The second day of the Clean Buildings Expo took the momentum of a lively first day and leveraged it into a proper conclusion to an event created to reinvigorate and educate a hardworking industry.

Big names led sessions based on even grander topics. An ever increasing desire for improved business advice was fulfilled by talks centered around buzz words like "sustainability," "electrostatic," "trends," "pandemic" and "infection control."

Heidi Wilcox, owner of WILCOX EVS Solutions, Haverhill, Massachusetts, built off sustainability talks anchored Tuesday by Stephen Ashkin, president of The Ashkin Group, Channel Islands Harbor, California and Ben Walker, director of Business Development at Managemen, Salt Lake City, with a presentation on nanotechnology, electrostatic technology and other advanced technologies. Wilcox, who describes herself as "some science chick" who entered the industry some 20 years ago, educated session attendees by confirming or dismissing information marketers often share about these technologies, an important lesson considering only a fraction of attendees confirmed they use nanotechnology or electrostatic cleaning tools. Wilcox also talked about what sanitizing and disinfection actually means and gave advice on the best ways to carry out those tasks.

Mark Warner, ISSA's CMI education manager discussed trends in the hardwood floor market, specifically those related to stone, ceramic, and concrete flooring. One attendee of the event especially enjoyed Warner's discussion of high-build coatings on concrete and says he hopes to use some of the knowledge gained to improve his business.

Out on the expo floor, Dan Weltin, editor in chief of Contracting Profits and Corinne Zudonyi, editor in chief of Facility Cleaning Decisions and CleanLink.com, continued to host "Clean Talks" with some of the top speakers at Clean Buildings Expo. One of the speakers, Darrel Hicks, director of environmental services at the Green Cleaning Institute, Plainfield, Illinois, talked about the serious issue of infection prevention. While C.diff and MRSA are often associated with healthcare, Hicks says they're much more than hospital acquired infections and should be also viewed as community acquired infections.

"Not everyone with C.diff is in the hospital," says Hicks.

Once again, visitors packed the session rooms and the expo floor. Thanks to all of our sponsors, exhibitors and attendees. Mark your calendar for next year's Clean Building Expo, March 17-18 in Baltimore.