From Vienna to Budapest: IFD brings the global roofing community together

By Emma Peterson. 

IFD President Dirk Bollwerk shares what attendees can expect from the new Connection Forum and the next World Championships of Young Roofer.  

As a global organization, the International Federation of the Roofing Trade (IFD) hosts events around the world. And their next two big events will take them on the road to Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary. To learn more about what will be happening in each of these cities, we spoke to Dirk Bollwerk, IFD’s president, on an episode of Roofing Road Trips®. 

IFD’s event in Vienna, the new Connection Forum, is first up on the calendar, planned for October 2026. Dirk explained what attendees can expect there, saying, “This event is really all about bringing members together to communicate, learn from each other and develop global best practices together.” The Coffee Shops™ crew will be in attendance of this meeting and cannot wait to build connections and relationships with other professionals around the world. We will be also interviewing people live, so make sure to tune into our YouTube channel to keep up with what’s happening in Vienna!  

As for Budapest, the city will be hosting the next World Championships of the Young Roofer in October 2027! Dirk shared a bit more about the Championships, saying, “This is one of our long-standing events and it sees teams come from all different countries, like the U.S., Germany, China and more! And it’s just really great to see the young folks who are so motivated show off their skills.”  

The Coffee Shops crew was in attendance at the last World Championships in 2024 (check out our coverage of the event) and our team still talks about the incredible talent and sportsmanship that was on display. As our president Heidi J. Ellsworth recalled, “When we first got there, all the teams were in their own corners and really focused on the competition. But by the end of the week, they were all watching each other, cheering each other on, switching uniforms and sharing phone numbers. It was just great to see so many talented young people really become a community.”  

And that idea – talented and skilled professionals coming together to build a community is the throughline between every single one of IFD’s events.  

To learn more, Listen to the whole episode, Watch the recording or visit IFD’s directory.