Owners and representatives of Orthodox-owned businesses specializing in real estate contracting, construction and renovations headed to the Baltimore Convention Center for the first-ever Orthodox Jewish Builders’ Association Mid-Atlantic Expo.
The June 5 convention marked the first time that OJBA had held one of its conferences outside of the tristate area and signifies its recognition of Baltimore as a hub for Orthodox business.
The OJBA expo has humble beginnings. The organization was first founded in 2012 and started off hosting a series of smaller trade shows in the Catskills. In 2015, OJBA launched its first larger convention at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. Since then, the expo has drawn in over 350 exhibitors and over 6,000 attendees each year.
Creating a second convention in the mid-Atlantic area was a natural next step, said OJBA exhibitor and representative David Rosenberg, who also serves as the executive director of the New Jersey Business Alliance.
“Baltimore is close enough to the tristate area that there’s a lot of overlap, and we have a lot of tristate area, Jewish-owned businesses that service Baltimore,” he explained. “There’s a lot happening in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, and we’re trying to build economic development — first for the Baltimore area and its surrounding communities, and secondly to help new businesses enter the market.”
The expo presented exhibitors with an opportunity to market their services to prospective clients, as well as to network and make connections with others in the real estate and construction fields. In addition to some convention mainstays who had previously exhibited at OJBA’s New York conference, there were also many Baltimore-area businesses exhibiting.
“They advertised [the expo] all over, in so many WhatsApp groups, that I was wondering if there was anyone in the business who didn’t sign up,” said Daniel Munic, an exhibitor representing the Baltimore-based power washing business BinWashers. “Everyone I knew was talking about it.”
The expo ran from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and opened with remarks from Baltimore City Councilmembers Zeke Cohen and Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer. In addition to the exhibition hall, the event also hosted a panel discussion with local real estate professionals, as well as a keynote program focusing on topics such as marketing, real estate law and business expansion. Some of these keynote speakers also offered one-on-one counseling sessions for business owners seeking advice and guidance.
Rosenberg said that turnout for the event exceeded his expectations, and noted the importance of having face-to-face opportunities for networking and marketing in the real estate world.
“When you can meet potential clients and business owners in person at these kinds of networking events, you can make a more personal connection with them than you might be able to otherwise,” he explained. “You can always look in publications and find ads for the service you’re looking for, but the sense of trust and knowing each other that you can establish [at events like the expo] is all the more important for business.”
To that end, the OJBA expo’s website cites a study from the Harvard Business Review stating that face-to-face meetings are 34 times more likely to result in sales than email-based marketing.
“I don’t know how much business I got from exhibiting, but you know what I got? I made friends and met new people,” Munic added. “We weren’t just talking about business, either. There were a lot of great people here, great businesses. It really opened my mind to participating in other events in the future.”
Rosenberg said that plans to hold OJBA conventions in other parts of the country are currently being considered, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Still, they would like to come back to Baltimore and hold another expo next year.
“It’s important that you not be shy if you’re in business. Come out here and meet your peers,” he said. “Don’t be afraid of your competitors. Meeting people in the working environment is a great way of getting new business prospects.”
