Behind the scenes of Interclean part one: The show must go on

If you’ve been to Interclean Amsterdam, you’ll know just how big and exciting it all is; how much there is going on every moment and how many exhibitors there are waiting to greet visitors. But have you ever wondered how we bring it all together? Have you ever been curious about what goes on behind the scenes to create and organise such a unique and diverse show?

Why not put on a show every year?
We often hear the question ‘do you really only work on Interclean Amsterdam every two years?’ But, if you saw just how much dedication and effort it takes to create the largest professional cleaning show in the world, you’d know that two years almost isn’t enough time to get it all done.

That’s why, in this new series of blogs, we want to give you a sneak peek behind the scenes; to meet the people who make Interclean Amsterdam what it is and gain a greater understanding of the concept behind each show.

We also want to share your role because every single one of our visitors plays a vital part in bringing Interclean Amsterdam to life.

Meet the Interclean Amsterdam team
Let’s start with an introduction to the team. Our core consists of five people:

• Rob, our helicopter man, who keeps an eye on trends and changes in the market.
• Robert, who keeps an eye on the overall quality of the shows.
• Hilke, our brand marketer who often runs with a side-kick.
• Marjolijn and Yorien, our sales ladies.
• Renée, the one who makes sure that everything is perfectly arranged at the show floor.

Even though Interclean Amsterdam only takes place once every two years, the team gets straight back to work after each show ends. And this all begins with research into what worked well and what perhaps didn’t.

Once the results are in, we evaluate the feedback from our visitors and exhibitors. This step in the process is the key to maintaining the character of the exhibition and – crucially – giving everyone who attends the experience they expect.

Your feedback shapes every exhibition
Interclean Amsterdam is what it is because of the people it’s made for. It’s a show made for the cleaning industry, by the cleaning industry. By looking at the feedback we get, we establish what the industry wants and needs – identifying what we should improve on, what we should leave out, and what we should implement during the next edition of the show.

Industry information is the beating heart of Interclean Amsterdam. In other words, you are a vital part of our show! We value your feedback, ideas and suggestions. You should always feel welcome to share them with us via e-mail, or in person when you see us at other shows.

Keeping track of the trends
The other main ingredient of the show is industry knowledge. Interclean Amsterdam is at the forefront of the industry, driving technological change in professional cleaning. To achieve that, we keep track of all the latest trends – bringing together new ideas for developments in tech, methods for reducing our ecological footprint and the growing popularity of the shared economy.

With this input, we then start looking at how to shape the next exhibition. And that means working on the ideas that we think should earn a spot on the showroom floor. Good examples of this in recent shows are the Zero Waste and the Management & Mobility segments – they’ve both come out of a need to reflect their growing importance and popularity across the industry.

We also take into account the opportunities to include new business sectors and regions in which the industry can expand. This all helps to deliver our promise to drive the professional cleaning industry forward for everyone.

Shaping the cleaning show of the future
A critical element of planning Interclean Amsterdam is getting the concept right each time. And, to do this, we work closely with our exhibition committee to develop future plans for the show. The committee is made up of industry leaders from a range of sectors and countries, who advise us on any trends and developments we need to consider – offering new directions for the concept of each show.

Once the concept of our next show has taken shape, we move onto making it actually happen. Floorplans need to be designed, stands need to be sold, seminar speakers need to be found, visitors need to be briefed, and the interior of the halls need to be designed…

Each team member uses their specific skillset and expertise to get those jobs done. And, over the course of our two-year cycle delivers the high-quality shows you’ve grown accustomed to.

We’ll look at all of these elements and how they come together over the course of this series, giving you a true look behind the scenes of Interclean Amsterdam. Watch out for our next blog in the series where we’ll meet Rob and discover more about how he makes each show more special than the last.