Members of Flooring America, Flooring Canada, International Design Guild and The Floor Trader convened August 6-8 at Salt Lake City's Salt Palace Convention Center for Building Buzz, where members explored new paths to grow in their marketplace.

The event featured a keynote from Jamie Clarke, CEO of LiveOutThere.com, founder of the Out There Adventure Centre, a brick-and-mortar store in downtown Calgary and LiveOutThere.com, a one of Canada’s 50 fastest-growing ecommerce sites. Clarke gave pointers on how to invigorate teams and succeed in any endeavor. Members attended educational sessions designed to help them improve their skills and strategies in sales, marketing and management and a trade show where they saw the latest introductions and promotions from vendor partners.

Posted: Aug. 11, 2017

One of the highlights of Starnet’s spring meeting was the 19th Annual Starnet Design Awards, which honored commercial flooring design projects from across the country. From iconic international sports venues to a children’s hospital to a whimsical corporate headquarters, this year’s winners captured the flooring installations that are driving commercial interior design forward.

“The Design Awards served as a reminder that 25 years of dedication to excellence in flooring design, installation and environmental stewardship has helped to create some of the most incredible commercial spaces in the country,” said Jeanne Matson, president and CEO of Starnet.

This year’s panel of judges included Deborah P. Elliott, co-founder and design principal at ID Studios in Solana Beach, Calif.; Stephanie Crane, principal at Shlemmer+Algaze+Associates in Culver City, Calif.; and Sascha Wagner, president and CEO of Huntsman Architectural Group in San Francisco. Honorary Judges for the Environmental Achievement and Unique Installation Challenge Awards were Robert Peoples, executive director of Carpet American Recovery Effort (CARE) and Robert Varden, vp of Certified Flooring Installers.