ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — The sun was shining on the East Coast, but attendance was still good for the 20th annual Northeast Regional Carwash Convention held at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City from Oct. 19-21.
About 1,200 attendees were anticipated, but around 1,320 actually showed. Julie Stanton, NRCC convention manager, told Professional Carwashing & Detailing, “The weather made us nervous. But everyone was able to break away and come to the show. Even on the last day we had a lot more people there than usual.”
One thing new to this year’s show were the MingleSticks provided by Mingle360. The sticks were portable devices worn around the neck that acted like electronic business cards. About the size of a matchbook, the device stored contact information and a headshot and was the hot new toy on the show floor. According to Stanton, they would like to have the MingleSticks at next year’s show too.
The Keynote Address by Fred Grauer during the Oct. 20 morning events addressed the effect of personal health on your business. Grauer, a partner in Whistle Clean Car Wash, Grauer Associates, Tortuga Racing Partners, and Executive Vice President for Micrologic Associates, is a cancer survivor and drew parallels between staying healthy physically, mentally and business wise. He also talked about the significance Henry Ford, the 22-year cycle of sunspots and the theory of Freakanomics.
Jeffrey Gheysens, vice president of the International Carwash Association (ICA), spoke at the Luncheon and ICA Address and Awards banquet where Ron Bosquet of Randy's Car Wash, Inc. and NRCC board member Walt Hartl and Tom Hoffman, Jr. of Hoffman’s Car Wash all won awards.
The show floor kept busy and bustling with a steady flow of demonstrations. A lot of the talk amongst the attendees seemed to be about how to keep costs down. “That was a big topic and everyone seemed very pleased with the information we offered," Stanton told PC&D. "The seminars were geared toward keeping costs down and increasing the bottomline and everyone was raving about them."
This was the last show to be held at the Borgata and next year’s will be held at the Trump Taj Mahal.
You can also visit the Professional Carwashing & Detailing twitter profile at http://twitter.com/carwashmagazine to see some pictures of the show.
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