Ed Williams, Mohawk’s senior vice president of marketing, said it was the company’s decision to concentrate on regional dealer events that prompted Mohawk to elect not to attend the yearly Surfaces show in Las Vegas.

“[Surfaces’ owner] Hanley-Wood is an excellent organization, and Surfaces is a great show,” he said. “but we feel, in order to provide our dealers with the exceptional quality regional events they’ve asked for, Mohawk will direct its resources to [the regional meetings].”

The total number of regional meetings will exceed two dozen, Williams added.

“We think this is going to allow us to show more new products and more new ideas to dealers, and work with them more closely to make better things happen at retail,” he explained.

Williams noted that many products, such as hardwood and ceramic, have distinctive regional preferences, and the meetings will let Mohawk address some of these issues.