Article Number : 709 |
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| Date | 11/18/2005 9:22:18 AM |
| Written By | LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services |
| View this article at: | //floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=709 |
| Abstract | Dallas—Come hell or high water, putting extra emphasis on the high water, the Floor Installation Association of North America (FIANA) was determined to celebrate its 11th anniversary convention & trade show at the Hyatt Regency here... |
| Article | Dallas—Come hell or high water, putting extra emphasis on the high water, the Floor Installation Association of North America (FIANA) was determined to celebrate its 11th anniversary convention & trade show at the Hyatt Regency here. After all was said and done, the association was able to stage quite a successful show, even if it did take place in between two of the most devastating hurricanes to hit U.S. shores in decades. “With Katrina hitting a week before our event, and Rita aiming at Texas and the Dallas area, none of this seemed to deter most of our members,” said Jim Lee, FIANA’s president. “Our attendance however, was definitely affected by these sisters. We were off approximately 10%, as just shy of 400 made it, down from what we normally expect. “Still, it was certainly the talk of the convention,” he added. “In spite of all this, our speakers all appeared and were excellent. The show was cut short on Saturday by a couple of hours due to the fear of flight cancellation and delays that might occur Sunday morning, when the effects of Rita were due in town. Everyone we talked to agreed with the decision to end early. “Most of the exhibiting manufacturers were extremely happy with the show,” continued Lee. “It lined up a lot of new business and potential new distribution, and that’s what it’s all about.” FIANA’s speakers included Jim Morris, the former major league pitcher whose life story was the inspiration for the movie, “The Rookie,” starring Dennis Quaid. “He was really well received and his message was a very important one,” said Lee, “‘never give up on your dreams.’” “The attendance we had was remarkable,” said Ray Columbo, vice chairman of L. Fishman & Son. “Most people would be scared off from the prospect of a hurricane coming through. “As far as product goes, we’re in a fairly mature industry, so it’s pretty hard to reinvent the wheel,” explained Columbo. “There were some interesting tools, probably more improvements on standard concepts rather than tremendous, new innovative stuff. So, while I couldn’t put my finger on any one significantly new tool or product that is going to revolutionize the industry, I must say FIANA has done an outstanding job, a tremendous job of attracting members.” “This was our first time either attending or exhibiting at the FIANA show,” said Bob Cummings, marketing manager for Pak-Lite, “so we didn’t really know what to expect, but we’re pretty pleased overall. The supplies wholesalers are another good group for us to distribute our products through. That’s why we wanted to be here.” “This was Bullet Tools fourth year at FIANA’s convention and even though it was cut short, it was a great show,” said vice president and COO, Mary Gunn. “As a fairly new flooring tool company, we are pleased to report that the distributors are making it obvious that we are here to stay, evidenced by their fantastic response to our new lineup of tools.” "The highlight of the show for us was the fact that the crowd in front of our booth packed it continually,” said Charles Bennett of Seamer Down Now! “We had a tremendous amount of people come to our booth because our product, the Seamer Down Now! seaming tool, is new and revolutionary. People were fascinated to try and pull our seams apart, but they couldn’t do it. It was a great feeling seeing other people so excited about us. “The disappointing part, of course, was the crowd was down due to the hurricane,” he continued, “so that was a little bit of a downer in that we didn’t have the volume of distributors coming through that we should have, but the excitement for us is we did as well as we did. We got at least five distributors to come on board with us, which was exciting. We’re still filling many orders from the show.” For more information about FIANA, call 817/326-2615. —Louis Iannaco |