ISSA has released details of the educational seminar programme to be held at this year’s ISSA/Interclean 2008 show in Amsterdam on 6-9 May 2008.
Picks of a particularly strong line-up of sessions include John Delany’s keynote address on Thursday 8 May (09:00–10:00) when he will give his intriguing and compelling global perspective of how the cleaning industry will develop in the next five years and outline the seven mega-trends that he predicts will impact the entire sector.
Immediately after this (Thursday 8 May 10:00-12:00) another highly regarded speaker - Steven Spivak, chairman of the Cleaning Industry Research Institute in the USA - and European colleagues will offer an insightful guide through the maze of eco-labels, logos, REACH and other registration requirements.
Other strands of the seminar programme likely to prove particularly well attended are ‘How can the cleaning industry take the lead in infection control?’ (10.00–12.00 Tuesday 6 May) and the very topical ‘Nanotechnology in the cleaning industry - threat or opportunity?’ (15.00-17.00 Wednesday 7 May).
ISSA has also kept the popular panel manufacturer/distributor/end user discussion format from previous shows. This year (08.30–10.00 Wednesday 7 May) an expert panel including representatives from JohnsonDiversey, Tennant, Ecolab and Rubbermaid will debate how manufacturers can help cleaning companies by producing the right tools to convince the end user that they are actively meeting their needs for sustainability and environmentally friendly cleaning.
Mark Armitage, ISSA’s director of European services, said: “No-one does more, or ever has done more, than ISSA in terms of providing the standards, processes and the educational resources to help improve the professionalism of the global cleaning industry. We take the responsibility and privilege of this leadership position extremely seriously and value the seminars as an integral part of all ISSA/Interclean events. We have invested more heavily than ever before to secure top speakers for this show, flying in speakers from the US and beyond who are acknowledged global authorities in their fields. More than this though, we have also recruited some of the most influential and interesting speakers from Europe to participate. The net result is that we unquestionably have the strongest line-up of educational sessions for the cleaning industry seen anywhere to date.”
As well as educating and informing, one of ISSA’s goals in Europe is to support the commercial development of its members and recognise innovation by them. This too is reflected in the seminar programme with, for example, three separate sessions spread over the duration of the show called ‘How to do business in North America, China and Central & Eastern Europe and CIS’ respectively. There is also the Innovation Awards Ceremony and Networking Lunch (Tuesday 6 May 12:00-14:00) which is open not just nominees and the jury but also exhibitors and visitors too.
A nominal registration fee of ? 50 excluding VAT will be charged to attend the seminars but ISSA members, and members of organisations with alliances to ISSA, have free access to all seminars. All sessions will be held in English except the Dutch national seminar on Wednesday 7 May titled ‘The profitability of sustainable cleaning” which will be held in Dutch with simultaneous translation in English.