Episode Summary:
Join host Drew Slocum as he sits down with Kyle Jarvenpaa, VP of Business Development at Space Age Electronics, a company specializing in fire and life safety system components since 1963. Kyle pulls back the curtain on Space Age's unique "niche within a niche," discussing their role in supporting OEMs, contractors, and engineers through complementary products and a focus on efficiency. Dive deep into the practical applications of NFPA 241 for safeguarding construction sites, learn about innovative wireless temporary fire alarm solutions, and explore the complexities of smoke control systems and firefighter override panels. Kyle also shares insights on industry consolidation, the value of partnerships, the evolution of system documentation with products like Acer boxes, and Space Age's commitment to education through their Ignite series. Tune in to hear about code compliance challenges, driving installation efficiency, and how Space Age collaborates across the fire protection landscape.
Full Transcript:
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Drew Slocum: Kyle, what's going on today?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: How are you, Drew?
Drew Slocum: I am great. You're in New England. We should have done this together, but sometimes it's easier to just do it over the camera.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: An hour and a half apart.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, yeah. But having two cameras... I'm becoming better. Audio, visual. Ever since the pandemic, it's like you have to be good at some of this stuff, right?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yep.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, it'd be nice to get outside somewhere, but it is still winter here in New England, so...
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, surprisingly, it snowed yesterday morning for the... Ninth, 10th time, where I live anyway. Yeah, it did.
Drew Slocum: Oh man. That's wild. So, welcome to the podcast. What have you been up to lately? And just give an intro to the audience about who you are, who Space Age is, what you guys found, and your niche inside a niche. Inside a niche, right?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: That's a really good way to put it. Yeah. Well, thanks for having me. I've been looking forward to this since we've been speaking about it. Yeah. I'm Kyle Jarvenpaa. I am the VP of Business Development at Space Age. I've been here for 14 years. I'm in my 14th year now. And I guess a good kind of nutshell explanation of who Space Age is, is we are a fire and life safety system component manufacturer who's been in the industry since 1963. And our niche within a niche, within a niche, is really just that we look for opportunities within the industry to provide value to customers with solutions that are either code compliant, answer a code requirement, or something that is going to create an inefficiency on a project. So whether it's installation efficiencies, design efficiencies, it's how can we help our customer base be more efficient? And we don't necessarily compete with a lot of the major manufacturers. We make a lot of complimentary items. So, it puts us in a position to support a lot of different types of companies in the industry. So we jokingly say we're like Switzerland, so to speak, but in a way, we just kind of want to find who we can help and how we can help them, and that's kind of where we've carved out our space over the years.
Drew Slocum: Being agnostic these days, I feel, is the way to go. It's interesting to see the trends with different sides of fire protection in all areas. You're more on the alarm and electrical side, but even that was very proprietary 20 years ago, and it's becoming less and less proprietary and more open, utilizing different equipment and trying to get into a panel that's not locked down. I know it's not a thing yet, but it's coming in 72.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: And technology moves faster than our industry traditionally does. But I think the industry's starting to put more attention toward that, and the landscape's changing in a number of ways. I think technology's one of them that's leading that with different systems and different solutions that are available for different applications, where people are looking at that now saying, oh, well that makes a lot of sense. Let's have a bigger conversation about that.
Drew Slocum: Right. So, in the background with Space Age Electronics, are you involved in any associations, NFPA, anything there?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, so as a company, we're involved in well over a dozen different industry associations or code committees, technical committees, whether it be NFPA technical committees, NEMA involvement, or associations like AFAA, SFPE, things of that nature. Personally, being in New England, I'm on the board of directors for the New England Automatic Fire Alarm Association, so AFAA New England, and just several months ago, I was appointed as one of the technical committee members, a principal member for the NFPA 241 committee. So that's relatively fresh, though. It's a space I've been spending a lot of time in over the past few years.
Drew Slocum: Have you been on a technical committee before as principal?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: No, this is my first time. So our first in-person technical committee meeting is this summer, and I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a whole new experience, though. It's a space that I've had involvement in, but from that side of it, this is all new to me. So it's going to be a learning experience for sure, but I'm looking forward to it.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, it's interesting. I got involved with the remote inspection and testing 1, 915. That was my first one. Obviously, we'd better be remote to meet because it's what the standard is. I know we just met in person. I wasn't able to go to that, but I was online. Anyway. It's just interesting to see the whole NFPA process, and I had Jason Webb on here. You've probably known him, just kind of describing the whole process from start to finish on NFPA. Where does it come from and where does the technical committee sit, and that whole process of trying to change code, and how the public can help there. So it is a great learning experience.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: It's interesting. I mean NFPA and the various different books within, with 241 specifically, it's been around since the 1930s, and there are still people when you bring it up today, like, "Oh, I've never even heard of that before." And it's one of those things from an awareness perspective, there's been people working on this for that period of time, but it's just from an acceptance and awareness, acceptance and enforcement standpoint, it just really hasn't gotten the attention, which is part of the reason why I'm excited to be a part of it, because it's getting a lot more attention now and it's being developed a lot quicker than in previous years. So that's part of the excitement.
Drew Slocum: Wait, has it really been around since the 1930s?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: It has, yeah, that standard itself.
Drew Slocum: Wow, that's crazy. I did not know that. Yeah, I knew about NFPA getting involved in its safeguarding construction alteration and demo operations, which has been involved in New York City for a bunch of years... There are local laws in New York, and I think Boston has it as well, mainly on the sprinkler side, but I know they have this on the fire alarm side too, where essentially it's a dry standpipe there. And this all, a lot of code gets drawn up and adopted because of tragedies and all that. And there was, I think, the Deutsche Bank fire. Was it Deutsche Bank? Yeah. Where somebody cut into the standpipe, whatever, firefighters went up there, but couldn't tap in. So obviously, there were some lives lost there, but they made the standard, and any new construction, at least in New York City, you have to have these protocols in place. So, is that what 241 is? Is it kind of a basis for that?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, it's like I've heard it referred to as a framework document. So it provides a framework to those who need to follow it, whether it's general contractors, building owners, or GCs being a building owner's rep, those who create the impairment plans, so that's at the GC level, all the way to the code consultant level. It gives framework for them as well as jurisdictions to come to some common agreement on a construction project as to what's going to occur for not just fire protection and fire safety measures, but everything from, I say good housekeeping in air quotes, meaning gate access for first responders, are there dumpsters in the way of GATE two on such and such a week? So if there's a need to respond to the site, don't go to gate two, you go to gate one. So there's a lot of different details in there as it relates to overall just better safety around on a construction site, but certainly focused on fire, both fire protection and just from a response plan perspective.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, that's interesting. You see a lot of these fires that if something under construction and there's some pretty big fires, no protection probably in place because the building's not done yet.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Correct. Yeah, that's the whole point right now. A lot of times the projects we've been involved in over the past several years, you talk to people and there's everything from nothing being done to an air horn hanging on a hook at the stairwell locations on every floor, and that's your means of notification to evacuate if there's an emergency, to a hardwired system that may or may not be powered up and working. There are a lot of different ways to do it. We got involved because we provided a wireless solution. That's where my involvement a few years back really started coming into play. And my background before Space Age was in residential construction, but it was in construction. So naturally I was like, "Oh, this is a very interesting space. I kind of like it." So yeah, it's been a learning experience for seven or so years now. But yeah, this summer, I guess I'll take the next step.
Drew Slocum: Yeah. That's cool. So is there an actual... sorry, I'm very intrigued by this. So, rise under construction or whatever, warehouse under construction, is there a wireless solution that you guys have? Is there a panel involved, or is it more? Is there actually detection or...?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: There is, yeah. Yeah. Think of it a lot like a fire alarm system, and I hesitate to say it's a fire alarm system, even though truthfully at its core that's what it is, but for the most part, for the intent of a temporary system during construction, yes, there's a panel, it's a wireless panel. It doesn't require AC power. It has smoke detection, heat detection, wireless IO relays for tying into other systems, called a call point, which is manual initiation to evacuate the site, but it also integrates a horn strobe for notification. Yeah, there are a number of different features, and it's a mesh network. It's radio frequency. So it's ideal for that environment. It was built for that environment. So it's a solid solution for a space that's ever changing.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, and I would feel like you're kind of pushing... It's not really at the... If you can get cities and AHJs to adopt it, right? Then again, I'm looking back at the sprinkler side, which was on the standpipe pack in Boston and New York. There's a lot of construction there. So if they're bringing in 241 and require that, obviously, the solutions are out there for it.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yes, absolutely. And you can actually monitor the standpipes with it as well, with the dry contact.
Drew Slocum: Oh, cool.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: So, excuse me, if a change in pressure happens wirelessly, it will notify the panel, and then you can notify those who need to know in another way, basically. So yeah, I mean, while 241 doesn't necessarily use the exact words that you shall be putting a fire alarm system temporarily in place during construction, it does provide the guidance to what's called an FPM. It's a fire prevention program manager, and that's the person on site who's designated to carry out the plan. Typically, the plans are written in many cases here in the Northeast by code consultants who will put a form of temporary fire protection in because it's smart and early detection. If there's something, whether it's during or after hours, you want to know as soon as possible to give the responding departments as much awareness of it and the ability to go and fight that fire for both the sake of the building and surrounding structures.
Drew Slocum: So interesting. Yeah, I'm glad I tapped into that when you mentioned you were on 241.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, yeah, no, that could be its own podcast.
Drew Slocum: Right. What are your thoughts in general? Where do you guys spend most of your time? Are you interested in the fire alarm distributor contractors or service providers? Are you more into the engineers? Are you working with the OE...? You're probably across it, but where is most of your time spent?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, we are across it. Our business is also unique in that we support OEMs. So there are products we make specifically for them that you'd never know come from one of our buildings, it's that product. So there's that component. There are our own products we design and manufacture, or in some cases, resell for partners of ours to the fire alarm contractors. So the ESDs, those who are doing design and providing parts to turnkey to electrical contractors. That's the core of it, really, because our product set is best suited, but wholesale distribution channels are also used to put the product, the more consumables out there, and available in the market. So we focus on those three channels primarily. And then, yeah, we certainly do have a focus on the engineering community as well, both from the obvious specification piece of it, but also the education side of it as well. So, because not just I, but a number of people on our team sit on different committees and have various different involvement in the industry, we're positioned to be able to go and speak and educate. So, certainly the engineering community is part of that. The AHJ community is part of that, as well as our customer base.
Drew Slocum: Gotcha. Yeah. Again, you're in a niche, inside a niche, and the funny part, there's a lot of white labeling and with that, and within, you say you don't know, it's coming from Space Age with the manufacturers, and I think partnerships are a big piece to the industry where you have a sole focus and then, all right, well, we're not experts there. Can we partner together to make everybody's lives easier?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Absolutely. Yeah. I said it at the beginning of this podcast, but one of the things we focus on is efficiencies if it's not providing a solution to answer a requirement and make our customers' lives easier in that way. So it could be with our product and solutions that we make ourselves, it could be with a partner product or solution, and how do we bring that to our customer base to help them grow their business to the next level and truly be a partner, not just a vendor to them. One of the things that we like to tell our partners is that we don't want just to be another vendor. We want to be an extension of your business. We want to understand your day-to-day, the projects you work on, and how we can help. We have a lot of expertise on our team from previous roles in the industry throughout the years, and at our core, what we do and where we want to be are valuable in that way as well.
Drew Slocum: Yep, yep, yep. Recently, I had Sean Mahoney on the podcast. I don't know if you know Sean.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: I've met some of them.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, he's down the street from you. He sits on NFPA. I had him on discussing fire doors and fire dampers, and then we got in this whole thing in smoke control, and I know you guys are big in the area of smoke control, and we do it in our platform in the Inspect Point platform too, but it's more fire doors and dampers and smoke controls like this... It's kind of its own standard. There's some damper inspection stuff there. And is it a newer... I know smoke control's been around for years, but is it just not being pushed? I guess new buildings are being pushed that way, and Zion engineers have to do it for larger buildings. But it's interesting. Just an observation of mine: smoke control is kind of pushed to, not pushed to the side, but not...
Kyle Jarvenpaa: It depends. It depends on the type of building occupancy, size of building jurisdiction and how they want to achieve it, whether it's an atrium smoke exhaust scenario or if it's a stairwell pressurization scenario, or if it's a post-fire scenario with smoke purge, as they call it in New York or smoke evac. So yeah, it kind of depends on how it's being achieved. So our play, what we provide is the graphic panel, the interface panel to the fire alarm system that is interfacing with the fire alarm system, which is interfacing with the building automation system to fans, dampers, all that stuff. It's a multidisciplined approach among trades, but we provide the firefighter's override panel, which is the graphic depiction of what's going on in the building, gives you the tactile switches, or in some cases, as I said earlier, technology is moving faster than acceptance. Sometimes it could be a graphic touchscreen. And then, of course, you've got your field devices, fans, dampers, maybe doors, windows for makeup air, and those are all being controlled and monitored in some fashion by the system as well. So yeah, we provide the graphic interface, the firefighter control panels or post-fire panels, as well as part of that brand panel view, for us is our prefab capabilities, where we'll actually prefab the control functions for fans and dampers down to the manufacturer-specific components. We'll put those in and pre-wire all for everybody to make the installations go more seamless and quicker and from design all the way to commissioning and future tests and inspections.
Drew Slocum: Gotcha. Is that an electrical contractor that does that, or are the fire alarm contractors involved? They probably have to be involved at some point.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: No, certainly. Yeah. Well, it depends. Again, I mean, markets are so different. There, the turnkey markets where the fire alarm contractors could also be the EC, which has a fire alarm division. They're doing it all. In other markets, like here in the Northeast and Boston, you've got the fire alarm contractor providing the design and the components and the ECs are the ones doing the installation. So yeah, we'll work alongside you right in the middle and provide solutions to whoever. Everyone has a benefit as stakeholders.
Drew Slocum: And I guess HVAC is involved, too, right? With the building controls and everything?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, there's an interface there for sure.
Drew Slocum: Wow. Yeah. Learn these little side parts of fire protection.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: There are so many. There are a lot of tentacles.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, yeah, exactly. I know we met recently, just on the state of the market. Where do you see... obviously, there's a lot of acquisition and consolidation happening, but is that happening on the electrical side too? Obviously, I'm close on the fire side, but what's happening on the electrical side of the business industry?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: It's certainly happening. I mean, it seems more prevalent in the fire alarm integrator space with the ESDs, we'll call them, where there are a lot of companies that are rolling into one another and being acquired and partnering. But certainly on the EC side too, we see it across the nation where there are some large electricals in different markets who've expanded outside of the market that they originated from, and it's likely through acquisition. There are a few names out there that are becoming one, but even outside of our industry, I see it happening as well. I think it's just the state of where we are currently in the world. It's an acquisition kind of growth world, and it's that mentality of being stronger together. Let's put our resources together and go out and build something bigger. But certainly within our industry, it's across the board for sure.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, it's funny. There were... new to our business, there's some new people within Inside Inspect Point or whatever that aren't used to just the fire space and at time of recording where amidst the troubled time within the stock market and stuff like that, and I think we got a couple comments of people being concerned about the business. I'm like, "Guys, we're pandemic resistant. We're recession-resistant. Fire codes don't go backwards." So our business is really focused on compliance and safety, and that usually doesn't go down. So do not worry. We have a great business model now. New buildings and stuff like that always go through waves. But on the maintenance side, the inspection side, and the service side, obviously, the last 10 years have been gangbusters.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Well, I think that's part of the reason why we see so much change in consolidation, too, in the industry: people are looking to diversify in one way or another. I don't want to just focus on this one thing. I want to diversify to be more relevant in several areas, pending several things. And right now, you're right with what we're going through in the economy, the more diversified you are, the better that you are, the better chance you have of maintaining and pulling through. But also from an efficiency standpoint, your tool, your platform for people, provides efficiencies. So, at any time, how can you be more relevant, but also continue being more efficient? It's finding new tools and platforms and ways to run your business and manage it. That's what's going to set you up. And that's really where our focus moving forward is, as well as a partner for our customers, too, is how do we help our partners, both new and existing, and potential new partners, be more efficient and diversify and grow past the point that they're at now? And I think that's really how we started talking and looking at Inspect Point. What can we do about that? How is this something we can put in front of our customer base and help them become more efficient and diversify?
Drew Slocum: Yeah, I see a lot of the... I'll see an electrician's truck going down the road or a security company where they'll put fire alarm on there and it might be just a tiny piece of their business, but again, the more they get diversified, and similarly across the fire protection space, they're getting into everything. They're branching into security. Some of the bigger ones that you're even getting into the elevator space, which is a compliance-driven space, and there's always constant service and maintenance there. And I think the codes are better. And again, you can install something if you... It's a million dollars. The thing is, if you don't maintain that per the codes or per the OEM, that piece of equipment's going to degrade over time, especially if it's not being used, like in fire.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Well, and I mean, it speaks to the importance of having that recurring piece of being able to go back and do the test and inspections and provide the value to then their customer, the end user, that the system's being maintained the right way and the company doing it is a reputable company to be doing so.
Drew Slocum: Yep. Question about, this is something I was perusing your guys, your products and all this stuff, and I think there's really some really great innovative things. And you guys, again, a lot of different sides to the fire alarm and detection and all that space. The boxes though, I am really curious about these boxes, the Acer boxes and is that what they're called Acer boxes, right?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Acer boxes, the brand, yeah. Yep.
Drew Slocum: It's so simple, but it's obviously needed. And I guess where obviously that's some of that's in the code, but where is the value there? I'm curious, and I have some follow-ups to that, too, on some of our data.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: So, the Acer box is both of the value props, I guess that I mentioned earlier. It's the code requirement, so document boxes are in the code. You shall provide a location to keep your documents and it should say system record documents. So it's in NFPA 72, and it's a solution for people to be code compliant and keep their system records in there. So that's everything from your system manuals all the way through annual inspections and keeping those in there. And we go a step further, and not just for the document box, but also for terminal cabinets, battery cabinets, the accessory cabinets, which are just empty enclosures with a back plate that you can mount whatever you want in there, where we will custom brand those for companies. So if somebody's looking at our document boxes and they say, "Well, this is going to go next to every one of our fire alarm panels that we're putting out there, both new install and servicing." We want our name on it, our service number on it, and our website on it, and we want to brand that for people. So we'll run through various quantities for people. And that's a standard of theirs, and now they're using it as a marketing tool. So it's not just a solution that's helping them be code compliant, but they're also using it as a marketing tool on their projects. And if it's a company that's focusing on new installs, or perhaps it's a refurb project and they need terminal cabinets or other types of enclosures, we're branding those for them as well. So they become accessories to the installation that are part of the system, and from a brand perspective, become part of what they're putting out there into the world. So it's unique for us, and it goes a long way with our partners, and there's a lot of longevity to it.
Drew Slocum: Interesting. Yeah, I've got some ideas for you there too, to enhance that product even more. I'll have to take that offline. Yeah. I'm like, well, I'll just get it out there. Right? All right. You have the system record box. Why can't we push that to the cloud? You probably still need the physical documents there, but there's so much more that you could just put a QR code or something in there, it could go back.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: We've been thinking about that for many years. At what point is this box irrelevant? I mean, it's in the code, so that's obviously a point in our favor there. But yeah, it's something that we've been talking about for quite a while, and in fact, it's once again, going back to originally speaking with you guys and creating a partnership there is what's the next level of documentation and the next level of a solution, again, that we can bring to our customer base that maybe isn't necessarily on the requirement side as far as how it's being carried out currently, but it's the future. These are going, and it only made sense for us to say, okay, there's something here. There's somebody who does it really well, and we have a customer base who are already utilizing one solution for this purpose. Why not bring the next generation of the solution to the table and say, "We also have this." And in fact, it doesn't just serve that purpose. It does these various other things for you as well in your business. Again, from an efficiency standpoint, being a partner and bringing the next thing to the table, and just being a good advocate for the partnership.
Drew Slocum: Yeah. No, it's exciting. And yeah, no, we're getting ready to kick that off here soon. This podcast will probably be the first thing.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, I heard it here first.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, right. Yeah, I saw those battery cabinets. It sparked me to talk about the boxes, and then I got the document boxes came to mind as well. But the battery is the number one deficiency. And really, NFPA 72 in our data, at least essentially it's battery testing, and we have analytics around battery testing now, so you can know what buildings and panels are coming due. And there's some pretty cool stuff. And yeah, it's been the number one deficiency on the fire alarm side of our platform for quite a while now. I'd love to dig into that more of, obviously you have to have 'em tested, and that's the main backup power. But yeah, anyway.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: No, that's a really good point. And it's a point as to why would you use a platform like Inspect Point, and that's one data piece that supports that, "Hey, look, this is a tool that's going to help you become more efficient, not just with one detail, but things like that that are important to the annual inspections."
Drew Slocum: Yep. Any other topics that you can think of in 2025? What do you guys got? Anything you're working on that's kind of top of mind that you can tell everybody?
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, we're working on a handful of things, and by June, NFPA, right in our industry, that's a big event. There will be several things in our booth at NFPA that will be new or upcoming. So I'm very excited about that. Some of which I'll keep a secret, so people show up to see it. But yeah, one of the bigger things that we've been working on, and it kind of coincides with what we're doing with Inspect Point, is putting a more service-based package together for our, again, current customers, but certainly new partnership opportunities that are out there that focuses on the efficiencies and helping people who have new businesses grow, have existing businesses reach the next level. So it's things like the Inspect Point platform, our branding services, and what we provide there to help people grow their business. Design is another part of what this program is going to be.
And then, even beyond that, is education. So we've recently rolled out what we call Ignite. Ignite is an educational series, being headed up by our industry relations director, Mike Ola. So he's educating on several different topics that we have become subject matter experts in over the past years. So that's part of this package too, is the ability to bring new tools to partners, help with branding efforts, help with finding design resources, and then also from an educational perspective, providing CEUs for those who need to keep up with their licenses. And going back to what we were talking about a minute ago, with the consolidation in the industry and seeing more and more new companies popping up from those who are kind of going off on their own and wanting to do something different. So there's the consolidation piece, but there's also this new kind of group of people and group of companies popping up out there, and these services and what this package entails are helpful to them. So that's what we've been putting a lot of focus on, which is really who we are as a company and where we fit in the industry, and as a brand, what we can bring to people to help them grow and expand their own brand and be more efficient there. It's developing. It's something that's certainly by NFPA we'll be fully pushing and talking about. But yeah, Inspect Point's a huge part of that.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, no, excited to kick this off and partner here. And again, you guys make great products and are involved in many of the fire alarm space niches, so it's cool to be kicking this off. One question to end on, and then we'll get out of here. I think we kicked this off our relationship from the invite; I think you invited me to SFPE or AFAA.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, it was AFAA. So this goes back to not last summer. Yeah, last summer, maybe this summer. We had an AFAA Brew Series summer event that we did in New England, but it never really materialized. So, we certainly want to get something going moving forward with that because summer's coming, so why not?
Drew Slocum: Well, it was the coolest thing I was going to present at a brewery. I think it was at Tree House or something like that. So I guess the question is, I guess it's not a question, more of a comment. We've got to get that going again. I want to do some brewery tours here.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Consider it done. Yeah, I like that. Brewery Core 25, let's be up and down the East Coast.
Drew Slocum: Right? Yeah. You go out west, Denver's got a bunch. California's got a bunch.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, no, certainly that was something that, as AFAA New England, we do our dinner meetings a few times a year from the beginning of the year to summer. And we typically would take summers off. And the idea that we carried out that first summer, and we are planning it again for this summer, is to keep the momentum going. We wanted to do something a little lighter, more of a social event. So we chose, at the time, it was a brewery, and we did a few events there that were intended to be more solution and product-focused, whereas our dinner meetings are typically more topical. It's not a sales pitch, but whereas doing this in more of a social setting at a brewery, bring in a different manufacturer or solution provider, and let's learn about the technology, let's learn about the solution. And that first summer that we did it, we did three of 'em, and they were pretty well attended. People came out and wanted to hear about the technology or either that or just drink beer, but it went well enough. Doing it again.
Drew Slocum: Got 'em out there. That's awesome. Yeah, looking forward to hearing more about it this summer.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: We'll have to coordinate an Inspect Point one.
Drew Slocum: Yeah. Yeah. I'd love to maybe do a live podcast at one. I did one at a tequila bar early on in the podcast, and that was fun. And anyway, you've got to get people to these meetings.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I mean, joking aside, the industry associations, I mean, it's the perfect platform for education, learning, networking, and seeing what's new in the industry. There are a lot of different associations, and they all provide similar but different values, so it's equally important to support them all.
Drew Slocum: Yes. Yeah, for sure. So let's end here. Where can we find you? Where can we find anything? Give a plug at this point.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, obviously our website, right? 1sae.com. That's where all of our solutions are, and you can learn more about them. We're very active on LinkedIn, so space age, electronics on LinkedIn. That's where our more day-to-day, week-to-week updates, blogs, that sort of stuff that we're doing. And then my upcoming time out there in the world. Next week I'll be at the national AFAA event in Orlando. And then, of course, as a company, we're going to be at NFPA in June in Las Vegas. So, there are a number of opportunities to connect and talk about what's new.
Drew Slocum: Yeah, yeah. Well, we'll see you at AFAA and NFPA as well. Kyle, thanks again for hopping on with me today.
Kyle Jarvenpaa: Oh, thank you, Drew. Appreciate it.
