The Association of Specialists in Cleaning & Restoration held its 60th Annual "Solutions - The Education Summit" Convention and Exhibition in Palm Springs, Calif., March 15-19. Let me tell you, if it was solutions you wanted, it was solutions you got.

Granted, if you've been putting on a show for 60 years, odds are you've smoothed out most if not all the bumps. But it is still refreshing to spend a few days at an event that runs on an undercurrent of thorough planning, top-notch talent and smart time allocation. It's the right mix of those three factors that create comments like, "I can't wait for next year," instead of "I can't wait to get out of here."

One of the nice things about the ASCR event is the focus. A lot of show planners would take something of a shotgun approach to seminars: blast the widest spread of topics possible at your attendees. While that approach may indeed provide sessions of some value, it's a bit discouraging when you can count on one hand the number of those sitting in on some of those seminars.

ASCR streamlines things, strips them down. The seminars are industry-specific, the attendance high. Anyone who had to good fortune to make it to Palm Springs had the opportunity to learn about "Nosocomial Infections in the Hospital Environment," "New High-Tech Upholstery Fabrics," "New Directions in Building Science," "Smart Planning for Mold Remediation Projects," "Recent Trends in Microbial Remediation" and more.

Events like the ASCR convention, the Connections Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Fla., April 18-20, and the Connections Trade Show and Exhibition in Las Vegas, Sept. 23-25, take the grind out of the show experience. If indeed the devil is in the details, then the organizers of these events have found a way to exorcise their demons.