St. Louis, MO, May 2, 2006--The NWFA’s recent 2006 Education Conference and Wood Flooring Expo in Baltimore broke all previous attendance records. Held April 26 – 29, the convention attracted 4,500 attendees from throughout the world, with 342 companies filling 596 exhibit booths.
NWFA Executive director & CEO, Ed Korczak, said that the show was the NWFA’s most successful ever. “Throughout the entire event,” says Korczak, “we heard from exhibitors and attendees alike that this was their best NWFA show ever. Our educational sessions were packed, our trade show floor was packed, our networking events were packed, and our keynote speaker, Cal Ripken, Jr., truly inspired the crowd.”
Education seminars included topics on imports, marketing, scheduling, dust containment, inventory, financial management, and working with builders and designers. On the trade show floor, demonstrations include bending wood, handscraping, and herringbone layout. The trade show also included a new attraction, the Xtreme Wood Flooring Makeover contest, which included the making over of an 8'x8’ panel of 2 1/4” inch strip red oak floor for just $1,000. The makeovers occurred on-site, and enjoyed steady traffic throughout the three-day Expo.
Plans are underway for the NWFA’s 2007 Convention to be held April 11–14 in Denver, Colorado.
The National Wood Flooring Association is a non-profit trade organization, with more than 3,800 members world-wide, dedicated to educating consumers, architects, designers, specifiers and builders in the uses and benefits of wood flooring. NWFA members receive the best in educational training, benefits, technical resources and networking, to advance their professionalism and success. The NWFA is located at 111 Chesterfield Industrial Boulevard, Chesterfield, MO 63005, and can be contacted at 1-800-422-4556, or on-line at www.nwfa.org.
