Estimated post reading time: 15 minutes 

The Issa ISSA Association was born in 1923, founded by Alfred Richter, who understood that the cleaning industry needed to unite as a community, not just for its members’ sake but also for the good of nations.

ISSA has partnerships and connections with more than 75 local, regional and national associations, as well as industries, administrations, corporations and communities around the world. Being 94 years old, ISSA has all the experience to give a big contribution to a better future.

This organization gives your company a chance to get in touch with more than 7.000 distributors, wholesalers, manufacturers, representatives, building service contractors, in-house service providers, residential cleaning agencies, publishers and associate members from all around the world and to share experiences and best practices.

The ISSA INTERCLEAN/ North America trade show, which this year took place in Las Vegas, USA, from September 11^th to 14^th, is  definitely the largest event for the cleaning industry worldwide, as more than 16.000 cleaning and facility solutions professionals gather there to sharpen their skills, see what’s new and uncover fresh solutions for the day-to-day challenges they face in their business.

The 2017 edition saw an expanded exhibit space and extended Outdoor Exhibits hours combined with a new calendar (from Monday to Thursday). Visitors had more options to customize their experience and to organize careers and business building opportunities.

The theme for this year’s event was “Uncover Extraordinary”, referring to the myriad of innovations in the exhibit hall, where more than 700 exhibitors showcased the latest facility solutions.

Visitors had also the opportunity to choose one of the five different training courses, each of them designed with specific goals and tailored to the specific needs of attendees:

• Disrupt and Innovate, A New Think Tank for Distribution;
• Commercial Cleaning Business Solutions;
• Residential Cleaning Connection (split in two: Residential cleaning services and Residential Healthy schools);
• Healthcare Environment Essentials

ISSA’s Cleaning Management Institute gave the opportunity of choice between several workshops on topics such as hard floors, carpets, and restroom care (a separate registration was required), providing a new way of sharing know-how and experiences.

Exhibitors reported that the number and quality of distributors and facility service providers in this year’s edition was very impressive, generating sales leads and a favourable return for their companies.

Positive feedback came both from exhibitors and visitors, who were positive that the 2017 edition was one of the best in several years as far as the value of connections and business opportunities were concerned.

In 2017 the presence of exhibitors and buyers was definitely massive, with both categories seeing increases over the 2016 edition, peeking at more than 16.500 visitors from 74 countries.

Most of the buyers visited the exhibition in search of innovations and new supply lines.

The product categories under scrutiny were:

Approximately 4.500 individuals and 1.200 companies were distributors.

There were approximately 3.000 individuals and 1.200 companies for building service contractors and approximately 1.300 individuals appr. and 550 companies for in-house service providers.

In 2016, in Chicago, there were 740 coming exhibiting companies from 28 countries and in 2017 they are expected to increase.

The visitors’ satisfaction was high; more than 90% said that the event created valuable networking and that the chance to find innovative products and novelties. As a matter of fact, more than 80% declared that they had accomplished all they had planned during the event.

IPC was present at the show at booth n° 1347 through its USA branch IPC EAGLE. Pat Marsh is President of IPC Eagle and he agreed to share with us his opinions on the exhibition and a special anniversary.

For the 2017 edition, the theme was: “Uncover Extraordinary” and we have asked IPC Eagle’s President, Pat Marsh, his impressions.

• How was the exhibition?

This was our 20^thanniversary exhibiting at the ISSA Trade Show.  Our first show was in Dallas Texas in 1997.  It is ironic that the show will be back in Dallas next year for the first time since we first exhibited.  A lot has happened since our first show in Dallas: only distributors were allowed to attend the show , no end users.  Now it is open to all cleaning professionals:  50% of the people that visited our booth this year were end users such as building service contractors and in-house cleaning operations.

• What kind of feedback did you receive from the visitors?

The new IPC catalog was a hit.  We more than doubled the size of our full line catalog to give more emphasis on each product.  They appreciated the nice clean look and presentation of the sales material. We are most known for our machines but this year we had much more interest in our microfiber cleaning systems and carts, as well as our pure water window cleaning systems for indoor and outdoor cleaning. Each of our product areas were consistently busy with demonstrations and hands on cleaning. Our distributor appreciation reception was very well attended on the first day of the show.  The booth was completely full as our distributor sales people filled the isles around us.  It was great to see the support from our distributors.

• Seeing the exhibition, which are the next challenges of the cleaning sector?

Continued consolidation and e-commerce.  The challenge will be to introduce and demonstrate new innovative solutions as there are and will be less specialized people providing consulting and training in the market.

Please send us your feedback to info@ipcworldwide.com, your comments are always appreciated.

Sources: http://show.issa.com/, http://www.issainterclean.com/northamerica/