LAS VEGAS — This city has been a favored destination of the World Educational Congress for Laundering and Drycleaning—most commonly known as the Clean Show—since its beginning 40 years ago.
When Clean ’17 sets up shop in the Las Vegas Convention Center on June 5-8, it will mark a record sixth time that the biennial exhibition has been staged in the City of Lights.
The Clean Show has been “Where the Industry Comes Together” every other year since 1977, presenting new technology, educational sessions and networking opportunities to all segments of the drycleaning, laundry and textile care industry.
“This is a true milestone for the Clean Show,” says Mary Scalco, Clean ’17 chairman and CEO of the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute, one of the show’s sponsoring associations. “The show has grown over the years to become one of the country’s top 100 trade shows. Clean 2017 exhibit sales already are ahead of each of the last four shows, and registration is also up for the same time period as previous shows. Las Vegas is always a fun place to visit, too.”
When the show grew large enough by the early ’90s, the sponsoring associations decided it was time to engage professional management. Riddle & Associates, an Atlanta-based management and consulting firm, was hired to produce Clean ’93 and has been managing the biennial show ever since.
President John Riddle says Clean is “starting to get back to where we were before the recession hit us.”
“We had a good show in Atlanta (in 2015), and I think we’re going to see an improvement on that in Vegas this year,” he says. “In terms of attendance, we’re up. Last numbers I looked at, we were up 6-6.5%. That changes all the time, depending on the day and week, but we’ve had a lot of interest. … From where we sit, that’s a good vibe. I think the industry is going to have a good show.”
At last check, the interactive floor plan posted at the show website had roughly a dozen booth spaces remaining. More than 460 companies and organizations are scheduled to be represented on the exhibit floor covering well over 200,000 net square feet.
More than 11,000 people from around the world are expected to attend to see the latest textile care products and equipment.
Some of the Clean ’17 sponsors, plus another industry association, will offer 30 hours of education. Sessions focus on technical information, trends, business management, and environmental and regulatory issues. Most of the seminars will occur in on-site meeting rooms between 8 and 10 a.m. daily, but afternoon sessions will once again be staged in an “Exhibit Floor Classroom” at the rear of the exhibit hall.
Once the show closes each day, Las Vegas offers plenty of entertainment, dining and other attractions. It’s during these off-hours when associations gather their members for special events and exhibitors entertain customers and prospects in invitation-only affairs.
For example, the Coin Laundry Association (CLA) will be throwing a June 6 Clean Show party for members at its exclusive night club, FABRIQ, at the Cosmopolitan. A ticket includes cocktails, appetizers and dinner stations, networking, and music, entertainment and dancing. To learn more, visit the CLA website or call 800-570-5629.
THE BASICS
If you’re planning to attend Clean ’17, you can pre-register online via the show website through May 31. Members of any of the five sponsoring associations—Association for Linen Management, CLA, DLI, Textile Care Allied Trades Association, and the Textile Rental Services Association of America—may pre-register for $119 per person; the non-member rate is $149.
After May 31, all registration will take place at the Convention Center only; the fee will increase to $169.
On-site registration for exhibitors only will be 1-4:30 p.m. Saturday, June 3, and 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday, June 4. Registration for all others will also be available Sunday from 1 to 4:30, and then daily on show days beginning either at 7 or 7:30 a.m.
The Clean Show has been offering special rates at certain Las Vegas hotels for several months now. The deadline to book a room through the show’s only official housing service, Connections Housing, has been extended to Thursday, May 11.
As the show gets under way on Monday, June 5, distributors will have exclusive early access to the show floor from 8 to 10 a.m. The traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony at the main entrance at 10 will officially open the exhibits to all attendees. The show closes at 5 p.m. on that day.
For Tuesday and Wednesday, June 6-7, the show opens at 9 a.m. each day and closes at 5 p.m. On the show’s closing day, Thursday, June 8, exhibit hours will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Complimentary shuttle service to/from the Convention Center will be available to those staying at or near one of these official Clean 2017 hotels:
- Route 1 — MGM Grand and the Tropicana
- Route 2 — Bally’s, Cosmopolitan, Flamingo and Paris Las Vegas
- Route 3 — Caesars Palace and Wynn/Encore Las Vegas
- Route 4 — Vdara
There will be no service to the Renaissance or the Westgate, due to their proximity to the Convention Center.
On show days, the shuttles will run for a few hours in the mornings and a few hours in the afternoons and early evenings. They will begin service at 7 a.m. on opening day (7:30 a.m. on remaining show days) and run to 11:30 a.m. In the afternoons, they will run from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday.
Attendees can expect to see buses bound for the Convention Center every 15-20 minutes and buses bound for hotels every 20-30 minutes.
After the show closes each day, visitors can take advantage of the city’s many transportation options—taxis, ride-sharing services, bus service and the local monorail—to get around.
If you live in the region and will be driving to Clean, parking is available in the Silver 1 lot immediately in front of the LVCC main entrance. It’ll cost you $10 per day, which does not include in/privileges.
Las Vegas in June is hot, so dress for comfort. Wear light clothing and comfortable shoes—it’s easy to walk a few miles each day on the exhibit floor, not to mention outside the Convention Center. Think twice about carrying a huge purse, briefcase or backpack; it’s not unusual for exhibitors to offer bags for carrying things you’ll pick up as you walk the show floor.
There’ll be a lot to take in, so come prepared with an action plan detailing which exhibitors you wish to visit. But do take some time to browse exhibitors whose offerings may not directly appeal to your operational or management needs—you never know where your next big idea might come from.
“We want the Clean Show to be the place they can come and be confident that the experience, and what they can take home in new ideas and what they learned from all the various learning experiences available to improve their business, is truly worth the trip,” Riddle says.
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Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].