Congratulations to the Coverings 2012 team for doing such a fabulous job this year on the Orlando Conference. As a first year attendee, I must confess that I did not know what to expect. You never know if the team just has a great marketing arm that designs pretty brochures, great class descriptions and a build up of desire. Coverings 2012 delivered on all fronts, for the attendees and the exhibitors. Everything was perfect, from the pre-show build up to the actual conference. My only gripe was that I did not stay for the entire show, this is entirely my fault.
If you have an opportunity to attend a Coverings show, I strongly suggest you attend. It is nice to see what new products manufacturers are coming out with in the industry. The educational classes are important also and allows you to learn things from peers around the country. I was impressed with the educational track and some of the awesome speakers like Marc Kushner, world renowned Architect and co-founder of Archetizer.com. I strongly suggest that you bookmark Archetizer.com and register on the site. It is chock full of great photos and projects. Sorry, I digress, but it is such a stellar site. You have to check it out.
In terms of the exhibits and exhibitors at Coverings 2012, so many of them took my breathe away. One in particular, stole my heart, that would be none other than Ceramics of Italy. They pulled out all of the stops for their 40,000sf Italian tile trade show floor. There was a masterfully designed 3000sf pop-up restaurant and cafe that served pasta and scrumptious Italian refreshments throughout the show. The architect creatively designed an information desk within the restaurant area, so that visitors could learn more from the participants involved from Cermaics of Italy. The personnel and literature at this information desk were top shelf. Kudo's to the team that put this all together. They deserve an award for outstanding excellence for promoting the brand so seamlessly throughout the show. This should be used as a case study exaaple for associations and groups coming together for a trade show.
I could go on for days, discussing how great all of the exhibits were, unfortunately, that is not the purpose of this post. However, I can't leave out Crossville for their splendid integration of QR codes within their exhibut display. The Crossville team used this new technology very well. Another great exhbit was that of LEA Ceramiche. This exhibit was so well thoughtout and put together. I was really impressed with the design by Lenny Kravitz Designs. It was so stunning and unique. The reps at the booth were so helpful and informative. Lastly, Sicis was another favorite of mine. I was actually just describing a mosaic that I would love to use in an interior design project, before the conference. Their mosaic displays were breathtaking. I would love to have this exhibit on my Ipad to show at client meetings. The Sicis design team should take a bow for this outstanding conference display.
This post would not be complete without a big Thank You to D&B Tile Distributors of South Florida for organizing the bus trip for their clients in the trade. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun we had on the bus ride to the Coverings show in Orlando. This is despite our bus breaking down enroute to Orlando and the West Palm Bus breaking down, back from Orlando. We all made Lemonade out of this mishap and enjoyed each others company. The D&B Team deserves a big round of applause for their efforts and all the coordination and planning that went into organizing the Coverings trip.
I look forward to keeping in touch with several of the great people that I met on the Coverings Trip. Thanks again to everyone next year.
I am sure that I was not the only one inspired by Coverings 2012. Keep an eye out for a new blog from the talented Architect and Interior Design team at Kravit Architectural. I hear they will be launching a new blog that will showcase some of their projects and design inspirations. Can't wait to read it. I am sure that it will have lots of breathtaking photos.
