACR manufacturers and contractors."