StonExpo at TISE 2024

Want to learn more about philanthropic opportunities through the Natural Stone Institute? Join us for a brief overview of the philanthropic programs available to members, including the Natural Stone Foundation and the Gary Sinise Foundation’s R.I.S.E program. Learn about current initiatives and accomplishments and understand why it is important for stone companies to get involved.

One of the most important aspects of fabrication is knowing how a material will perform when cut. Are you confident the material you are cutting was correctly identified in specification? During this session, we will perform basic stone identification techniques that will help you correctly identify materials before you start fabrication. Leave with a plan to confirm the geology of materials you are cutting and installing every time.

We often hear how employees can be intimidated when promoting natural stone to clients, as they often believe one of the many myths about natural stone. This session will provide you the tools to help educate your employees by dispelling myths about natural stone. Show employees that there is a natural stone material for every project and discuss ways to promote natural stone to consumers while also setting expectations. We will also cover how promoting natural stone can help increase revenue for your business.

Quartzite is a beautiful building material. With that beauty comes unique fabrication and installation techniques. During the session, we will discuss the geology, fabrication, and installation practices that provide the best product application of this material. We will also review how to set expectations with customers to ensure successful installation and a happy client. Leave with a plan to maximize the value of quartzite to both your company and the customer.

This interactive forum is an excellent opportunity to discuss challenges with your fabricator colleagues. The session will include three breakout groups (technical, business administration, and marketing) where fabricators will discuss top challenges in each area. Participants will then reconvene for a facilitated discussion to recap each topic group. All attendees are encouraged to participate by presenting a problem or sharing a solution. Bring your topics and we will provide the forum.

Safety is a key priority for the Natural Stoen Institute. Join us for a discussion of how NSI is addressing silica safety in 2024. Attendees will learn about the Natural Stone Institute’s newly revised Silica and Slab Safety certificate, discuss new safety guidelines, and talk about the impact of silica in the natural stone industry.

Thanks to the Natural Stone Institute’s set of industry-wide EPDs for natural stone cladding, flooring, and countertops, we can compare its global warming potential (GWP) to artificial surfaces. As a low embodied carbon material, natural stone can help design teams reduce the total embodied carbon of their projects by using it instead of higher impact materials. This session will explore case studies which provide clear instructions for how this can be done.

The best way to avoid future mistakes is to learn from past failures. During this session, we will review several projects that had undesirable results to understand how these issues could have been prevented. By looking at each project through a technical lens, attendees will learn to understand the importance of adhering to standards when working on a project.

Natural Stone is a premier building choice due to its durability, timeless aesthetic, inherent beauty, and versatility. However, we often are faced with architects and designers avoiding utilizing natural stone in their projects. This panel discussion will help highlight how to sell high end natural stone projects to architects and designers, what architects and designers are looking for when working with natural stone, and how to inspire the use of natural stone. Attendees will leave with the tools to empower architects and designers to use natural stone in their projects.

You will not want to miss out on Women in Stone’s Amazing Race during StonExpo at TISE in Las Vegas. Participants will team up to complete the race through the Natural Stone Pavilion. Teams will work their way through a series of clues and challenges to fill their passport and learn more about natural stone and our growing industry. The team with the most points at the end of the race will win a swag bag full of great prizes from Women in Stone sponsors.

Presenter: Scott Scallorn
Join the Natural Stone Institute for an overview of ASTM standards and stone testing requirements for projects in the United States. Learn the requirements of performance placed on stone at the time of installation and in the future, and how these standards serve as benchmarks for quality limits of products.

Presenter: Scott Scallorn
One of the increasingly common requests in stone properties is that of its resistance to freeze/thaw cycling. Historically, stone product performance evaluations were done via research of existing exemplar projects using the same stone in similar climatic exposures. However, this is not feasible when evaluating products that are relatively new to the marketplace. Development of a standardized method for accelerated weathering testing of stone has been a research topic within ASTM and other committees for decades. This session will provide the background of the research completed, a summary of the current research being conducted, and an overview of what type of testing is currently being implemented in the absence of a published, consensus-based protocol.