Stuart Hirschhorn, research director for Catalina Research, talks about the economy and other factors that affect the flooring industry and how will likely affect it going forward. He discusses the consumer and consumer spending, as well as spending in the flooring category, the slowing of the housing market, and millennials involvement in the housing market.

John McGrath, executive director of INSTALL, The International Standards and Training Alliance, talks about the organization’s move into concrete polishing, responding to its dramatic market growth in the retail, corporate, educational, health care, and industrial sectors. McGrath notes that INSTALL has become the most active deliverer of training in the concrete polishing in the U.S. holding training session monthly, working with the Concrete Polishing Council.

John Simonson, president of Webstream Dynamics and Five-Star Store Reviews, discusses the second seminar he will be presenting at TISE for floor covering retailers, "Leveraging Google My Business for More Flooring Leads." Simonson talks about the advantages of Google My Business, an effective and free service that generate leads and store traffic for retailers. Serving as a free homepage for small businesses, Google My Business permits consumers to not only learn a great deal about the retail business through text, photos and maps, but permits consumers to interact with the retailer and post reviews. The seminar is scheduled for Tuesday, January 22, 1 - 2 p.m.

John Simonson, president of Webstream Dynamics and Five-Star Store Reviews, discusses the seminar he will be presenting at TISE for floor covering retailers, "Flooring Website Strategies for 2019." The seminar will delve in to online data and trends and how to use this information to increase the effectiveness and productivity of retailers' websites to generate leads and store traffic. The seminar is scheduled for Tuesday, January 22, 9:30 - 10:30 a.m.

John McGrath, executive director of INSTALL, The International Standards and Training Alliance, talks about infection control risk assessment, an area the organization is expanding into to help deal with the hospital-acquired infections, which affect hundreds of thousands of people annually. He notes that construction-related healthcare infections strike about 100,000 people with about 5,000 dying from the infections each year. INSTALL trains its installers on how to work in these environments, containing and mitigate infection on the jobsite.

John Simonson, president of Webstream Dynamics and Five-Star Store Reviews, and Sandy Montero, owner of My Beautiful Floor, a consumer-oriented, information website, discuss developing a retail digital marketing plan and the role that social media should play in that plan. Also discussed is the need for product photography on retail websites and how to procure it, the commitment needed to successfully maintaining an effective social media presence, and the do’s and don’ts of selecting an outside firm to maintain social media presence.

John McGrath, executive director of The International Standards and Training Alliance (INSTALL) talks about recruitment within the installation sector of the flooring business and the various programs INSTALL has in place to recruit installer candidates from a variety of sectors.