Home to Mickey Mouse, Shamu and now Harry Potter, Orlando, Fla. is no stranger to excitement. But last month the "Action City of Florida" also welcomed 13,585 cleaning industry professionals for a week of education, networking and fun, as they attended ISSA/INTERCLEAN from Nov. 9 through 12.

With a show theme of "All About You," ISSA put together an event that addressed attendees' needs, from Q&A education sessions to identifying the year's most innovative products.

More than half of U.S. nonexhibiting attendees hailed from southern or eastern U.S. states and neighboring territories, reinforcing the reason why ISSA/INTERCLEAN continues to rotate through multiple locations, including the Southeast.

"We typically see one-third of our attendees coming from the region when it is in the Southeast, so we were even more pleased that we were able to increase that number this year to provide new opportunities our members may not have found in other recent locations," says John Garfinkel, ISSA executive director, in a news release.

This year's attendance figures prove that the U.S. cleaning market reaches across the globe and that ISSA/INTERCLEAN has worldwide appeal. Attendees came from more than 70 countries, especially Latin America. There were also representatives from numerous international organizations, including the Italian Association of Distributors in the Professional Cleaning Industry (AFIDAMP), the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc), the British Cleaning and Support Services Association (CSSA), the Polish Cleaning Association (PIGC), the South African National Cleaning Contractors Association (NCCA), and The Word Federation of Building Service Contractors (WFBSC).

All attendees had a chance to walk the expansive trade show floor and meet with 630 suppliers, including 131 new exhibitors. Nearly 20 percent of new exhibitors were from countries outside of North America. Suppliers indicated that this year's show was a success with 75 percent of exhibitor survey respondents reporting that ISSA/INTERCLEAN was their top show of the year out of all commercial and consumer events in which they participate.

For the first time the Building Service Contractors Association International (BSCAI) Annual Convention was co-located with ISSA/INTERCLEAN, resulting in record-high building service contractor attendance of nearly 2,000 contractors.

BSCAI joined the International Executive Housekeepers Association (IEHA) and the Association of Residential Cleaning Services International (ARCSI), which hosted their annual conventions, as well as the Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM) and Orlando International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Chapter that hosted regional events. Many distributor buying and marketing groups also hosted their members during the week.

One of the show's biggest highlights was the keynote address given by former Britain and Northern Ireland Prime Minister Tony Blair. Roughly 5,500 people came to hear Blair's assessment of the world economy and his comments on the importance of supporting industries such as cleaning as a way to increase jobs. Blair also answered a series of questions submitted by ISSA members and shared some of his own professional lessons. Football great Joe Theismann shared his insights on facing challenges in the Wednesday general session.

This year's ISSA Educational Conference had an impressive turnout, specifically drawing 15 percent more distributors than in 2009. This year's conference was built based on the requests of ISSA members and past attendees, including the ability for them to submit specific questions to each speaker. The educational line-up included Michael Marks, Jim Pancero and Steve Ashkin, among others.

During the show, attendees cast their ballots for the Best Customer Service Awards. The program was expanded this year to include 10 companies with booths 300 square feet or less and 10 with booths 400 square feet or more. Winners included: ChemBlend International LLC, Diversey Inc., Spartan Chemical Co., Inc., and Zep Professional in the Chemicals category; Kimberly-Clark Corp., Professional Sector, National Tissue Co., Mint-X Corp., and SCA Tissue N.A., in the Disposables category; Advance, Atrix International Inc., Oreck Corp., and ProTeam Inc., in the Power Equipment category; Aluf Plastics Division, The Lebermuth Co., Progressive Products LLC, and SonicScrubbers Inc., in the Supplies category; 360 Facility, Fineline Settings Inc., Lagasse Inc., and Paperless Proposals in the Other Products, Services & Technology category.

ISSA also recognized companies for innovation and nearly 50 products were nominated for the 2010 Innovation Award. Based on online votes the winners were: One2Clean Automatic Dispenser by Gent-l-Kleen Products Inc., in the Chemicals category; Cascades Intelligent Paper by Cascades Inc., in the Paper/Plastics category; EBG-20 Surface Preparation Machine by Square Scrub Inc., in the Power Equipment category; Discover Watts NXT Lithium Battery Management Systems by Discover Energy Corp. in the Services, Technology & Other Products category; and The Cleaning Station by The Cleaning Station in the Supplies/Accessories category.

Next year, ISSA/INTERCLEAN will be held in Las Vegas from Oct. 18 through the 21. Tom Peters, management expert and author, will present the keynote address.




POSTED ON: 1/27/2011