FCICA, the flooring contractors association, announced that FCICA's 2013 Convention was a homerun. Held at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, in New Orleans, Louisiana, FCICA welcomed 154 attendees on site, including contractors, associates and members of the press.  A record 54 were first time attendees.  This is by far the highest attended convention within the last decade! 

Six educational sessions were offered by leading flooring industry experts.  These educational sessions ranged from The Negotiations Dilemma, Commercial Wood Flooring Applications, Where Technology is Today - The Hand-off Process, Moisture Mitigation vs. Remediation and Defining LVT.  One FCICA Convention attendee was quoted saying “I found the training seminars very informative and I think I took away some great information that will help me in the day to day grind.”

FCICA offered something a little different this year as an educational session and that was “Connections”.  In this session, 18 Associate Members got the opportunity to meet, greet and visit with each Contractor that attended.  This was accomplished within a 5 minute “speed dating” style atmosphere.  One member is quoted as saying, “Hey, now I know that I can call the flooring manufacturer and they will help me fight my battle with the GC on the job!”  Another Contractor stated, “I like this session because it gave me a glimpse of each manufacturer and I found out that I have my own technical rep in my area!”  FCICA was excited to incorporate this type of session into its convention format.

As always, an Associate Table Top Trade Show was part of the program.  Thirty One (31) exhibitors from various companies participated in the event.  Visit www.fcica.com to view each vendor that participated and links to their websites.

Chairman Gerry Swift stated “Our annual convention in New Orleans was fantastic!  We had record attendance, including a record for first-time attendees.  Our educational sessions were the best ever, now focusing on managing flooring projects effectively and profitably.  FCICA is now on the map as our industry’s training and development arm for commercial flooring contractor’s Installation Managers.”