ARLINGTON, VA -- Coverings, the preeminent event for the ceramic tile and natural stone industry in North America, announced registration details and the webinar schedule for the fifth installment of Coverings Connected. The digital experience will feature three learning sessions and is scheduled to take place November 17th, 2021, hosted on Coverings’ website. 

The November Coverings Connected experience will provide attendees a unique and no-cost opportunity to gain valuable insights and earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) through online educational webinars, marking the final 2021 edition of the ongoing digital series. 

“Back by popular demand, Coverings Connected in November is going to present never-before-seen tile and stone content across a wide spectrum of topics, such as materials and trends, installation and fabrication, and workforce and profits,” said Jennifer Hoff, president of Taffy Event Strategies LLC, the show management company for Coverings.

The programming will offer an advanced glimpse of the trends and learning opportunities being planned for Coverings 2022, which is scheduled for April 5 to 8, 2022, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. 

The November 17th Coverings Connected first webinar session, “Achieving Green Building Goals with Natural Stone,” will take place 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST, and will be co-presented by Michael Picco, P.Eng., president of Picco Engineering, and Sarah Gregg, marketing manager with Natural Stone Institute. 

Learning objectives for the session will include understanding the inherent attributes that make natural stone an easy option for sustainability goals; exploring best practices in the natural stone industry that address land impacts, excess materials, responsible manufacturing and reducing carbon footprint; finding out how to source and specify sustainably produced natural stone; and identifying credits available through common green building programs that natural stone can help satisfy.

“Tile Installations and Critical Lighting” will be second in the lineup and is scheduled for 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. EST. Mark Heinlein, training director for the National Tile Contractors Association, will present information that will guide attendees how to plan for critical lighting to minimize potential negative effects during and following tile installations. 

Heinlein’s learning objectives for attendees will involve determining the requirements of the substrate before tile is installed; understanding critical lighting, including natural lighting and the location of light fixtures, that can make or break a tile installation; learning the lighting procedures that reduce or eliminate the causes of unacceptable tile installation; and familiarizing with various methods to correctly inspect critical lighting issues. 

 The day’s third learning session, scheduled for 2 to 3 p.m. EST, will address one of the most pressing and current issues for manufacturers, wholesalers, distributor and others in the tile and stone industry. “Supply Chain Disruption: Making the Inflexible, Flexible,” presented by Helgi Thor Leja, senior director with Distribution Performance Solutions, will focus on and reveal solutions for the overall disruption to the supply chain. 

Subject matter of the session will include a review of the root causes for the present supply chain issues; the inbound side of the equation, such as containers, trucking, rail, air, product availability and supply; remedies and ideas that can be applied to enable businesses to survive and thrive during the disruption; and a look ahead to when “things will be back to normal.” Questions and answers will follow. 

A range of Coverings Connected sponsorship opportunities are available to companies interested in promoting their businesses and brands through active digital engagement. 

For more information about the November 17th edition of Coverings Connected and to register for free, visit coverings.com/connected. 

Complimentary registration for Coverings 2022, scheduled for April 5 to 8, 2022, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV, is also open and more information can be found on coverings.com.