Bostik Sponsors Mammoth Hardwood Flooring Training Event In Mexico City

Bostik, Inc., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of adhesives and sealants, recently staged perhaps the largest major hardwood flooring educational/training seminar ever to take place in Mexico. Roughly 200 dealers and contractors attended Bostik/NWFA Hardwood Flooring Intermediate Installation Training on June 28th-30th, which, according to Daniel Sanchez, National Sales Manager, Consumer & Construction Business Unit, Bostik Mexicana, S.A. de C.V, “completely exceeded our expectations relative to how many registered guests would be there!”

“There clearly is a construction boom going on in Mexico, Colombia, Peru and other Latin American countries,” Sanchez declared. “Most hardwood flooring dealers and contractors simply haven’t been educated on state-of-the-art installation techniques. Our modus operandi was to begin changing that on an ongoing basis, beginning with this event.”

Over 10,000 square feet of space was used for classroom presentations, hands-on installation demonstration and lunchrooms. At the event, 2,250 square feet of flooring were installed, more than 1.5 tons of self leveling underlayment were used. This took place at 16 different installation stations. Interestingly, 14% of Bostik’s guests were female, indicative of the rising amount of Latin American women now very much involved within the hardwood flooring sector. 

“We thought there would be around 100 attendees but we were wrong,” continued Sanchez. “A month before the event, we had well over 200 signed up to be there! Generally at three-day seminars such as these, companies invite a top industry installation specialist to be their ‘main attraction.’ At first glance, the planned turnout was so large we made the strategic decision to bring in two top presenters.”

To address this need, Bostik brought in Jon Namba and Lenny Hall, well-known North America hardwood flooring experts, to function as co-presenters. Namba is owner of Namba Services Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah, an NWFACP-Certified Installer, Sand & Finisher, and Inspector who serves on the NWFA’s Membership Services Committee and has earned NWFA Craftsman, Master Craftsman, Vanguard, and Ambassador degrees. Jon is an NWFA technical training instructor for installation, sand & finish, and inspection. Hall is the owner of Endurance Floor Company Inc. in West Park, Fla., a firm focusing on high-end wood flooring projects. Lenny has won multiple “Wood Floor of the Year” awards, and has taught at many NWFA technical schools. He is an NWFA Regional Instructor.

“Jon and Lenny did a fantastic job,” beamed Sanchez. “They were totally professional, and I don’t believe more than one or two of our guests left before the very end of this extensive, three-day event.  Together with our presenters, we focused in part on educating attendees relative to solution strategies using our Ultra-Set® SingleStep2™, Bostik’s highest-performance wood flooring adhesive. Additionally, we demonstrated both in classroom and ‘live’ sessions how best to utilize the newer Bostik Self-Leveling Underlayments, which were introduced to the world marketplace at the beginning of this year. The overall response was amazing!” 

Scott Banda, Bostik’s Director of Marketing and Business Development added, “Educating the marketplace on today’s optimal installation procedures has become a major commitment of ours. Of course, we want to sell product and continue being the world leader in providing highest-performance wood flooring installation materials. But even more, we believe in giving back to both customers and community. That’s why unlike typical contractor/dealer events, where key industry people are ‘invited’ and then asked to pay a hefty fee to attend lectures and participate in hands-on sessions, we paid for the entire three-day event. We believe that’s the least we could do to show our business partners in that important part of America… just how serious we are about growing their hardwood flooring business!”