CHICAGO — More than 47% of the coin laundry owners and operators polled in this quarter’s American Coin-Op Your Views survey say they plan to attend the June 20-23 Clean Show in New Orleans.
Roughly 26% have decided that they will not attend the biennial trade show, and the remaining 26.4% were unsure at the time of the unscientific survey.
Whether attending or not, 52.8% say the biggest factor in favor of visiting New Orleans is all that it has to offer: exhibits of equipment, systems and supplies; educational sessions; networking and socializing; and combining business and pleasure.
Nearly 34% say the biggest draw to attend the Clean Show is the exhibits (at present, 421 companies have reserved booth space). About 8% say that combining business and pleasure is the biggest factor, while the remaining 5.7% say it’s networking and socializing. No one who took the survey picked the educational sessions alone as the primary attraction.
There will be 30 hours of educational programming during Clean and the Coin Laundry Association is sponsoring several sessions. Among them, the topic generating the most interest among survey respondents (69.2%) is Laundromat Lifecycles: Planning for the Future. In second is Wash-Dry-Fold 2.0: What’s Next for Full-Service Laundry? (53.9%) and running third is Due Diligence: Preparing to Buy (or Sell) Your Next Laundromat (50%).
Other sessions garnering some healthy pre-show buzz, based on the survey results, are Laundries Connecting Communities (32.7%) and CLA Connect LIVE: Interactive Idea Exchange (30.8%).
Besides the association-sponsored sessions, there will be several “general sessions” during Clean. Survey respondents are most interested in Social Media Marketing & Measurement (74%), Helpful Business Apps (58%), Competing in Tough Job Market – Importance of Screening & Training (38%) and Tips for Entering the Commercial Laundry Industry (36%).
Store owners and operators who’ve attended the Clean Show were asked, “If you had one tip to share with a first-timer, what would it be?” Here are some of the responses:
- “Be prepared to walk all day, and plan for more time on the floor than you think.”
- “Clean brings together the great variety of equipment displays, vendors, owners, distributors, and potential investors. It’s worth the trip and the time.”
- “Plan your day. If you don’t, you will miss a lot of things you want to see.”
- “Attending is motivational. It’s a great time to meet other owners in a neutral setting.”
- “Take time to learn about new products. The industry is rapidly changing and owners can no longer assume they ‘know it all’ and new ideas won’t work.”
- “Prepare ahead of time for what areas you particularly want to focus on, otherwise, the amount of exhibitors and activity will confuse you.”
- “Come open-minded.”
- “Make good use of the training sessions. There is so much to learn.”
- “Plan on attending at least two days. We always go back day two or three and are amazed how much we missed on our first time through.”
American Coin-Op’s Your Views survey presents an unscientific snapshot of the trade audience’s viewpoints at a particular moment. Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Subscribers to American Coin-Op e-mails are invited to participate anonymously in an industry survey each quarter. The entire American Coin-Op audience is encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define owner/operator opinions and industry trends.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].