Coverings: Stone Education-Plus!
“We’re proud of the reputation Coverings has earned over the years for quality educational programming, and are excited to offer another stellar lineup of sessions in 2010,” said Jennifer Hoff, president of client events for National Trade Productions.
Unless noted, all seminars are one-hour long. And, as with previous Coverings events, all the conference sessions are free.
APRIL 27
The stone-centric sessions begin at 9 a.m. with Going Digital – New Operational Metrics Gained for Natural Stone Business Owners. Paul Menniger of Capitol Granite and Marble in Virginia Beach, Va., will show how to produce better yield and cash flow, plus determine other financial benchmarks to measure and analyze your business.
Also at 9 a.m., it’s the Women in the Stone Business Annual Forum, including a panel of industry professionals sharing their opportunities and obstacles in the business. Rejeana Ellis of Affordable Stone Products Inc. in Greensboro, N.C., will moderate the session, which will include questions from the audience.
Challenges to Natural Stone Tile Installations at 1:30 p.m. offers the benefits of a partnership between the Marble Institute of America (MIA), the National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA) and the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) in publishing a supplement to the TCA Handbook on Natural Stone Tile Installations. MIA Technical Director Chuck Muehlbauer will present key outtakes.
At 3:15 p.m., Juan F. Garcia of Redrock Tile & Stone in Loa, Utah, offers Safety and Profitability: How Safety Can Raise Your Bottom Line. He’ll discuss the importance of an effective safety program, and provide a guide to recognizing hazards, evaluating exposure, and controlling their impact through training, mitigation and leadership.
With Providing CEUs to Architects & Interior Designers For Natural Stone, also at 3:15 p.m.,the MIA’s James Hieb will show how a continuing-education-unit program works, illustrate the different programs related to stone, and explain how to get started in giving presentations and becoming a leading expert in natural stone for your marketplace.
Also at 3:15 p.m., Digital Templating & Much More by Dan Louis of Laser Products Industries Inc. of Romeoville, Ill., will detail the process of digital templating in a non-vendor-specific presentation, and offer several case studies to show the best (and worst) practices.
APRIL 28
Architects and Commercial Stone Projects – Best Practices for Stone Professionals starts out the day at 8 a.m. with Jeff Matthews of Trade International in Atlanta. He’ll share his perspective on stone selection, installation standards, and what is necessary to assure a good working relationship between stone professionals and architects, including a “best-practices” approach with case studies to illustrate successful and unsuccessful projects.
Also at 8 a.m, Marty Gould of Focalize Now in Cooper City, Fla., will show how to Super Charge Your Web Site: Being in the Right Place When Customers Look for a Stone Contractor. Among the topics to be covered are proper keyword and tag usage, targeting the audience and obtaining customers via search-engine rankings, all to maximize a company’s marketing presence.
Smart Growth Strategies: Becoming a Fully Digital Fabrication Shop at 9:15 a.m. will define what digital technology is in the countertop trade, and provide a way to analyze whether a shop should take the full digital leap. Stuart Young of The Granite Shop in Calgary, Alberta, and Rob Bromley of Park Industries in St. Cloud, Minn., will also identify the pitfalls to avoid with a fully digital shop.
Rodney Harvey of Curtain Wall Design in Dallas offers Transition from Countertop-Oriented Work to Light Commercial, also at 9:15 a.m., focusing primarily on natural-stone-veneer installations. The session also details what can go wrong in installations and presents recommended remediation anchorage and techniques.
Joe Salvo of Miracle Sealants Co. in Arcadia, Calif., presents Natural Stone: Protection, Maintenance, & Restoration at 3:15 p.m., coverings stone origins and processing; coatings vs. impregnators; stone installations and various protection/maintenance challenges; and restoration.
With Introducing Social Media into Your Stone Company’s Marketing Plan at 3:15 p.m., the MIA’s Garen Distelhorst takes on the world of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other areas that go beyond the 20-something age group in business networking. Learn some easy-to-implement strategies for a stone business, including several case studies demonstrating how to get started and manage existing and new relationships through social media.
Also at 3:15 p.m., Trends in Tile and Stone for Retail Work offers a group presentation on the incorporation of stone and tile in design by architects, as well as some insights on the future of retail. The panel includes Angelo Carusi, AIA, LEED AP of Cooper Carry in Atlanta, David Ling of David Ling Architect in New York and Linda O’Keeffe.
APRIL 29
One of the annual highlights of Coverings is Vince Marazita’s overview of stone worldwide, and Stone Trends 2010 at 8 a.m. offers a two-hour panorama of sourcing, marketing and application trends, including examples of award-winning projects in the past year. It’s the 11th “State of the Industry” presentation from Marazita of Marazita and Associates in Canoga Park, Calif.
Also at 8 a.m., it’s the annual Fabricators Forum, offering answers to audience questions or problems in a free-wheeling two-hour session. GK Naquin of Stone Interiors in Loxley, Ala., will moderate a panel that includes Rafael Bernal of Great Lakes Granite & Marble in Redford, Mich.; Michael Twiss of Columbia Stone Inc. in Tualatin, Ore.; Brett Rugo of Rugo Stone LLC in Lorton, Va.; and Guido Gliori of Grazzini Brothers & Co. in Eagan, Minn.
The MIA’s Muehlbauer returns at 9:15 a.m. with Exterior Stone Adhered Veneer Standards – An Industry Update. He’ll offer an overview of a number of the contentious topics currently stalling development of standards for this widely used system of stone attachment, including substrate rigidities, adhesive contact, stone varieties and known paths to failure.
Performance, Energy Efficiency, and Improved Indoor Environmental Quality with Tile, Marble and Terrazzo, also at 9:15 a.m., examines the “whole system” of design and construction, including main principles of energy efficiency and sustainability, as stated in LEED® 2009 New Construction and Commercial Interior guidelines. Maria Viteri, AIA, LEED,AP from the International Masonry Institute in Bowie, Md., will also incorporate the AIA’s “50 to 50” principles that address measures to achieve carbon neutrality.
At 3:15 p.m., Scott Lardner of Rocky Mountain Stone in Albuquerque, N.M., moderates the Wholesale/Slab Distributors Forum in an open discussion of a host of operational issues, including an update on how distributors are supporting the granite industry on the radon/radiation front. Also featured on the panel are Jonathan Zanger of Walker Zanger in Mt. Vernon, N.Y.; Saket Hans of OHM International in Monroe Township, N.J.; and Rup Shah of MS International in Orange, Calif.
With Fabrication – Do You Know Your Cost?, also at 3:15 p.m., Stone Interiors’ Naquin offers a way to get a handle on factors affecting a shop’s bottom line, including the true cost of production, the effects of new equipment on profit, and analysis of a business by components such as templating, fabrication and installation.
The Science of Sealing: What to Know, What to Use and Why, also at 3:15 p.m., focuses on the science behind stone and tile types, and the compatibility of different sealers and their overall performance with Rod Sigman of Aqua Mix in Corona, Calif. Learn how to select which sealer types to use for optimum performance, explore the advantages of water-based vs. solvent-based sealers, and discover what sealers do (and don’t do).
APRIL 30
Stone in Green Building: Moving the Stone Industry Towards Sustainability at 8:30 a.m. is a three-hour workshop to explore the use of stone materials in building applications, and the industry’s effort to assess the sustainability of stone. Jack Giebig of the Center for Clean Products at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., and several members of the Natural Stone Council’s Sustainability Committee will cover a wide variety of topics, including life-cycle assessments, environmental profiles of materials and why the work on natural stone sustainability is critical to the evolution of building codes around the world.
Rob Hutcheson, ASLA of EDSA in Orlando offers Trends in the Use of Tile and Stone in the Landscape: A Showcase at 9 a.m. He’ll address applications in landscape architecture, from pools/water features to walls and custom works, including items and areas related to sustainable design.
Your Fabrication Shop – Nuts & Bolts at 10 a.m. is a forum/workshop focusing on operating a safe shop environment – including OSHA compliance – as well as identifying the right infrastructure for water recycling and compressed-air systems. Kevin Padden of the AZ School of Rock in Pinal County, Ariz., will moderate; the panel includes Rocky Mountain Stone’s Lardner.
Other Coverings sessions of interest to the stone industry are:
• Less Chaos, More Cash – Reducing Confusion and Improving Profits in Your Business at 3:15 p.m. on April 27 with Aaron Crowley of Crowley’s Granite Concepts Inc.;
• The Forensics of Tile Failures at 8 a.m. on April 28 with David Gobis, CTC, CSI, Ceramic Tile Consultant and other panel members;
• Proper Use and Understanding of Medium Bed Mortars, also at 8 a.m. on April 28 with a representative of the Materials Methods and Standards Association;
• Linear Drain Shower Systems/ADA Compliant Showers at 9:15 a.m. on April 28 with Mitchell B. Louch of wedi Corp.;
• Make the Building Green – Not the Shower: Moisture and Mold Management in Sustainable Construction, also at 9:15 a.m. on April 28 with Paul Shipp of USG;
• Creating the Impregnable Architect Connection, again at 9:15 a.m. on April 28, with Warren Tyler of Motivation Plus;
• E-Marketing Mastery – Learning to Market Effectively Online at 3:15 p.m on April 28, with Kim Jones of CSK Meridian Group Inc.;
• Ultimate Waterproofing Techniques at 8 a.m. on April 29 with Gobis and Michael Byrne of MB&A;
• Epoxy Mortars and Grouts, also at 8 a.m. on April 29 with Dale Roberts of Custom Building Products;
• Recent Developments in Sound Reduction Membranes, again at 8 a.m. on April 29 with Fred Jackson and Richard Maurer of The Noble Co.; and
• Thinset Mortars at 9:15 a.m. on April 29 with Michael Micalizzi and Sam Biondi of MAPEI Corp.
Organizations sponsoring Coverings this year include ASCER (Spain’s Ceramic Tile Manufacturers Association), Confindustria Ceramica (Italian Association of Ceramics), TCNA (Tile Council of North America), and CTDA (Ceramic Tile Distributors Association).
For more information on attending Coverings, visit www.coverings.com or contact NTP at 703-683-8500.