On May 11 the CleaningGreen Virtual Conference & Expo debuted, attracting more than 1,000 commercial cleaning industry professionals. Presented by Sanitary Maintenance, Contracting Profits and Housekeeping Solutions magazines, the online event provided attendees with access to industry experts and suppliers that focus on green cleaning in the commercial cleaning market.

"CleaningGreen was an excellent way to view the overall picture on green cleaning and helped you to decide what you can accomplish this month, this year, next year, and so on," says Patrick Krywko, sustainability director, HP Products, Belleville, Mich. "The speakers were well informed and relevant, and the vendors had good information to share about the unique sustainability features of their products."

The Virtual Conference exposed new products and solutions to jan/san distributors, building service contractors, in-house service providers and facility executives. Industry experts such as Steve Ashkin, David Holly, Phillip Consolino, Ian Greig and Leon Old presented five educational conference sessions via Webcast. Topics included green cleaning legislation, distributor partnerships, day cleaning, new product certifications and sustainability.

The CleaningGreen Conference & Expo provided attendees multiple online locations to meet their specific educational and business needs including a plaza, exhibit hall, auditorium, networking lounge and resource library. Interactions were conducted via scheduled group chats and message boards. Exhibitors also provided information and demonstrations via virtual booths and engaged with attendees using online chat for private conversations.

"I had a great time interacting in chat rooms and talking with participants. I think the ability to interact in this fashion will help our industry continue to grow and participants to grow as professionals," says Holly, co-author of "Green Cleaning for Dummies" and conference presenter.

An archive of the event will be available for three months at www.cleanlink.com/cleaninggreenexpo.

CleaningGreen Conference & Expo's strong debut and industry-wide acceptance has prompted event management to announce a new virtual event — The Cleaning Innovations Virtual Conference & Expo to be held September 16, 2010.