Coverings 2024 was an absolute success. I was even more excited about this year’s show since my oldest daughter, Paityn, was in attendance to be awarded a Tom Ade Scholarship from the NTCA at the NTCA and TCNA Awards Reception. After a successful day at the show, I made my way to one of the many beer gardens for what I believe was a well-deserved drink. I was about half way done with my beer when Paityn asked me, “Dad, why are we here?”
“Well, Paityn, we are here for many different reasons,” I explained. “First and foremost, we are here because Coverings is the biggest tile show in North America. There are tile manufacturers from all over the world that attend Coverings and this is our chance to meet them. We are here to see all of the newest products that these manufacturers offer and to see the latest design trends. We are here to learn about the most up-to-date materials and how new technologies are making these products better. As professional tile contractors, we need to be up to date with all these things because when we use these products, we need to know how best to install them and what might be the best products to install them with.
“We are here to be at the forefront of all the changes to installation standards by attending the NTCA’s Technical Committee meeting,” I added. “This is where representatives from tile manufacturers, material manufacturers, and tile installers come together to create solutions for problems that tile installers are facing every day. There are also other NTCA meetings that are valuable to be a part of such as the Membership Committee meeting and the Training & Education Committee meeting. Not only do these meetings allow us to have the most timely information, but they also allow us a chance to give back to the tile industry and make the NTCA a valuable association.
“We come here for the technical training and business education that is taking place every day on the show floor and the many taking place in all of the educational rooms,” I continued. “Coverings is the convention that every tile contractor should be going to because this is where tile contractors make themselves better and improve their business.
“And Paityn, the absolute number one reason why we come here is to network with other tile contractors from all over the country who are doing the same things that we are doing,” I said. “We learn more from other people who are just like us more than anything else. This is where we develop friendships that we will have forever, or possibly even find a mentor that will help us grow personally and professionally. This is where we come to surround ourselves with people who are like-minded and want to be successful as we all are, making an investment to be here. Our business has grown and improved so much since we started attending Coverings and other industry shows – that’s why we are here!”
“No Dad, I mean why are we still here at the beer garden when the NTCA Awards show starts in 10 minutes!”
Best to your success,