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Clean Buildings Conference
The inaugural Clean Buildings Expo concluded Wednesday in Baltimore following two days of energy-filled sessions, important networking opportunities and a packed show floor.
A free trade show dedicated to the commercial cleaning industry, Clean Buildings Expo was formed as a joint venture between ISSA and Trade Press Media Group, which owns Contracting Profits and Facility Cleaning Decisions magazines. It was co-located with NFMT Baltimore, an event catering to building owners and facility executives in a variety of industries. The expo fulfills a need for a trade show in the mid-Atlantic dedicated to building service contractors, in-house cleaning managers, environmental service managers and executive housekeepers.
There were nine educational sessions held Tuesday, covering topics ranging from green cleaning to robots to contaminated microfiber mops. Expert speakers appointed by ISSA, Contracting Profits and Facility Cleaning Decisions included building service contractors, industry consultants and in-house cleaning executives.
In one session Ben Walker, director of business development at ManageMen, Inc., used humor and strong imagery to demonstrate the common problems facing the industry, as well as ways to improve upon them.
Latreece Miller, president of Miller's Touch Cleaning, Newburgh, New York, enjoyed a session lead by Gene Woodard, director of buildings at the University of Washington in Seattle. Woodard provided creative ideas for how employers and managers can motivate their cleaning staff, as well as advice on how to treat them better.
"You have to empower them to maximize results," says Miller.
Tim Alt of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Pullman, Washington, came to the show to learn about new products and see what his peers are doing. Schweitzer already exercises waste reduction and green cleaning, but Alt says it might pay to take an even closer look at the practices after seeing what he did in the presentations.
After mornings full of education, attendees headed down to a crowded show floor featuring a variety of products. Chandler Hendricks of Standard Solutions Maintenance Group in Burton, Michigan, expressed his approval of the structure of the event, as well as the variety of vendors. He says he was particularly impressed by the broad spectrum of chemicals represented on the event floor.
Tuesday’s event ended in fun fashion with an opening night networking party sponsored by Contec Professional featuring snacks, drinks and March Madness-themed games.
The second day of the Clean Buildings Expo took the momentum of a lively first day and leveraged it into a proper conclusion to an event created to reinvigorate and educate a hardworking industry.
Another 12 sessions were held Wednesday and covered everything from sustainability to self-cleaning surfaces to hard floor care trends.
Mark Warner, ISSA's CMI education manager, discussed trends in the hardwood floor market, specifically those related to stone, ceramic and concrete flooring. One attendee of the event especially enjoyed Warner's discussion of high-build coatings on concrete and says he hopes to use some of the knowledge gained to improve his business.
Out on the expo floor, Dan Weltin, editor-in-chief of Contracting Profits and Corinne Zudonyi, editor-in-chief of Facility Cleaning Decisions and CleanLink.com, continued to host "Clean Talks" with some of the top speakers at Clean Buildings Expo. Topics included everything from infection control, to sustainability, to emerging technologies.
The Clean Buildings Expo returns to Baltimore March 17-18, 2020.