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Tuesday, April 27
8:30–10:00 am
Contractors and Installers Featured Session:
The Seven Steps to Closing a Profitable Sale
Speaker: Robert Langdon, Author, Managing Your Business for Profit
If you believe that price competition is increasing in your Tile Contracting business, then this program is a must for you. Robert Langdon, CPA and author of Managing Your Business for Profit, will show you simple techniques to identify your most profitable customers and proven methods to help you generate more business from them. You’ll learn how to differentiate your product and service in the marketplace, thus enabling you to achieve a higher gross margin, while increasing sales and profitability immediately and for years to come.
And, you’ll return to your business more competitive than ever with Bob’s proven methods of:
• Identifying and selling to the upscale, service driven customer.
• Utilizing a seven-step process to closing a profitable sale.
• Increasing gross margin in your business.
• Using pricing strategies to increase profitability.
• Differentiating your product and service in the marketplace.
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Tuesday, April 27
8:30–10:00 am
Architects and Designers Featured Session:
“The New Real” – The Future of Design for a Changed Customer
Speaker: Maxine Lauer, Sphere Trending
Sphere Trending will explore the different consumer generations and how each is reacting to the new economic reality. There are real changes in how we are living and working, with the value equation once again reinventing itself in unique ways that will affect all businesses in the future. Our design trends will speak to the importance of "Raising the Sightlines"™, a Sphere Trending insight that identifies the growing importance of design in remaking environments for our changing needs and desires.
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Tuesday, April 27
1:30–3:00 pm
Architects and Designers Featured Session:
Color Trends : The Catalysts that Create Change
Speaker: Leatrice Eiseman, Eiseman and Associates
There is no doubt that in today’s complex and challenging marketplace, the appropriate use of color has the unique ability to attract and engage the eye, elicit emotion, enhance the product or environment, and ultimately tempt the consumer or client. Color is, in fact, the catalyst that can spark the sale, define the space, and create the magic and the mood. Choices are as varied as lifestyles, each reflecting a specific point of view and comfort level. Join Leatrice Eiseman, international color expert and consultant, as she shares the color palettes and trends forecast.
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Wednesday, April 28
8:00–9:00 am
Distributors and Retailers Featured Session:
The Consumer in 2010. What Will Get Them Back?
Speaker: James Dion, Dionco
What will the consumer of 2010 want? What will bring them back to renovations, to upgrades, to new homes, to new offices? Come and learn 10 trends that will shape 2010 that you cannot afford to ignore. Attendees will gain a good understanding of what trends will be critical in 2010; learn how to apply these trends to increase your business; and learn what is important to consumers and how you can shape your offer to be successful.
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Wednesday, April 28
1:30–3:00 pm
Architects and Designers Featured Session:
Architizer: New Media in Architectural Communication
Speaker: Marc Kushner, AIA, Co-Founder, Architizer.com
Architizer.com is the new digital medium for architects to speak about their work to colleagues, suppliers and clients. By energizing the latent connections that exist in the highly collaborative field of architecture, Architizer revolutionizes the way architecture is consumed by the public. Marc Kushner, a co-founder of architizer.com and a practicing architect, will speak about the challenges of communication in our field and the potential of emerging media to excite the public.
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Thursday, April 29
8:00–9:00 am
Distributors and Retailers Featured Session:
Game’s On — The Future is Here
Speaker: Jonathan Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom
The future is here. How has it changed consumer behavior and what should retailers do? The mediocre are no longer with us. The smart have survived. Now is the time to capitalize on marketing for profit and growth.
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Thursday, April 29
1:30–3:00 pm
Architects and Designers Featured Session:
Four Florida Moderns: Explorations in Materials for Modernism
   
Speakers: Albert Alfonso, Alfonso Architects, Inc.; Guy Peterson, FAIA, OFA; Rene Gonzalez, Rene Gonzalez Architects; Chad Oppenheim, Oppenheim Architecture + Design
Moderator: Saxon Henry, Author, Four Florida Moderns
One of the hallmarks of early Modernism was an exploration of new materials. Architects whose names have become synonymous with one of the most revered movements in history also covered new ground by using tried-and-true materials in exciting ways. Alberto Alfonso, Rene Gonzalez, Chad Oppenheim and Guy Peterson, the architects whose works are featured in the new book Four Florida Moderns, will discuss how they continue to bring these traditions forward as they draw from new materials and search for cutting-edge ways to use traditional materials in their projects.
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Friday, April 30
8:30–11:30 am
Stone Fabricators Featured Session:
Stone in Green Building: Moving the Stone Industry Toward Sustainability
Speakers: Jack Giebig, Center for Clean Products at the University of Tennessee; Members of the Natural Stone Industry’s Sustainability Committee
This three-hour workshop should be on every natural stone professional’s list of business-critical sessions to attend. During the presentation portion of this workshop, you will:
• Explore the use of stone materials in building applications.
• Learn more about the activities of the industry’s effort to assess the sustainability of stone.
• Obtain information about environmental profiles for stone materials as compared to other material alternatives (pre-cast concrete, aluminum, etc.).
• Learn more about the results of life-cycle assessment that compares common materials used for external cladding.
During the panel discussion portion of this workshop, you will be able to:
• Get perspectives on why the work on natural stone sustainability is critical to the evolution of building codes around the world.
• Ask questions and provide input into the ongoing effort.
• Share perspectives on projects you have worked on.
With this session, you will be better positioned to speak with clients about sustainability, get involved with this vital industry initiative, and position your company to be at the forefront of this effort.
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