The world’s largest car wash convention and trade show drew more than 5,600 industry professionals to Chicago March 31 - April 1 for three days of education, networking and learning about new products and services.
The Car Wash Show™ 2014, presented by the International Carwash Association®, saw steady traffic among the 300+ exhibiting companies on the show floor, and more than 440 people took advantage of the one-day drive in pass.
But the real story, and the reason why the show moved out of Las Vegas for 2014 in the first place, is that 33 percent of show attendees were first-time attendees.
“The move to Chicago was to capitalize on a new market of attendees, and we saw that a third of this year’s attendees hadn’t been to the show before, effectively creating more opportunities for our exhibitors and spreading industry expertise and knowledge to attendees,” said CEO Eric Wulf.
The nearly 1,000 attendees who took advantage of the All Access Pass for Education and the Keynote were rewarded with business advice from Daymond John and Robert Herjavec from ABC’s hit series, Shark Tank.
Two lucky (or unlucky, depending on your view) industry professionals had the opportunity to present business ideas to the sharks to get feedback.
Jason Cox of Zep Vehicle Care and Andrew Jaffa of Carbux Car Washes braved the waters.
“How often do you get that kind of opportunity?” Cox said. “It was a lot of fun preparing and presenting to the sharks…it was even fun getting abused a bit on stage. But, the best part was the meet and greet afterward where I got to spend about 30 minutes with Robert’s marketing manager who gave me some real advice to develop my business.”
“What an honor to have the undivided attention of Daymond John and Robert Herjavec while pitching TaskBlaster in front of my peers,” Jaffa said. “This is a dream come true for any inventor, dreamer, thinker or basically anyone who has ever had an ‘aha!’ moment.”
This year, the Association also posthumously inducted Leo Rousseau, founder of Minit-Man Carwashes into the Car Wash Hall of Fame. See the special article in this issue of the magazine for more.
Rousseau was the father of the first real production line car wash. He developed the Minit Man system while supporting the war effort in World War II. One of the first to buy a Minit Man system was Paul Maranian who built the iconic Paul’s Auto Wash in Detroit, which is generally recognized as the first automatic car wash in the world.
Rousseau’s granddaughter, Cynthia Watson, was on hand to accept the award on his behalf, on what would have been Rousseau’s birthday.
And, in a moment full of pure joy for anyone who witnessed it, the ICA announced a special new award inspired by car washing’s biggest fan, Brian Campbell. See the video at carwash.org.
Campbell was diagnosed with Williams’ syndrome at just 6 months old and given a 10-year life expectancy. He is now 33 and has been attending The Car Wash Show since 1993, thanks to the generosity of a group of car wash owners who pay for his family’s travel expenses.
Beginning in 2015, ICA will award the Brian Campbell People’s Choice Booth Award to the exhibiting company deemed to have the best booth, as judged by attendee votes.
Attendees this year also had the chance to participate in Car Wash Tours, Networking Diners and saw the return of roundtable discussions. The show also featured a special 100 Years of Car Wash Celebration at the House of Blues
