Orlando, Fla.—Coverings, North America’s largest international tile and stone exhibition and conference, announced an extensive lineup of new and returning activations for Coverings 2023, which will take place April 18-21, here at the Orange County Convention Center. Coverings 2023 will include four action-packed days of valuable insights and connections and state-of-the-art innovations in products, techniques and business practices for the tile and stone industry as well as the design industry.
Attendees of Coverings 2023 will be able to explore more than 400,000 square feet of exhibit space with numerous global pavilions hosted by the world’s leading tile associations and product manufacturers. Coverings 2023 will host exhibitors from more than 30 countries, displaying the most sought-after tile, stone, tools, equipment, machinery and other resources. Over 20,000 attendees from all segments of the industry will be able to connect with exhibitors to explore and discover new and trending products onsite at the most preeminent tile and stone industry marketplace in North America.
“Coverings is expanding its 2023 show to include an even broader range of special programs, beneficial resources and experiential activations than in the past,” said Jennifer Hoff, CEO of Taffy Event Strategies, the event management company for Coverings. “New, stimulating programming and partnerships, show floor tours, live installations in the Coverings Lounge, growth and networking opportunities, programs for fabricators and many other activations will contribute to a curated Coverings experience for distributors, retailers, fabricators, contractors, specifiers, architectural and design professionals, builders and all segments of the industry.”
The Coverings Lounge
The Coverings Lounge at this year’s show will provide a centrally located and comfortable space for attendees to gain professional knowledge, network with peers, hear from industry leaders and attend happy hours featuring prize giveaways. The four key tenets of Coverings 2023—Health & Wellness, Sustainability, Outdoor Spaces and Timeless Luxury—will be focal points of the Coverings Lounge. Each tenet will be highlighted through live demonstrations, displays, market trends and numerous hands-on activities to provide showgoers with custom, memorable experiences that highlight the innumerable benefits and uses of tile and stone.
The Health & Wellness tenet will be promoted in the Coverings Lounge through short mindfulness workshops led by Gianna Vallefuoco, an artist, National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA) Five Star contractor and mindfulness teacher with Vallefuoco Contractors. These sessions will be appropriate for all attendees, including meditators and non-meditators alike, teaching participants how to better deal with stress on the job site, discover how breathing can help deescalate heated moments and learn how to use a growth-focused mindset to overcome obstacles.
The Sustainability tenet will be highlighted, in part, by the return of the Sustainability Wall, which will be on display in the Coverings Lounge to showcase the environmentally friendly properties of ceramic tile. The popular show floor feature will be updated from the Coverings 2022 edition to educate attendees on the countless sustainable benefits of ceramic tile and tile’s advantages compared to other surface materials.
D.W. Sanders Tile & Stone Contacting will be working alongside Coverings to underscore the Outdoor Spaces tenet in the Coverings Lounge. Woody Sanders and his team will showcase a raised pedestal system by dismantling and rebuilding it each day, so attendees can see and learn how the advantageous system works. Pavers for this project have been donated by Atlas Concorde.
The Outdoor Spaces theme will be further showcased in the Coverings Lounge through an outdoor seating area, featuring biophilia walls with comfortable chairs to provide a relaxing, conversational environment for networking, while also taking in the essence of tile’s seamless integration in outdoor settings among plant material and outdoor furnishings.
The Timeless Luxury tenet will be featured in the Coverings Lounge to highlight the ways in which tile is a premium offering with impeccable quality that delivers emblematic and experiential value in addition to functionality. Exhibitors from Ceramics of Italy, Tile Council of North America (TCNA) and Tile of Spain will display beautiful and luxurious tile installations that will be used as the wine and beer bars during the happy hour events. Photography of luxurious projects will also be displayed on a large screen in the Coverings Lounge to showcase this significant market trend.
The Coverings Lounge will also be the center for complimentary Contractor Tours. The much-lauded tours will make a return at Coverings 2023, providing tourgoers with opportunities to join NTCA for guided show floor explorations of the latest tools, equipment and allied products for contractors, installers, retailers, distributors and specifiers. The tours will kick off each day at 11 a.m., between April 18-20.
Those interested in attending the Coverings Contractor Tours are recommended to sign-up at no cost in the Coverings Lounge early; tours will start and conclude in the Coverings Lounge each day and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Attendees can also see a live demonstration of the raised pedestal system being installed and experience a live Q&A session in the lounge following the tours daily.
The Coverings 2023 Rock Star Awards will also be acknowledged in the lounge. Emerging, young professionals will be honored at the 2023 Rock Star Awards Ceremony and Reception, April 18 from 4-5 p.m.
Happy hours will return as a much-anticipated favorite among showgoers at the event. This beloved Coverings feature will occur in the Coverings Lounge April 18, 19 and 20, starting at 4 p.m. Cold drinks and giveaways from TCNA and NTCA member companies will be available to those present, offering attendees a fun way to interact and wrap up their show days.
On display in the Coverings Lounge will be “Wally the Gator,” a 6 x 4-foot Florida gator-themed mosaic tile project designed, built and installed by the tile artisan team of Lee Callewaert of Dragonfly Tile and Stone Works and Joshua Nordstrom of Tierra Tile. The awe-inspiring tile art was created live and streamed during Coverings 2021 and is making a first-time appearance in Orlando for Coverings 2023.
Distributor Lounge
New to Coverings 2023 is the Distributor Lounge, sponsored by the Ceramic Tile Distributors Association (CTDA). This new addition to Coverings will provide a quiet place to meet near the show floor for tile, stone and flooring distributors. Light refreshments and snacks will be served in the lounge, which is located at the top of the South Hall escalators in room S222 (also called the Destination Lounge).
The Art Tile Village
The Coverings 2023 show floor will also include a special display that will be of particular interest to architect and design attendees known as the Art Tile Village. The Art Tile Village, located next to the Coverings Lounge in the TCNA Pavilion, will include a range of aesthetically pleasing tile art designed by local and regional tile experts. This space will be dedicated to artisans who keep Old World traditions alive by crafting handmade art and specialty tiles.
Attendees visiting the Art Tile Village will find one-of-a-kind decorative tiles and accents that can give any project a distinctive and unique touch. Several interactive demonstrations about pre-mounting techniques, forming, decorating/glazing and hand painting will be featured in the area.
The Podcast Studio
The Podcast Studio is expected to be an extremely popular feature at Coverings 2023. The studio, located in the South Hall Lobby, will offer established podcasters across the tile, stone and construction industries a unique opportunity to record episodes during Coverings 2023. Showgoers, no matter their interest or favorite genre, can stop by the studio to listen in as podcasters record new episodes for their respective shows.
Show Floor Tours
Various must-see Trends Tours will be offered at Coverings 2023 to allow attendees to see and experience relevant exhibitors and stunning product displays based on specific areas of interest or expertise. The trends tours will cover the show’s aforementioned tenets.
A special tour, entitled “Trends Tour: Sustainability,” taking place April 19, 2:30-3:30 p.m., will provide attendees with the opportunity to explore and discover the latest in sustainable products in the tile and stone industry and uncover exceptional insights regarding new trends and solutions for green building.
Another tour taking place at Coverings 2023 will be the “Trends Tour: Health & Wellness,” April 20, 2-3 p.m. Followers of this tour will join their colleagues and peers on the show floor to examine all things current in the tile and stone industry regarding health and wellness.
Those participating in the “Trends Tour: Luxury in Practice,” April 18, 2:30-3:30 p.m., will discover the latest luxurious tile and stone trends, learning about new products and opportunities to deliver the beauty and luxury demanded by clientele. This can’t-miss tour will teach participants how companies leverage pillars of luxury to elevate their brands, how to identify these different pillars of luxury and how such pillars separate brands from the competition.
Another curated tour will be the “Trends Tour: Outdoor Spaces,” April 20, 3-4 p.m. This guided excursion will lead attendees throughout the show floor, highlighting products that create beautiful and durable spaces that expand living beyond the indoors.
During the “Fabricator Trends Tour: New and Innovative Products from the Marketplace,” April 18, 2:30-3:30 p.m., fabricators following along will learn how to best evaluate stone products and machinery on the show floor and how to ask focused questions to get the answers they need to ensure the products or machines perform as anticipated.
Coverings is adding to its slate of exciting, new activations with the new tour: “Building Your Installation Truck,” April 19, 2:30-3:30 p.m., during which attendees will learn about the tools and technology that make installers’ lives easier on the road.
Interactive stages
Coverings is enhancing its popular lineup of interactive Stages for 2023 to feature all the latest and most important updates from tile and stone industry leaders. Trends, solutions, live “how-to” classes and other relevant content will be available on three stages throughout the show floor, offering attendees the latest innovations in products, techniques and business processes for the tile and stone industry.
The Installation Innovation Stage will headline live demonstrations, allowing showgoers to precisely see how to install a wide variety of new products and learn techniques to ensure highly successful tile and stone installations. Visitors can check out the Installation Innovation Stage each show day to hear from pros about new materials, industry standards, methods and best practices for delivering superior tile installation. Demonstrations will be delivered by NTCA and TCNA members.
The Fabricator Stage, a new 2023 stage addition, will enable attendees to gain insights from experts in the stone and fabrication industry through short and engaging presentations and demonstrations.
The Trends & Solutions Stage will return to Coverings for its second year to highlight everything at the forefront of the tile and stone industry. This stage will feature short presentations from those launching new services, providing business solutions or showcasing new product trends. Visitors to this stage will hear from exhibitors and industry professionals as they offer a deep dive into the latest product trends, innovations and solutions.
Attendees will also have a chance to face off by participating in interactive Fabricator and Contractor Challenges. These challenges require attendees to visit all the exhibitors in a designated area of the show floor, answer a question, get their cards stamped and submit their completed cards in each challenge’s respective bin for a chance to win $2,500.
An extensive lineup of educational sessions will be offered during Coverings 2023 and span three tracks: Installation & Fabrication, Materials & Trends and Workforce & Profits. All educational content is being planned to provide attendees with information, knowledge, techniques and skills, enabling them to position ceramic tile and stone as the material of choice over other materials, show organizers said.