Touch-up

As the 2006 International Carwash Association (ICA) Car Care World expo fast approaches, carwash and car-care business owners and operators are anxious to hear about the impending events planned for this year s show.

Professional Carwashing & Detailing^® magazine caught up with ICA Executive Director Mark Thorsby to get an insider s perspective on the can t-miss opportunities at this year s expo.

Professional Carwashing & Detailing^®: What sort of attendance can attendees expect for 2006?
Mark Thorsby: Eleven thousand attendees and 400 exhibitors will fill up 160,000-square-feet of net exhibit space this year. It ll be about same size as last year, and we re excited to see that we ll be matching, perhaps beating, that attendance.

PC&D: You ve announced that NBC Today s Phil Lempert and Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko s, will be your guest speakers. What can you tell us about them?
MT: We re very excited to be having both of these distinguished speakers. Phil Lempert is the consumer trend tracker expert for NBC s Today show.

Paul Orfalea s business is not dissimilar from retail carwash operations  but what s really interesting about him is that he also suffers from dyslexia.

I think it s ironic that someone afflicted with dyslexia started a business about printing, and I think he ll be an enlightening speaker.

PC&D: What motivated the expo s move back to Las Vegas?
MT: Our strategy since the late 1990s has been to alternate the location of the show; two years in Las Vegas and then one year in a site other than Las Vegas. We know that our attendance increases between 20-25 percent when we re in Las Vegas, so we re expecting a pretty big show this year.

PC&D: What can attendees expect from the 2006 World Car Care expo?
MT: As usual, we ll have a great line-up of workshops in the morning, and then, of course, in the afternoon, a trade show of four and a half acres of exhibits and trade show space.