Winning Big in Las Vegas

ISSA/INTERCLEAN® 2005, held October 18-21 in Las Vegas, broke attendance records with 17,579 registered attendees — the highest turnout in the trade show’s history.

The show featured 689 exhibitors, 5,499 distributor personnel, and 4,391 facility service provider (FSP) attendees. FSP attendance hit a record high, beating the previous mark set in Chicago in 1999 by 20 percent. Of the FSPs, 2,376 were building service contractors and 2,015 in-house service providers (ISPs).

“More significant than the total attendance was the ratio of customers to exhibitors, which was 2-to-1 this year compared with 1.4-to-1 in the prior two years,” said ISSA Executive Director John Garfinkel. “The historical ratio used to be less than 1-to-1 when the show was in the old format — available only to distributors.”

High Points
During the show, ISSA/INTERCLEAN® was presented with a Global Trades Award, recognizing it as one of the leading trade shows in the United States as well as the leader in the cleaning industry. The award was given by Broadcast News Corp., known for its business programming on networks such as CNN, MSNBC and the Learning Channel.

Because it received the award, exhibitors became eligible to compete for the Global Trades Award — Award Winning Companies in the Field designation. Criteria for these awards are based on corporate strategies and values in a number of categories.

Nine exhibiting winners were named from a field of 40 applicants and were recognized before Wednesday’s keynote presentation: Betco Corp, Intellibot Robotics LLC, JohnsonDiversey, Milazzo Industries, Nilfisk/Advance, Permanent Solutions Industries Inc., Procter & Gamble, Rimrock Technologies and Winters Janitorial.

Jim Collins, best-selling author of Built to Last and Good to Great drew 4,000 attendees to his keynote speech, held Wednesday of the show.

The ISSA Innovation Fashion show was a hit. Running hourly for the first two days of the show, products were paraded down the runway by ornately — sometimes interestingly — costumed Vegas showgirls. Distributors’ votes decided winners in six categories. Award-winning products came from the following companies: Spartan Chemical, CastleRock Industries, Georgia-Pacific, Impact Products, The Bullen Cos. and Rubbermaid Commercial Products.

Next year, the show travels to the Windy City of Chicago, and is scheduled for October 4-7, 2006.

ISSA Photo Gallery (click on image, below, to view enlarged photo)
Jim Collins, ISSA’s 2005 keynote speaker, explained how attendees can move their companies to the next level of business success.	Jack D. Fisher, president of Easy Dump, and Scott Huffman, Absorbcore LLC, display their products.	CDC/Green Products LLC co-owners Robert Corinaldesi and Les Brodie, along with Hal Yerys from the sales department, said this year’s show was great for business.
Anderson Co. displayed a custom ISSA/INTERCLEAN® floor mat.	Mikki Williams gave an inspired and inspiring presentation at ISSA’s Fourth Annual Women’s Forum.	(l-r) John Russo (middle) and Brian Kieffer (right) of Arm & Hammer field a customer’s questions at the company’s booth.
Scott D. Boyd (left) and Fred Werth, field sales managers for Buckeye Intl., Inc., take a short break from fielding questions from distributors.	Rory Beaudette, national sales manager (front right) and Jeff Oakes (back right), Western regional manager for ACS Scrubble, chat with Issa Quraa and Nasri Quraa of Shine & Bright.	Clarke representatives: Rick Quinn, Erich Terwege, Scott Lindroth, Joe Gambacort, Keith Willey and Frank McAlpine.
Dan Sherwood, professional products group, Amrep, gives a demonstration.	Cascades Tissue Group executives (l-r) Stephan E. Doyon, vice president of sales, commercial and industrial divisions, North America; Suzanne Blanchet, president and CEO; Dennis W. Lion, national sales director, commercial and industrial division, U.S.; and Greg Pakula, national sales director, Canada, commercial and industrial division, at the company’s hospitality held at the Harley Davidson Café.	Americo’s booth featured the company’s newest products.
Core Products’ Brent Crawford, James “Fry” Watson, plant manager, and Carl Sherman, marketing director.	Don Radtke, Andy and Andreas Maerz of Cleanfix.	Joe Kanfer, CEO and chief innovation strategist for GOJO, gave a toast prior the company’s rep dinner and awards at the House of Blues in Las Vegas.
Geerpres representatives Ted Moon, senior vice president sales and marketing, Jeff Kolbe, customer service manager, and Megan Schihl. Geerpres is currently holding a contest to track down the oldest Geerpres wringer still in use.	Carl Rosa, commercial sales manager, Electrolux Home Care Products North America, and David Parkes, national sales director, field sales.	Impact Products’ Kaiko Laser, director of marketing, and Bob Armbruster, vice president of sales, show off the company’s Product Innovation Show product and award.
Jeff Carlton, senior manager, sales force effectiveness, N.A. commercial products, Georgia Pacific, demonstrates the company’s enMotion towel dispenser.	ETC of Henderson’s resident gorilla mans the ticket booth at the company’s theater-themed booth.	(l-r) A few attendees of Golden Star’s hospitality, held at the Hilton: (back l-r) Brian Consolino, Pro-Link; Gary Gradinger, Golden Star; Tony Adams, Pro-Link; (front l-r) Roger E. Parrott Jr. and Teri Parrott of RoVic and Phil Consolino, Pro-Link.
The ISSA Innovation Fashion Show drew crowds hourly during the first two days of the show. On Thursday, ISSA Executive Director John Garfinkel and “Marilyn” presented the awards.	(l-r) Haviland representatives Dale Heidbrink, vice president, operations; Jan Haviland, executive vice president and Joyce Dudenhoeffer, marketing manager, take a minute away from their busy booth for a photo.	(l-r) Patrick Daley and R. Bruce Greenlee, Greenlee Supply Co., Inc., chatted at Daley’s booth.
John Rogers (right) of DDI System, exhibits the functionality of his company’s software to a potential customer.	NCL employee Russ Magnuson demonstrates the power of his company’s product.	Ralph Jones III, president and CEO, and Bland Murphy, International Business Development, for Jones Cos. Ltd.; Eric Liebowitz, president, and Aaron Liebowitz, vice president, Norshel Industries, and Todd Leventhal, president, O-Cedar Commercial, spent an evening together at Jones’ hospitality.
The Malish sales team spent the show hours promoting and demonstrating the company’s extensive line of brushes.	At the Nilfisk-Advance reception: Christian Cornelius-Knudsen, president/CEO Nilfisk-Advance, Jeff Haag, vice president, national sales, Hillyard, and Joe Carotenuto, vice president of sales and marketing for Nilfisk-Advance.	Libman employees Mark Cunningham (left) and Desi Csoka, stand ready to help distributors in choosing the right brooms and mops.
Onyx Environmental’s co-owners Dave Calver, COO and general manager, and Cole Broomer, proudly display the company’s products.	J&M Technologies’ Ferrell Keen, associate, and John Manzoian, president, promoted the company’s catalog software.	Kimberly Clark’s Professional Team poses by KC’s racecar at the company’s booth.
An Advance representative leads a demonstration of the company’s new floor machine, the Adhancer.	A Minuteman Intl. representative fields questions from booth visitors on the show floor.	Dave Lancaster, national account manager for Kent, takes to the floor to show the benefits of one of the company’s floor machines.
Everyone walked away a winner at Misco Products’ hospitality, where guests placed bets with funny money, and enjoyed food, drinks and conversation.	Several Prophet 21, now Activant, employees attended the show, including (l-r): Doug Levin, senior director of sales; Nancy Panko, director of marketing; Ed Mazer, executive industry consultant; Jim Tomasetti, product manager; Diane Dunbar, sales engineer; and Kyle Gardner, customer account executive.	Matthew M. Wood, ProTeam’s president and COO; Mark Reimers, senior vice president of commercial sales; Rich Steinberg, ProTeam's vice president of commercial business development; and Matt Reimers, ProTeam’s vice president of commercial business, talked with customers and friends at the company’s hospitality.
Pullman Holt representatives pose with one of the company’s machines: Bob Eukovich, Sonia Logan, Tom Halluska, Mike Worden and Susan Barr.	Rubbermaid Commercial Products’ reps talk with customers about one of the company’s products. The next day, the company’s Ladder Cart won a product innovation award at the ISSA Product Fashion Show in the “Other Janitorial Supplies” category.	Reckitt Benckiser personnel took a brief break from helping customers to pose for a group photo.
Arthur Taratoot, Quest Chemical’s Southeast territory sales rep, and Frank Mauro, national sales manager, enjoyed the company’s hospitality.	(l-r) Stefano Folio and Bill DeChristofano of Seko meet with Mike Wiacek of the Colgate Palmolive Co.	Richard Davis, business unit manager of facility services for xpedx, Cinncinnati, visits Waterbury’s booth.
Pat Fragomeni, a representative from Concept IV, demonstrates Unger’s restroom products to trade-show attendees.	Sloan Valve launched its jan/san product line at the show (Sloan JANSAN) with odor-control products, soap dispensers and an automatic flush valve.	Gregg Budgell, Rich Antonino, Timm Butts, Howie Korn, all of Sanitor Services and Frank Trevisani of Spartan Chemical enjoy Spartan’s reception.
Dennis Joy, national sales manager for Simoniz, stands by four regional sales managers: Doug Demio, Andrew Schmidt, Dennis Osborn and John Daubney.	Jeff Crevier, Sanastar’s president, talks to distributors about the company’s WizKid product.	Hundreds enjoyed the sights and sounds of Studio 54 at LagasseSweet’s late-night hospitality.
Customers flocked to the Envirox booth to learn more about the company’s products from its team of reps.	The Betco Corp. booth featured much of the company’s extensive product line.	Castle Rock’s Bob demonstrates how user-friendly the Chariot really is.
(l-r) Terry English, United Receptacle’s national sales manager, talks with distributors Lisa Williams of Morisette Paper and her husband, Todd, and Kerry Rigg, Morisette Paper.	Mac Fulfer talks to the crowd in his seminar “How to Judge a Book Primarily By Its Cover.”	Milton Davis, ITW Alma’s product manager, shows off his company’s mat.
Rodger Peters, Athea’s director of research and development, and Brett Collins, sales representative, stand behind the company’s products	YES’s 2nd Annual Career Coach panel discussion, “Moving Through the Ranks of a Family Business,” was well attended.	(l-r) Essential Industries’ Edward Zgrabik, vice president of sales, and Michael Wheeler, CEO, toasted Debra Tenhunfeld, Roger Tenhunfeld, Holly Tenhunfeld and John Tenhunfeld, of the Stigler Supply Co., at Essential’s reception, held in the Paris Hotel’s Champagne Ballroom.
SCA Tissue’s booth featured all the comforts of home, as well as away from home.