As the Indianapolis 500 is to auto racing, is HVACR Week to the heating and air conditioning industry. Here, in the birthplace of auto racing, the HVACR industry's premier showcase for residential and commercial contracting put the pedal to the metal and roared into action at the Indiana Convention Center.

The show's first day was another great debut for this three-day event — produced by Penton Media, Inc., and the staffs of Contracting Business.com and HPAC Engineering magazines — and now in its 15th year. Early arrivals from among the thousands who will attend streamed into the Indiana Convention Center, and made their way to 23 sessions covering a wide variety of crowd-pleasing residential and commercial HVAC topics.

As an added bonus, more than 100 contractors packed a meeting room for a sold-out, day-long primer on geothermal technology — GeoDay, sponsored by ClimateMaster, was an answer to contractors who told us they wanted to hear more about selling and installing geothermal systems, a technology that's become more popular than ever before.

Here's a look at just some of Wednesday's highlights:

• Six Skills You Need to Profit During Changing Market Conditions, by Greg McAfee, McAfee Heating & Air Conditioning, Kettering, OH
• Solar Systems 101: Why Add This to Your Arsenal? by Louis Hobaica of Hobaica Services, Phoenix, AZ and Jim Hinshaw, Sales Improement Professionals, Fort Collins, CO
• The New Workforce for Hire, by Steve Coscia, Coscia Communications, Havertown, PA
• Becoming an Efective and Profitable Service Manager, by Tom Grandy, Grandy & Associates, Owensboro, KY.

Commercial Symposium & Optimum Buildings
The Commercial HVACR Symposium included three timely presentations by leading commercial contractors:

• High Energy Efficiency Through Fan Powered Induction Units and Chilled Beam Technology, by Peter Pobjoy, Southland Industries
• Better Than Free Energy, a look at an award-winning, ultra-high efficiency commercial new construction project, by Bob Tudi, CEO and George Gittinger, Design/Build Manager at Tudi Mechanical, Pittsburgh, PA
• The Challenges of Running a Mid-Size Company, by Todd Carver, president, Adrian Mechanical, Adrian, MI

The Optimum Building presentations for the day included:

• Building to Grid: Converting Buildings to Virtual Power Plants, by Anto Budiardjo, Clasma Events, Inc.
• Thermal Energy Storage, by Paul Valenta, LEED AP, Calmac
• The Art & Science of Net-Zero Energy Planning, Implementation and Verification.
  

Later in the day, HVACR Week guests packed the Marriott hotel ballroom for the annual Emerson Welcome Reception, which concluded Wednesday's events.

Thursday will have even more.The day begins with a stirring opening keynote address: "A Story of Survival," the story of former USAF Captain Scott O'Grady's struggle to survive after being shot down in enemy territory in Bosnia in 1995. From there, contractors will again flood the seminar rooms, for more than 30 presentations on business and technical topics.

The day will end with the Thursday Night Extravaganza, an industry favorite, sponsored by Carrier, Rheem/Ruud, and Nordyne. This year, the crowd will "take the field," literally — as they party hearty on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. Then, it's on to Friday, with a morning of award presentations, and a featured presentation, "The Highest Calling," by Larry Janesky, president, Dr. Energy Saver LLC.

2011 HVACR Week runs through Sept. 23, and is produced with the support of the following HVAC industry sponsors: Carrier, Emerson Climate Technologies, ClimateMaster, Dr. Energy Saver, Rheem, Ruud, Trane, Service Roundtable, Nordyne, One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, and Jackson Systems.