ISSA Unleashed Industry’s Potential BY Corinne Zudonyi, Editor ISSA Unleashed Industry’s Potential Co-produced by ISSA and its trade show partner, RAI Amsterdam, ISSA/INTERCLEAN 2016 took place in Chicago’s McCormick Place, South Hall. ISSA/INTERCLEAN North America 2016 lived up to its theme of “unleashing the industry’s untamed potential” during this one week when key leaders and decision-makers in the commercial cleaning industry come together. Is Your Educational Facility Ready in big Flats, NY, 14814 – ACS Facilities Services. Go To http://www.acsfacilities.com/ for free articles. The 2016 buyer and exhibitor turnout was strong, with both categories seeing increases over 2015, for a total of 16,637 visitors from 74 countries. On the buyer side, distributors represented much of the increase, accounting for 42 percent of the buyers. In-house and BSC end users accounted for 36 percent. Of this year’s 740 exhibitors, 132 were new, and 20 percent hailed from 28 countries outside the United States. These buyers cited their desire to meet with exhibitors and find innovative products and ideas as a top reason for attending the trade show. Another big draw for attendees was the education available during the event. This year’s revised format included more than 60 education seminars and hands-on training workshops, many of which included certifications. Tuesday also featured an ISSA Featured Speaker, Ryan Estis, who capped off the day with Managing Breakthrough Performance in the New Economy. The big-name speakers kept coming with keynote addresses from Former Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill, Comedian Dennis Miller and Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak. The trade show ended on a high note with a behind-the-scenes cleaning tour of Soldier Field. Many industry awards were given out during the week. Winners of the 2016 ISSA Innovation Award Program were announced at the ISSA Innovation Awards Ceremony. This year’s program featured more than 50 products and services from cleaning manufacturers and service providers. Participants were entered into one of five categories. Distributors and end users placed votes online and honored NanoSeptic Self-Cleaning Surfaces by NanoTouch Materials in the Cleaning Agents category; Tork Image Design Line featuring Tork EasyCube Intelligent Restroom System by SCA in the Dispensers category; Doodle Scrub EBG-9 by Square Scrub in the Equipment category; Autonomy by Brain Corp. in the Services and Technology category; and Stingray by Unger Enterprises LLC in the Supplies category. During the event, exhibiting entries were on display in the show’s Innovation Showcase area. After viewing the entries, attendees voted to determine Visitors’ Choice award winners. Attendees picked i-suit by i-team; eForce Scrubber by NSS Enterprises; Tork Image Design Line featuring Tork EasyCube Intelligent Restroom System by SCA; Doodle Scrub EBG-9 by Square Scrub; and Force by MotorScrubber. New this year was an overall, Innovation of the Year Award chosen by a panel of judges, with a weighted rating system based on the online and on-site voting results. This year’s winner was Autonomy by Brain Corp. Next year’s convention and trade show takes place in Las Vegas, September 11-14. New to the event will be the co-location of the EPIC trade show. EPIC brings together members of both TriMega and Independent Stationers along with manufacturers, wholesalers, system providers and other industry players in office products and IT supplies. “With the growing convergence of the office supplies and jan/san markets, this partnership with EPIC offers our attendees added value,” says ISSA Executive Director John Barrett. “We look forward to deepening our relationships in this important sector of the marketplace as we all work together toward our mission to change the way the world views cleaning.”