Oregon Dry Cleaners Association

For those of you who missed convention, you missed a lot. Even though the goal this year was to relax a little more (we had a break from about 2pm until 5:30 on Sat. to enjoy a beach walk, nap, or whatever), when we did meet it was packed full of wonderful things.

I think a very beneficial part to the attendees was the presence of Nora Nealis, Executive Director of NCA (National Cleaners Association). She flew in from New York on Friday and spent the weekend with us. She made a dynamic presentation and her passion for the industry was very evident. NCA also extended a wonderful offer to all convention attendees. I hope everyone takes advantage of that offer. Everyone else should check out NCA, I believe they are a great fit for Oregon Dry Cleaners. You can go on their website nca- i.com and get all kinds of information including information on the webinars they are conducting. See the article in this newsletter about an NCA webinars.

Dick De Zeeuw from DEQ gave an in- depth update on the Oregon Drycleaning Program. He talked about where we are and where we need to go. Dick also shared what information they are tracking and will be using when they start auditing the fee side of the program.

Lisa Thornton, Covers Etc. gave us a presentation about pads. She shared the differences you find in pads, and how long a pad should last. Lisa also shared signs you look for if your pads need to be changed.

Allied Trade Members gave the attendees a thumbnail program on products and services they offer. They also generously donated several prizes for our drawings. I would personally like to thank each and every one of the following Allied Trade Members for their participation in 2005 ODCA Convention.
Adco – Phil & Linda Thorsteinson
Capitol City Door – Don & Missy Brown
Covers Etc. – Lisa Thornton
Dajisoft – Ali Khan
Imagine Cleaners Online – Leslie Kettenhofen
Peterson’s Equipment Company – Martin Peterson
Westport Supply – Alex Johnson & Collin Davis - Steve Carrow, the Oregon and Washington RR Street Chemical Representative drove all the way from Washington to attend Friday night's Presidents Reception. He was unable to stay for the rest of the weekend as he had a previous commitment, but it still gave us all time to visit with him, and ask questions.
Northwest Solvents (was not in attendance, but did donate a certificate to the attendees).

A big thanks to Jack Ellison, from Western Cleaner & Launderer who came and covered our convention this year.

I had the pleasure of Presenting the Tom Mosher Award to Karen Shinabery of Astoria Cleaners. Karen has been involved with the ODCA for 17 years as a District Director. She's involved with her own community, and during the years she's served on the board she's gone from employee to business owner. Karen's dedication to the industry and service to the organization have made her a valuable asset to the organization.

Saturday evening the keynote speaker was David Rabiner, CSP, of Rabiner Resources in Portland. He gave a very entertaining talk on How to Succeed, Stay Sane, and Have Fun at Work.

The staff at the Hallmark made everyone’s stays enjoyable. The food was wonderful and the service suburb. Of course the view was beautiful and relaxing. Thank you to everyone who attended.

National Cleaners Association (NCA) is offering an opportunity to everyone– Webinars. What is a webinar you ask? I took the opportunity on Wed. Oct. 26, 3pm (our time) to find out. The name of the webinar was “Out! Out! Darn Spot presented by Alan Speilvogel, a teacher at the New York Drycleaning Academy and the chief analysis for NCA. To register I went on the NCA website nca-i.com and clicked on the link, it was easy to fill out the registration form and I received an email back with the instructions on how to participate. If you are a first time user you click on a link and it will test your compatibility. (I had a web host that was not compatible and received very clear instructions on what to do). There is a toll free number you dial and a code you enter which I did 10 minutes before 3pm. Because I was doing both the phone and internet I logged on at the same time. The phones are un- muted so you can say hi to others or just listen as others log on. There were attendees from all over; Ohio, Chicago, the Cayman Islands, etc. Promptly at 3pm the phones were muted and the webinar began. Nora Neilis, the Executive Director of NCA started the presentation by polling the attendees. The results showed instantly on my computer screen. Nora then made the introduction of Alan and Alan started his presentation. The first portion was about different tools you use, stains you encounter and a whole lot of great stuff. As I was listening to Alan on the phone I was following his presentation on the computer. He did a really nice PowerPoint presentation that was very clear. Then came the really exciting part – through a media player we were able to watch the actual stain removal live. There were a total of 5 stains we watched being removed, after each stain removal it was followed up with a recap via the PowerPoint presentation and Alan on the phone going over each step he did. If you had registered early enough (I did not) you would have received the stain swatches prior to the webinar. I received mine a few days later. Just a quick side note – you can after removing the stains on the swatches send them back to NCA and receive their stain removal certificate for framing. The whole presentation was about 1 hr. and 45 minutes. After the presentation everyone had an opportunity to ask questions, you could also at anytime during the webinar email a question. If that is not enough, within a few days you receive the whole presentation on CD in the mail for future reference or to share with your staff. You must be thinking that all of the above cost me over $300.00, not even close! Try $69.00

My hat is off to NCA for offering such a wonderful opportunity for everyone to access the leaders of our industry in such an innovative way. I encourage you all to log on to the NCA website, watch for the upcoming webinars and take advantage of something that will benefit your business many times over. You can also purchase past webinars.

HSIA - A new epidemiology study finds that the incidence of several important cancer types among drycleaning workers in the Nordic countries does not appear to be related to exposure to the solvent perchloroethylene (PERC). The study was specifically designed to overcome the limitations of earlier work and represents an important addition to the scientific literature on the solvent. Read on.....

Origami Shirt folded from a one dollar bill. For those of you who didn't quite get this at convention. Great instructions and pictures. We didn't try this at convention, but here's a Bow Tie too....

T-Shirt Folding Video