StonExpo 2009: Education

Offerings are expanded into two new educational tracks for 2009, while show producer Hanley Wood Exhibitions is keeping prices for all the sessions at last year’s levels.

With selected three-hour workshops offered all day on Oct. 21 and 75-minute seminars on Oct. 22-24, it’s a big field – all offered with the input and consultation of the Marble Institute of America (MIA).

As in past years, the program is designed around several educational tracks: the old favorites of Fabrication / Installation; Sales / Marketing; Building / Design; and Business Management; the return of Care / Maintenance / Restoration; and the addition of a new Concrete line of presentations.

FABRICATION / INSTALLATION

For the workshops on Oct. 21, the track kicks off at 1 p.m., with Moving Beyond the Kitchen Countertop with Fred Jackson of Estudio Group LLC in Austin, Texas.

The seminars for fabricators on Oct. 22 begin at 8 a.m. with Taking the Fear Factor Out of Safety Inspection, offered by Ted Huppert of Grazzini Brothers & Co. in St. Paul, Minn., and Don Evans from the Nevada Safety Consultation and Training efforts in Henderson, Nev. At 3:30 p.m., it’s Avoiding Countertop Failures by Offering Solutions by Brian Briggs of GranQuartz in Tucker, Ga., and Dan Duano of Signature Stone in Toano, Va.

At 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 23, it’s the annual, always-popular Fabricator/Installer Forum, featuring Hannah, Brandon Maldonado of Maldonado Tile and Marble Inc. in Fullerton, Calif, and Mark Lauzon of Advanced Fabrication Solutions.

Finally, on Oct. 24, fabrication/installation seminars conclude at 8 a.m. with Liquid Applied Sealants and Their Affect on Porous Substrates by Stu Snell and Fred Kramer, both from Tremco Inc. in Beachwood, Ohio; and, at the same time, Solutions to Dealing with Resin-Treated Slabs from Filippo Emanuel of Tenax USA in Charlotte, N.C., and Rod Sigman of Aqua Mix Inc. in Corona, Calif.

CARE/MAINTENANCE/RESTORATION

Stone Business is sponsoring this track in 2009,with regular columnist Tom McNall joining David Bonasera of Environmentally Safe Products & Procedures in San Jose, Calif., on Oct. 22 at 3 p.m. for Walking the Fine Line Between Maintenance and Restoration. The track also features the Oct. 23 forum: Care, Maintenance and Restoration at 8 a.m. featuring a lineup that should include with Sigman, Bonasera, George O’Regan of DuPont™ StoneTech™ Professional in Walnut Creek, Calif., and Dave Walton of All-American Stone & Tile Care in Victorville, Calif.

SALES/MARKETING

How to Leverage the Internet to Grow Your Business, a three-hour workshop beginning at 9 a.m. on Oct. 22 with Lisbeth Calandrino of Peachtree Communications in Albany, N.Y., starts the sales track. A second workshop, Advanced Marketing Techniques for a Recession, from Jon Goldman of Brand Launcher in Baltimore, is at 1 p.m.

The seminars begin the next day at 8 a.m. with Moving Up in a Downward Economy with Sam Allman of Allman Consulting and Training in Kennesaw, Ga. Also at that time, Goldman returns to count down the Five Marketing Moves to Make Now! And, at 3:30 p.m., Steve Zipkoff of Zipkoff Solutions in Richardson, Texas, offers Delivering Customer Delight ™.

Lauzon returns at 8 a.m. on Oct. 23 with Advanced Selling Skills for Modern Fabricators. Finally, Maura Schreier-Fleming of Best@selling in Dallas rounds out the track with The Art of Selling – Ways to Improve Your Bottom Line at 3:30 p.m.

BUILDING/DESIGN

Trends and Directions: Kitchen and Bath starts the building/design track on Oct. 22 at 3:30 p.m. with Mark Woodman of Woodman Design and Color in Laurel, Md.

On Oct. 23 at 8 a.m., Natural Stone Veneer: “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” features Rodney Harvey and Ken Bownds, PE, both of Curtain Wall Design & Consulting in Dallas. Also at 8 a.m., Jack Geibig, PE, of the Center for Clean Products, Knoxville, Tenn., presents the just-added Assessing the Sustainability of Stone as a Green Building Material. And, at 3:30 p.m., it’s The Geology of Dimensional Stone with Chuck Muehlbauer, the MIA’s Technical Director.

At 11 a.m. on Oct. 24, the track concludes with Design Exploration and Technological Innovation with Natural Stone with Christian R. Pongratz of Pongratz Perbellini Architects in Berlin and Verona, Italy.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Business management seminars begin at 8 a.m. on Oct. 22, with Mark Lauzon returning at 8 a.m. with How Automation Can Improve Your Margins and Increase Productivity. At the same time, Brandon Maldonado also makes a return appearance with From Call to Collections.

Later on Oct. 22, Managing Finances and Planning for Profit is set for 3:30 p.m. with Scott Lardner of Rocky Mountain Stone in Albuquerque, N.M., and Owen Kingman of Kingman & Associates Inc. in Grand Junction, Colo.

At 8 a.m. on Oct. 23, it’s Moving from the Shop Floor to the Front Office by John Cogswell of Cogswell Stone in Palmyra, Va., and Jim Hieb, the MIA’s special-projects director. At 3:30 p.m., it’s Tony Malisani of Malisani Inc. in Great Falls, Mont., with How to Diversify for Growth and Stability. Also at 3:30 p.m., Gasper (GK) Naquin of Stone Interiors of Loxley, Ala., offers Are You Cheating Yourself? A Review of Cost vs. Price.

The track concludes on Oct. 23 with twoseminars at 8 a.m.: Taking Back Control…Do You Control Your Business or Does It Control You?, with Jerry Brown Sr. of RSI Associates of Corpus Christi, Texas; and The Best Laid Business Plans, with Ron Hannah.

CONCRETE

The newest track, sponsored by the Concrete Countertop Institute (CCI), begins with a workshop on Oct. 21 with What You Need to Know about Concrete Countertops: Past, Present, Future at 9 a.m. with Jeffrey Girard, PE, the CCI’s executive director. Girard returns at 1 p.m. for The Design Possibilities are Endless with Concrete Countertops, a second workshop aided by Alla Linetsky of Concrete Elegance, Linda Apple and Michael Whalen of InConcrete and Jeremy French of Mandela Design.

At 8 a.m on Oct. 22, it’s How to Get Started with Concrete Countertops: Practical Information about the Equipment and Skill Sets You Will Need with Evan Kruger of Solidtops LLC in Easton, Md. Later, at 3:30 p.m., Apple, French and Whalen return with Building Radically Cool Concrete Countertops: It’s All in the Mold.

Linetsky guides How to Make Concrete Countertops the Greenest Possible Surface at 8 a.m. on Oct. 23. And, on Oct. 24, Girard finishes the track with The Essential Technical Information for Building High Performance Concrete Countertops.

The easiest option for attending StonExpo Marmomacc Americas’ education events is Conference Package 2, with admission to the Oct. 21 workshops and six seminars on Oct. 22-24 – along with entry to the exhibit hall – at $295 for MIA members and $330 for non-members. (All pricing is effective until Oct. 2, when the prices go to $360 and $410, respectively.)

StonExpo’s Conference Package 1 covers the seminars and the exhibits; it’s $255 for MIA members and $285 for non-members ($325 and $360, respectively, after Oct. 2.)

Going ala carte with education is another option. The Oct. 21 workshops are, per session per person, at $85 for MIA members and $95 for non-members. For seminars on Oct. 22-24, it’s $60 per session for MIA members and $70 for non-members. (Again, prices increase after Oct. 2.)

For more information, go to StonExpo Marmomacc America’s Website or call 972-536-6323.

This article is revised from its first appearance in the September 2009 print edition of Stone Business magazine. ©2009 Western Business Media Inc.