The 2013 NWFA Wood Flooring Expo concluded this past Friday and below we have highlighted some of events that took place during the expo.
Keynote
Keynote speaker Howard Putnam, former CEO of Southwest Airlines, kicked of Wednesday’s seminars with a presentation sharing his experiences in the airline industry. Southwest Airlines was able to become one of the top airlines by putting an emphasis on its customers and making sure that their experience with the company was an outstanding one. By creating a culture in which people came first, Howard was able to increase the bottom line for his company and catapult Southwest to the top of the industry.
Educational Seminars
The Expo was loaded with enlightening educational presentations that covered all aspects of the industry including: marketing, technical aspects, managerial tactics, and continued education with AIA/IDCEC. These are a few of our favorites.
Digital Media – Marketing on a Small Budget
This is a very trendy topic that is ubiquitous in most industries today. Most flooring contractors do not have room in their budget for an expensive marketing team to promote their brand, and this presentation focussed on inexpensive ways to spread word of your services. The presentation discussed the online marketplace for wood flooring and how to tap into its potential. There are thousands of people referencing the web for wood flooring resources and services, and the seminar covered how to make sure that your company’s name can be seen by these web researchers.
Wood Flooring Species
This presentation was a favorite of ours because the diversity of wood flooring and the species used is the reason why Metro is so passionate about it. From domestics to exotics, to harder and softer woods on the Janka scale, there is a large variation in what woods can be used for a floor installation and all of them have different benefits. We have a recent article on the contrast between domestic and exotic woods that you can check out for further info regarding this topic.
Social Media Gone Bad – Reputation Management
This presentation delved into topic of reputation management and how your company’s image online can affect your sales. There is a large number of outlets available online where customers can advocate or discourage others from using your services. Some examples of these outlets include: Yelp, Google Places, and Facebook. The message behind this presentation is that you need to encourage customers to use these outlets to share their positive experience with your company. Conversely, you also need to promptly address any negative feedback received on these outlets because those response can discourage potential customers.
Moisture Maladies – Identifying & Resolving Moisture Issues
This presentation was significant because Metro recently had a customer whose previous installation did not take moisture into account and the floor was ruined. Because moisture was able to penetrate the slab air bubbles crept to the surface making for an unsightly situation. This presentation focused on how to identify what moisture issues could be present depending on the environment, as well as methods for addressing any present issues. Also, be sure to check out our article on the moisture bubbles.
At some point the in near future video materials will be made available online from the NWFA. We will be sure to share when that happens so that we can all enjoy the presentations from the 2013 NWFA Wood Flooring Expo.