2025 Spring Mid-Year Meeting Summary

FCICA is excited to share a summary of the 2025 Spring Mid-Year Meeting, held March 31 - April 2 in Fort Worth, Texas.

80 participants from across the US traveled to Fort Worth to attend the event featuring an inspirational keynote address from Marco Ludwig, UZIN UTZ, 4 informative education sessions, 3 product demonstrations, an exclusive UZIN UTZ Production Plant tour and FCICA leadership meetings - interspersed with business networking and flooring community camaraderie.

In person events serve to facilitate and activate FCICA's mission to 'Help make commercial flooring contractors successful through expert education, sharing best practices and professional networking'. We hope the educational sessions, speakers, product demos, plant tour and networking advanced each attendees' success.

Day One of the 2025 Spring Mid-Year Meeting opened with an afternoon Welcome Gathering where attendees reunited prior to the first of four education sessions, 'How To Handle a Claim - From a Contractor Perspective', presented by Don Styka, Director of Field Services, Tarkett. The afternoon schedule also included two FCICA committee meetings - Membership and the CIM Steering Committee - that met to discuss membership advancement and policies. The day concluded with an evening Welcome Reception.

Day Two was a full day of presentations, product demos, meetings and flooring camaraderie. Pat Kelly, FCICA Immediate Past Chairman with Synergy Flooring, introduced keynote speaker, Marco Ludwig, President, Uzin Utz North America, whose presentation topic was 'Thinking Strategically 101'. The keynote was followed by 'Stand Out: The Power of Branding and Marketing for Flooring Contractors', a presentation from Marissa Luznar, Corporate Communication, Diverzify and Riss Marketing. Thank you to Totalworx for sponsoring this education session. 

Associates and contractors held a joint round table meeting where they discussed industry topics and the dynamics between their two industry sectors. Three product demos followed from KOSTER USA, MAPEI Corporation and TEC Specialty Products. 

In the afternoon, Greg Mercurio, President, Independent Floor Testing and Inspection (IFTI) presented 'ASTM F710 - Standard Practice for Preparing Concrete Floors to Receive Resilient Flooring – What Every Flooring Contractor Must Know'. Thank you to Divergent Adhesives for sponsoring this education session. Tom Ellis, Vice President of Marketing and Operations, Spec-ID, presented the forth education session, 'AI: What is It and How to Use It to Enhance Your Business'. In between sessions and over lunch, attendees socialized and networked.

Attendees bid on an impressive selection of silent auction donations. FCICA is grateful to the generous auction donors - ARDEX Americas, Beno J Gundlach, Custom Building Products, Federated Insurance, MAPEI, MAXXON, Protect-All Flooring, Quantify North America, Schönox, TEC Specialty Products, UZIN UTZ and Wagner Meters. The auction raised $15,395.00 to benefit FCICA and its mission. The day concluded with a reception and dinner sponsored by Totalworx, at which Adam Sartain, Senior Marketing Manager, Totalworx, shared information on the company's product profiles.

Day Two education sessions included:

Education Session: How To Handle a Claim From a Contractor Perspective presented by Don Styka, Director of Field Services, Tarkett

Keynote: Thinking Strategically 101 presented by Marco Ludwig, President, UZIN UTZ North America

Education Session: Stand Out: The Power of Branding and Marketing for Flooring Contractors presented by Marissa Luznar, Corporate Communications for Diverzify and Founder & CEO of Riss Marketing

Education Session: ASTM F710 - Standard Practice for Preparing Concrete Floors to Receive Resilient Flooring – What Every Flooring Contractor Must Know presented by Greg Mercurio, President, Independent Floor Testing and Inspection (IFTI), Inc

Education Session: AI: What is It and How to Use It to Enhance Your Business presented by Tom Ellis, Vice President of Marketing and Operations, Spec-ID

Day Three - UZIN UTZ hosted attendees for a tour of their newly built, state-of-the-art Production Plant in Waco. Networking and flooring camaraderie continued during the bus ride from Fort Worth to Waco. Once there, participants were welcomed with a presentation from Brian Preuss, Vice President of Sales & Marketing. The plant tour featured the R&D lab, production line, silos and warehouse. The group attended Wolff and UZIN UTZ product demos. The Spring Mid-Year Meeting came to an end with a closing dinner, sponsored by UZIN UTZ. A special thank you to tour host and sponsor, UZIN UTZ for their hospitality and generosity.

Thank you, FCICA members, event attendees, sponsors: Totalworx, UZIN UTZ, Divergent Adhesives, silent auction donors, presenters and hosts. We appreciate your generosity, contributions and support.