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ISSA says its ISSA Show North America 2019, hosted Nov. 18-21 in Las Vegas, was a huge success by all accounts. 

The annual event brought together 16,215 registered cleaning-industry professionals from 75 countries for a week of networking, education and innovation at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

This year's show witnessed a surge in attendance; it attracted 16 percent more registered attendees than the 2018 edition hosted in Dallas and grew slightly over the most recent and highly successful edition in Las Vegas in 2017. Of this year's 652 exhibitors, 97 were newcomers to the event. Further, 58 percent of registered attendees were new to the annual trade show and conference presented by ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, and Informa Markets.

"We're extremely pleased that the show's return to Las Vegas brought with it a lot of excitement and increased attendance and engagement," says John Barrett, ISSA executive director. "Exhibitors were energized about showcasing new solutions and attendees once again had the opportunity to learn about the latest advances in the cleaning industry, network and further develop their skills at the 100-plus education sessions throughout the week. We truly believe this year's show was among the best we've produced."

ISSA Show North America 2019 convened the entire cleaning and facility services industry under one roof. For the 10th consecutive year, the show hosted co-location partner the Building Service Contractors Association International (BSCAI) and its 2019 Contracting Success Conference. Additionally, ISSA welcomed the Healthy Schools Campaign and its Green Clean Schools education track, the Restoration Industry Association's Technical Fire Restoration Summit, the International Facility Management Association, Green Sports Alliance, leading distributor sales and marketing groups and other industry organizations and their constituents at this year's show.

"BSCAI was thrilled with the growth of our Contracting Success Conference this year," says Todd Hopkins, president and CEO of Office Pride Commercial Cleaning Services and 2019 BSCAI convention chairman. "Las Vegas has typically been a successful location for our events, but this year's attendance and engagement exceeded our expectations."

ISSA Show North America 2019 featured several new attractions on the show floor, which proved to be popular with attendees and exhibitors alike. Highlights included the Solve for X area, which convened attendees to collaborate on their business challenges in an interactive setting; the Specialty Cleaning Area and Theater, which offered unique exhibitors education sessions for health care, residential, and restoration cleaning professionals; the International Pavilion and Italian Pavilion, which featured exhibitors from more than 26 countries; and the First-time Exhibitor Area and Startup Village, where many of the show's 97 new exhibitors from commercial cleaning and adjacent markets like safety, industrial, and software and technology displayed their products and services.

"We made a significant investment in expanding the education and specialty-market opportunities on the show floor this year based on attendee and exhibitor feedback," says Kim Althoff, vice president of trade shows, sales, and media at ISSA. "We were encouraged to see how well these new areas were received and look forward to building on them in the future to ensure the event remains highly relevant and impactful for our growing and evolving audience."

Further, the event's 100-plus education sessions provided something for everyone with curated tracks for distributors, building service contractors, in-house service providers and residential cleaning professionals. Education kicked off Nov. 18 with a session from ISSA Spotlight Speaker Marvelless Mark and continued all four days of the show with panel discussions, show-floor theater sessions and certification workshops.  

ISSA Show North America returns to McCormick Place in Chicago for its 2020 edition, Oct. 26 to 29, 2020. More information is available at issa.com/2020.