Stone Panels International Gets CEU Honor
OBERLIN, Ohio —Stone Panels International is the 2020 CEU (continuing education unit) Educator of the year for the Natural Stone Institute.
Kayla Strand (center) accepts the award from Natural Stone Institute Education Committee Chair Daniel Wood and CEU Administrator Sarah Gregg.Stone Panels’ Kayla Strand also took honors as the 2020 CEU Education of the Year.
The institute presented awards for its CEU program at TISE in Las Vegas this June.
Stone Panel, a lightweight stone company in Marble Falls, Texas, educated 594 individuals at 74 classes: the most of any participating company for 2020. Stone Panels implemented a marketing plan that targeted emails and flyers specific to architect and design firms
Strand, as the program’s top performing speaker, contributing 44 classes and 317 attendees to Stone Panels’ totals.
Each year, the institute recognizes both an organization and a certified individual for presenting the most CEUs for that calendar year. As many locations were closed to visitors in 2020, certified speakers embraced virtual education to reach their audience.
“Last year was trying for all of us on many different levels,” Strand said. “Every week regulations were changing. Instead of spending time on an airplane and traveling around to different cities, I used that time to dive into the market segments I was serving and offer them the same level of expertise I would have provided before the pandemic, just in a different way – virtually.
“Before I knew it, my calendar was full: I was spending 2-3 days a week providing CEUs, sometimes back-to-back. COVID has brought a lot of challenges to all aspects of our lives. I’m a believer that sometimes the greatest ideas come out of the most-challenging times.”
The Natural Stone Institute CEU program currently has 454 certified speakers worldwide; in 2020, 336 CEU classes were presented to 4,225 design professionals/ To learn how to get involved, visit www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/CEU.
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