The 2013 Mohawk Solutions Convention app for the event made it easy to navigate the convention center, view the schedule, and everything in between. The app’s interactivity and in-depth descriptions of each of the day’s events, presenters and seminars as well as featuring real-time alerts and individual show schedule management tools.

HGTV celebrity designers Chip Wade and Taniya Nayak were in attendance, showing off their “Designer Picks,” a way to show customers other options they might not have thought about before by a trusted voice. The designers offered their expert advice for tips and tricks in the trade and how to work with tricky customers, speaking freely about what retailers can do to work with customers.

“Figure out their dream home,” Wade said. “If money was not an issue what would they do?”

Training and technology held its share of the spotlight. Dave Dumoulin, director of sales for RFMS, talked about his company’s app aimed at retailers and installers. “The measure app is a allows you to go in, draw the room and determine your flooring requirements,” Dumoulin said. “It’s quantifying the amount of flooring someone needs, for free.”

Ladies’ Night featured a getaway from talking flooring and instead provided an evening of  looking at business in a different way. Juliet Funt, daughter of the late Allen Funt from Candid Camera, spoke to the act of balancing work, home and the constant distraction of the Internet, and the negative impact it can have on a business without you even noticing. She offered the idea of making time throughout the day to let your brain wonder and letting creativity flow in.

Special guest Sally Hogshead offered insight to how others see you, explaining how there are different ways humans fascinate others, how we are all different and how we view situations in different ways. Her perspective on “how to fascinate” offered retailers a new, different way to work with customers.

As expected, a number of new floor coverings in hard and soft surfaces were unveiled. Of the hard surface introductions, ArmorMax finish with Scotchgard Protector Advanced Repel Technology took center stage. In the soft surface area, wear-dated Embrace was introduce to complement the company’s SmartStrand Silk in the nylon category. SmartStrand Silk has built-in stain protection to prevent stains and the look of aging. Embrace was created in the nylon category to bring durability as well as striking colors and patterns to soft surface. Embrace was tested over the years and during the course two years it proceeded to show no wear patterns, the carpet looked the same as it did on day one when it was installed.

Mohawk Solutions 2013: solving problems, opening doors and discovering opportunities in and for the floor covering industry.