More than 600 exhibitors will fill the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas when the expo floor at ISSA Show North America opens on Nov. 17.

For someone who manages cleaning in a hospital, or wants to win that work as a contractor, tracking down the companies that actually serve healthcare can eat up most of a day.

ISSA Healthcare plans to make that search a lot shorter. At this year’s show, which runs Nov. 16-19 with exhibits open Nov. 17-19, the division’s booth becomes a home base for the healthcare crowd. Sponsor talks, a scavenger hunt, a prize wheel and a networking event are all built into the week.

Linda Lybert, founder and executive director of the Healthcare Surfaces Institute, leads ISSA Healthcare. She pointed out that the show’s healthcare audience is a mix of people from healthcare facilities, building service contractors (BSCs) and manufacturers trying to reach that market.

“We decided that what we would do is our booth would become the hub,” Lybert said.

Talks first, then a hunt

Each ISSA Healthcare sponsor gets 15 minutes in the booth to speak on a topic or a product that healthcare professionals are looking for. From there, a scavenger hunt card sends participants out onto the floor to the sponsors’ own booths, including Contec and Virtual MGR.

The stops are hands-on. One might ask visitors to explain the differences between types of microfiber. Another might have them pick up a specific mop and clean a spot off the floor. Along the way, the card doubles as a map.

“It’ll help them find all the healthcare booths,” Lybert noted.

Participants circle back to the ISSA Healthcare booth throughout the show to spin a prize wheel. Books are among the prizes, including The Right Fit by Isaac Johnson II, a longtime healthcare support services executive and chair of the IEHA board of directors, and Women in Health by healthcare executive Diane L. Martin. A book by Scott Becker is also on the wheel.

Lybert admitted the booth will likely be loud. That’s by design.

“The goal is keep people moving in and out and it’ll be fun,” she said.

A Wednesday afternoon to meet peers

Once attendees have spent a couple of days working through the sponsor booths, the scavenger hunt group returns to ISSA Healthcare for a networking event on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 1:45 p.m.

“We’re going to have drinks and food and you have a chance to talk to people in our booth,” Lybert explained. Grand prizes close out the event.

Contractors get a healthcare game plan

Plenty of BSCs see healthcare as a growth market. Getting in is harder than it looks. Lybert said the sector is “completely different from any other vertical market,” and ISSA Healthcare built a workshop around that gap.

On Monday, Nov. 16, ISSA Healthcare hosts a strategic planning workshop open to BSCs only. A lineup of speakers walks contractors through who to contact inside a healthcare organization, what those buyers want, how to present a proposal and how to network their way in.

The session also asks some harder questions. Does the company have the staff to handle healthcare cleaning? Does the team understand infection prevention and the regulatory compliance that comes with it?

“By the time you walk out of that door, you will have the outline for a strategic plan for your business … to get into the healthcare market,” Lybert said.

The trouble with biofilm

“I’m in healthcare. I love to talk about bugs and germs,” Lybert shared.

That enthusiasm shows up in a panel called “Biofilm: Beyond Disinfection—Breaking Through the Protective Matrix in the Healthcare Environment,” set for Monday, Nov. 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Darrel Hicks and Nancy Schlossberg are among the industry experts on the panel, which covers why biofilm is so hard to deal with and what can be done about it.

Lybert was quick to add that the problem isn’t limited to hospitals. “It’s a challenge anywhere,” she said.

She noted that ISSA Healthcare has steadily added to its show programming over the years.

A closer look at HEHP

The booth is also the place to learn about the ISSA Healthcare Environmental Hygiene Professional Certification (HEHP), which ISSA launched in May. The three-tier program is delivered onsite at the healthcare facility through classroom instruction and hands-on practicums, with semiannual observational visits to keep skills from slipping.

“It’s for everybody,” Lybert said.

Some in the industry worried that BSCs would be left out of an in-hospital program. Lybert said that isn’t the case, because ISSA Healthcare is pairing contractors with the healthcare facilities they serve.

“We’re partnering them with healthcare facilities so they can do this,” she said.

Mindy Ryan, account executive for ISSA Healthcare, will be at the booth to talk with anyone interested in bringing the program to their team.

Registration for ISSA Show North America 2026 is open at issashow.com. Look for ISSA Healthcare at booth 2533.