METALCON’s Metal Training Zone Gives Participants the Opportunity to Boost Metal Skills

By Anna Lockhart.  

This year’s METALCON event will feature a one-of-a-kind opportunity to learn various metal skills from the pros themselves! 

If you are attending this year’s METALCON convention, you won’t want to miss out on the all-new Metal Training Zone! Stop by booth #6071 to see the pros in action as they perform metal working demonstrations and guide participants through various metal working skills. Try your hand at the art of metal roofing from one of the training zone’s professional metal roofers, John Sheridan.  

In an interview with Heidi J. Ellsworth, John shared the story of his career in metal roofing and exciting tidbits about the training zone. Having worked in the roofing industry for over forty years, John has gained a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the art of metal roofing, as well as a great deal of experience working with exotic and detailed roofing projects. For the last twenty years, John has been a trainer, educating and guiding the next generation of roofers.  

“For me, the training zone is going to be a no apprehension zone. Anybody who's interested in getting into the sheet metal business can come up and talk to us,” John shared. “It's going to be a laid-back kind of atmosphere. We'll have tools there; we will have a bunch of different systems from several different manufacturers.” 

John shared that the training zone will offer training opportunities in both English and Spanish. He emphasized the need for inclusion to make this opportunity accessible to everyone attending, “I just wanted to be as inclusive as possible, and de-stress people as much as possible, and not be intimidated by getting into metal roofing. Once they get into our space, then want to take a crack at getting into the metal business.” 

John and the other professionals leading the training zone hope to provide as many educational opportunities as possible during the three days of the convention. The learning won’t stop there, though, John explained. “I hope to keep in touch with people after the fact if they have any questions after the class. To me, if you're getting into the metal business and you're not quite sure, you can control that apprehension by picking a system that you could deal with. So, start with a system that's not over your head. Start with a system that's not super tool intensive. “ 

“We'll be doing three different types of [roofing systems] at METALCON,” he continued. “They're going to be a fun hands-on thing that anybody can walk out of the crowd that's never touched a piece of metal and help us put that roof together and walk away feeling like they're comfortable working with that system. That's my intention.” 

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See what other exciting new things are coming to METALCON this year!