Sam Allman, retail consultant and NFT columnist, will present a free webinar on effective leadership on June 2, at 2 p.m. EST. One topic he will cover is on developing a relationship with your staffers.

Flooring consultant and NFT columnist Christopher Capobianco will present "A Basic Guide to Concrete and Floor Coverings: How to Prevent Problems When They Get Together," 11 a.m. June 16 during NeoCon 2009 in Chicago.

iVEX Protective Packaging Inc. (iVEX) recently joined the North American Laminate Flooring Association (NALFA) as an Associate Member. NALFA Associate Members are corporations, partnerships, proprietorships or other entities that are regularly engaged in the business of selling goods or services to a NALFA Regular Member. (Regular Members are manufacturers, marketers or importers of laminate flooring for the North American market.)

Consumers will have a chance to win up to 300 yards (valued around $12,000) of Bliss carpet or one of ten Bliss for Kids area rugs in the Beaulieu of America brand’s first national sweepstakes. The event, called the “Houseful of Bliss” Sweepstakes, is running now through Aug. 31.

Following their inaugural issue last year, the World Floor Covering Association and publishing partner Meredith Corp. have announced the second issue of the consumer flooring magazine Better Homes & Gardens Beautiful Flooring.

After exhibiting its products during Surfaces 2009 in a ballroom at the Venetian hotel, Mannington Mills said it will return to the main show floor for Surfaces 2010, set for Feb. 2-4 at the Sands Epo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. The company will exhibit its full line of residential and commercial flooring at the show.

Florida Tile, a fully owned subsidiary of Panariagroup, has joined the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) as an industry partner.

Organizers of the 27th edition of Cersaie (International Exhibition of Ceramic Tiles and Bathroom Furnishings) report that 98% of the show’s exhibition space has been reserved for the five-day event.

The North American Laminate Flooring Association (NALFA) now offers classes on the West Coast as part of the NALFA Installer Certification School.  Classes will be held in City of Industry, Calif., on June 30 and July 1, 2009. 

Valinge introduces the new Wood Powder Laminate product, a powder layer made of wood microfibers and melamine powder applied as a sublayer to the core with specially developed scattering equipment. A decorative paper (with or without alumnium oxide) is then applied and the panel is pressed in a conventional laminate press. According to the company, the resulting laminate "is cost efficent and provides several advantages."