MoreORLANDO, Fla.--Despite the repercussions of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and a troubled economy, the ISSA/Interclean USA Exhibition, Convention and Educational Conference, Oct. 16-19 in Orlando is enjoying a fairly good turnout of attendees touring the cavernous Orange County Convention Center to view some 680 exhibitions.
"It's going well," International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) Marketing Director Rebecca Pando said of the world's largest exhibition of its kind for the cleaning and maintenance industry. "We're very pleased with the people who have shown up. Obviously, the attendance figures aren't as high as they could have been, given Sept. 11 and the depressed economy. But the quality of the experience for attendees and exhibitors is better."
ISSA/Interclean 2001 kicked off with a pre-convention workshop, "Using the Food Safety Regulations to Enhance Your Sales," sponsored by ISSA and NSF International. Instructors included ISSA Legislative Affairs Director Bill Balek and Dan Wagner, ISSA's manager of Regulatory Compliance.
With the official Tuesday, Oct. 16 start of the convention, seminars included such topics as "Importing and Exporting Between the United States and Europe," "Selling in the New Century," "Family Business Challenges: Succession, Working Relationships," "Secrets of Power Negotiating," and "As if the Feds Weren't Enough--State Legislative Actions Affecting the Jansan Industry."
Educational programs included a ranging diversity in topics. Programs included "E-Commerce Changes the Scope of Customer Relations," "The Science of Cleaning," "From Rick & Lucy to Beavis & Butthead: Managing the New Workforce," "How to Build Repeat and Referral Business," "The Balanced Sales Team," "What has OSHA Done to Me Lately?," "Training Techniques for Improving Performance," "Know Your Facility: The Ins and Outs of Workloading," and "Are You a True Cleaning Executive?"
According to Pondo, the seminars and workshops have enjoyed "excellent attendance."
Pando said final attendance figures wouldn't be available for several more days. However, she said that the ISSA experience is on-site registration instead of advanced registration.
"In '99, our experience was more than half of the attendees registered on-site rather than in advance," Pando told Commercial Floor Care. "So, we're still hopeful we'll see some good attendance figures."
ISSA/Interclean has already scheduled its 2002 convention for Oct. 15-18 in Las Vegas. Exhibitor enthusiasm, Pando said, is running high for next year's ISSA/Interclean USA.
"Booth sales are running very well," she said, "and we've seen no decrease in booth sales of size for next year."
ISSA includes more than 4,600 member companies from more than 67 countries that manufacture, market and distribute cleaning and maintenance products, equipment, chemicals, and related services to hospitals and other healthcare facilities, schools, factories, foodservice establishments, corporate complexes, commercial businesses, and the vast array of other industrial/institutional facilities worldwide. For more information, visit ISSA at www.issa.com; or contact Tracy Novak of ISSA via phone at (800) 225-4772 or via e-mail at tracy@issa.com
