ISSA Show Virtual Experience Kicks Off With Live Education and Networking

ISSA Show North America 2020, which this year is being held as a Virtual Experience, began yesterday, November 16. Though online, this year’s event includes all key elements ISSA Show is known for like educational sessions with technical and business-building information designed specifically for the cleaning industry, thought-provoking spotlight speakers, one-on-one interactions with industry exhibitors, networking opportunities, and more. Below is a collection of highlights from ISSA Show North America Virtual Experience Day One. Check back all week for daily highlights.

ISSA Show North America Virtual Experience Day One kickoff

At the Virtual Experience Kickoff and Welcome, attendees heard from John Barrett, ISSA executive director; Ken Bodie, ISSA Board president and CEO of Kelsan Inc.; and Rick McConnell, president of ISSA’s show partner, Informa Markets North America, in addition to others. The session served as an opportunity for attendees to not only learn how to make the most of the Virtual Experience, but also as a chance to hear from key players on the state of the cleaning industry.

In his remarks, Barrett acknowledged that the value of cleaning has significantly increased among the general public due to the COVID-19 pandemic, explaining that cleaning is no longer about cleaning for “pretty” or “smell,” but rather cleaning for public health. Barrett also commended ISSA’s audience for their battle to defend the public and be ambassadors for the value of cleaning.

Innovation Awards Program Category winners

The five category winners of the 2020 ISSA Innovation Award Program were announced during the Virtual Experience Kickoff and Welcome at ISSA Show North America Virtual Experience on Day One. 

Click to view larger

Now in its 11th year, the 2020 edition features 18 entries in five categories:  Cleaning Agents, Dispensers, Equipment, Services and Technology, and Supplies & Accessories. The winners of the category awards were selected by cleaning-industry professionals over months of online voting. The 2020 category winners are: 

• Cleaning Agents: Botanical Disinfectants by Seventh Generation Professional, a Unilever Brand 
• Dispensers: Tork PeakServe® Recessed Cabinet Adapters by Tork, an Essity brand 
• Equipment: TASKI® IntelliSpray for swingo® by Diversey 
• Services and Technology: Silver Defender Antimicrobial Protected Films 
• Supplies and Accessories: OmniClean by Unger Enterprises LLC 

These products and the other Innovation Award Program entries can be viewed here. The winner of the prestigious 2020 Innovation of the Year Award will be revealed Thursday, November 19, at 3:45 p.m. CST during the Virtual Experience Closing Ceremony. 

Frontlines of COVID-19

Although the coronavirus pandemic brought challenges to all facilities, larger ones—such as stadiums— faced additional obstacles to safely reopening such as effective crowd control and efficient cleaning of a multi-purpose building.  Facility and operational managers at several of these facilities explained how they are working to overcome these challenges at Lessons Learned from the Frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“The pandemic has challenged us more than we’d ever have thought, one year ago, six months ago, even two months ago,” said Patty Olinger, executive director of GBAC, a division of ISSA, who moderated the educational session at ISSA Show North America Virtual Experience.

Click to view larger

One of the panel speakers, Todd Boyan, senior vice president of stadium operations for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, said the biggest question was how many spectators would be allowed inside Hard Rock Stadium.  “We didn’t know if we would be operating with a capacity of zero or a full stadium,” he said.

To prepare, the stadium determined they’d have about 13,000 seats available if they allowed season ticket holders to attend with six feet between all groups. The stadium placed seat coverings over seats that were unavailable to enforce social distancing.

The stadium counted on advice from cleaning industry experts, including ISSA, to help the facility set new cleaning standards, reevaluate its equipment, and determine how to use this equipment correctly in the variety of settings within the facility, from locker rooms and the arena to restrooms and concession stands.

To eliminate contamination, stadium officials installed touchless appliances in all the restrooms, including automatic faucets and paper towel dispensers. They switched from buffets to prepackaged food and set staggered entrance times so large groups of fans weren’t going through the metal detectors at the same time. They updated the stadium’s air filtration system and opened doors and windows to allow for more fresh air.

The stadium eliminated any activities it could not directly control by banning tailgating.

One area that officials at Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida strove to keep control of was the employment of its workforce, said Mark Tester, the convention center’s executive director. “We have a large full-time workforce and we needed to be prepared on how to keep them employed,” he said.

The center cut operating costs and delayed an expansion project to have the funds to keep staff. It reorganized employees who weren’t busy into other departments, for example temporarily reassigning housekeepers to the utilities department.

Whatever methods they took, the priority for all facilities was to ensure they created an environment that is safe for visitors. “These facilities relied on equipment, innovation, and evidence-based methods that have been proven to work,” said Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner, director at GBAC, a division of ISSA. He said facility managers and building operations staff who were generally relegated to speak at the end of operational meetings are now finding themselves at the top of the agenda as facility safety is now the No. 1 consideration.

Macgregor-Skinner said he hopes this focus will remain No. 1 when the coronavirus ends, reminding people there are always infectious diseases to manage, including influenza, measles, and norovirus.

“You need to take a holistic approach, identify the hazards and the risks that can enter a facility, and determine what the consequences will be,” he said. “We can have events and let people in facilities if we do it in the right way.” 

See highlights from Day Two

Spotlight Speaker: Jeff Henderson

Day One’s spotlight speaker, Jeff Henderson, an award-winning celebrity chef presented ‘If You Can See It, You Can Be It.’ Raised helping in his grandfather’s janitorial business, Henderson served a decade in prison before deciding to make a career in the culinary world. He says he felt he had received a second chance at life when he got the job of a custodian and dishwasher in Chef Robert Gadsby’s restaurant in Los Angeles, California. Henderson shared his emotional journey from his kitchen in Las Vegas, Nevada to help kick off ISSA Show North America Virtual Experience Day One.

Click to view larger

Henderson recalled how his motivation began when he was a child working with his grandfather, who owned a custodial service in Southern California. Under his grandfather, he learned how to work, get up early, and realize the value of a dollar. “There’s so many life lessons in cleaning, in organization, in polishing…in this type of industry,” Henderson said. “I knew before I was a chef or good enough cook that I could get a job just saying, ‘Hey, I know how to clean kitchens, floors, bathrooms…’ So, I went into these career choices as a janitor to get in until I got an opportunity to excel as a cook.”

Whether you’re in a restaurant or any other facility, “the place has to be cleaned,” Henderson said, especially during a pandemic. But he questioned, “How do we sustain that? How do we make sanitization, and cleaning, handwashing, sanitizing our kitchens and businesses a No. 1 priority so [that], when COVID is over, we continue to thrive?” The answer, Henderson believes, “is analyzing what we do.”

“We have to find a way to pivot and rewrite our blueprint. We write our business plan,” Henderson said as he shared how his restaurant businesses have adapted to the coronavirus pandemic by mandating mask-wearing, installing screen dividers, and hiring sanitation partners to “COVID-clean our kitchen. Sanitize it. So, we haven’t missed a beat at all.”

COVID-19 Facilites Promotion

In Monday’s live session, Achieving Real Results With Your Facilities, People, and Issues Pre-, Mid-, and Post-COVID-19, Jim Flieler, vice president of sales at Charlotte Products Ltd., told virtual show attendees there has never been a better time to be proud of what they do or to promote their services and capabilities.

“Clean sells and protects and that’s good for every single one of us to highlight,” Flieler said.

Starting off the session with a reminder of the importance of basic COVID-19 protocols, like social distancing and wearing a face covering, Flieler said, “Every single one of us is responsible for lowering or increasing our risk. Now, more than ever, we need to learn and educate ourselves on how to lower the risk.”

Through the lens of the global pandemic, Flieler shared best practices for attendees to elevate their ability to protect their facility and people. He said now is an opportune time to do a complete review of custodial tool quality, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and cleaning and disinfecting protocols.

“The public will be watching and judging as we go back to full facility use,” he said. “They will be extremely sensitive and attentive, so we really have one shot at doing it right the first time.”

Click to view larger

With infection prevention as the end goal, Flieler stressed these five disinfectant elements for ensuring facilities are lowering the risk of an outbreak (See the image for more information.):

• Always use a registered product; read and understand the label
• Dilute properly regardless of dilution method
• Always pre-clean surfaces
• Follow dwell contact time
• Use potable water to rinse food contact surfaces and toys/surfaces that come in contact with children.

“If you read the label, everything for success is on the label,” Flieler said. “There are laws under that label to use and it’s our job in our industry to make sure everyone uses them.”

In addition to using high-quality tools and ensuring proper cleaning and disinfecting protocols are being followed, Flieler suggested measuring and validating cleaning results with tools like ATP meters and imaging technology.

While noting that floors are the largest reservoir of pathogenic microorgansims in buildings, he also said now is the time to ensure a proper floor care program is in place. COVID-19 prevention includes sealing the flooring substrates to prevent viral droplets from becoming embeded in the pores and causing spread. He recommended a minimum of at least two coats.

Lastly, Flieler noted the importance of disinfecting custodial equipment to prevent the spread of infection: “Equipment is like a custodian, it touches or comes in contact with a lot of surfaces, so we need to realize that and lower the risk of spread.”

ISSA Show North America Virtual Experience continues 

Registration is still available for the ISSA Show North America Virtual Experience, and educational sessions will be available on demand through March 2021. Log into your Virtual Planner to add upcoming events to your plans, including these live sessions planned for Tuesday: