A Difficult Decision and a New Direction for Mikey’s Fest

[Mikey P]

To the Mikey’s Board and Cleaning Industry Family,

For 20 years, Mikey’s Fest has been more than just an event to me—it’s been a reunion, a labor of love, and a way for us to give back to the Ronald McDonald House. However, after much prayer and reflection, I have made the difficult decision to cancel the upcoming Kansas City event.

The industry is changing, and I’ve realized that the current Mikey’s Fest model—trying to balance a massive charity clean with high-level technical education—isn't serving you the way it used to. To do both well in a single day has become nearly impossible. As I look at the future through The Cleaning Standard, I see a desperate need for a different kind of training. The "new blood" in our industry needs us to slow down. They need the kind of nitty-gritty, hands-on instruction that Jim Pemberton and I have seen work so well in our smaller, residential-based courses. You can’t teach at that depth while "powering through" a massive facility in six hours.

For those of you who were planning to join us for the education and networking, I want to strongly encourage you to redirect that energy toward The Cleaning Business Expo in Las Vegas. Damon has done a phenomenal job putting together an event that offers incredible value and a scale that our industry really needs right now. I have a lot of respect for what he’s building, and I’ll be there myself as a vendor for The Cleaning Standard and GreenGlides. If you were on the fence about where to spend your travel budget, that is the place to be.

While we won’t be gathering in Kansas City this time, my commitment to the Ronald McDonald House isn't over. I plan to transition those efforts to "Locals Only" charity cleans—quiet, focused work days where local teams can knock out the cleaning without the pressure of a full-scale convention.

This isn’t an ending, but a necessary pivot. I need to focus my energy on creating the next generation of training that truly helps your business grow and your skills sharpen. I want to thank Jim Pemberton, Sammy Sales at Steam Action, and all of you who have supported this event over the decades.

I’m looking forward to this next chapter and seeing you all in Vegas.

Blessings,

Mike

 

[BIG WOOD]

What type of curriculum is TCS (not ugly tm) education gonna do?

Is the goal of getting in technical schools still an option like I wanted a few years ago before you started this journey?
Or are you wanting to keep this type of education secluded at IICRC headquarters and major suppliers/dealers?

 

[Mikey P]

What type of curriculum is TCS (not ugly tm) education gonna do?

Is the goal of getting in technical schools still an option like I wanted a few years ago before you started this journey?
Or are you wanting to keep this type of education secluded at IICRC headquarters and major suppliers/dealers?

Start with how you'd like to see it Matt..

 

[BIG WOOD]

Start with how you'd like to see it Matt..

Well, if you’re wanting to get out of the bubble of a traditional 3 day class for 15 different types of classes, it needs to be a certification minimum of a 6 week class similar to a welder/osha class that my oldest son did

The first hill that’ll need to be overcome is finding the students from high school after graduation.

I suggest teaming up with a charitable organization like Goodwill. They offer discounted/grant classes that are 6 week classes. That’s how my son got his certification in welding/osha

There’s your source for marketing to the average kid who doesn’t want to go to a college or technical school

OSHA is a big need and since goodwill already has that incorporated, they can add that in to the TCS curriculum.

Once this program is successful, you can evolve into incorporating it to a technical college to be part of an associates degree and we can start seeing this industry the same as electrical or plumbing contractors, instead of what’s flooding it currently.

 

[BIG WOOD]

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[BIG WOOD]

Is IICRC willing to get out of their comfortable office chair and actually go shake some hands and make some new connections to make this work?

 

[BIG WOOD]

Well, if you’re wanting to get out of the bubble of a traditional 3 day class for 15 different types of classes, it needs to be a certification minimum of a 6 week class similar to a welder/osha class that my oldest son did

The first hill that’ll need to be overcome is finding the students from high school after graduation.

I suggest teaming up with a charitable organization like Goodwill. They offer discounted/grant classes that are 6 week classes. That’s how my son got his certification in welding/osha

There’s your source for marketing to the average kid who doesn’t want to go to a college or technical school

OSHA is a big need and since goodwill already has that incorporated, they can add that in to the TCS curriculum.

Once this program is successful, you can evolve into incorporating it to a technical college to be part of an associates degree and we can start seeing this industry the same as electrical or plumbing contractors, instead of what’s flooding it currently.

If you love the purpose of the charitable services that’s been offered at the Ronald MC Donald houses in the last decade, it can be transitioned over to goodwill. Tons of under privileged, low income young adults need this path, but don’t have the desire to take core college classes that are required at technical colleges.

Can some of the major players in this industry (Stanley, ZR, Legend, Servpro) $team$ up with goodwill for this curriculum? And get some older seasoned trainers still in this business to train since they have the equipment and real life experience?

 

[BIG WOOD]

Start with how you'd like to see it Matt..

Does all those responses answer your request to my view of it?

 

[Kenny Hayes]

Then Goodwill would not become Goodwill just like everything else. They'll try to lock it down like they do or did the jani business.

 

[BIG WOOD]

Then Goodwill would not become Goodwill just like everything else. They'll try to lock it down like they do or did the jani business.

I don’t understand what you’re opinion is?

 

[Charlie Lyman]

Damn, I finally decided to attend an event. Looks like I have an airfare credit now. Thankfully the hotel is refundable.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

I don’t understand what you’re opinion is?

They would get awarded large contracts based on who they were without going through the bidding process as usual. They received government contracts in return for employing handicap workers. All that sounds good and noble, or Goodwill, until it wasn't. They had the contract at Tinker, it went south. Same at FAA. I'm sure they fled that business. They do train and hire handicap workers and put them in places that fit them. They should stick to that.

 

[Dwain Ray]

Damn, I finally decided to attend an event. Looks like I have an airfare credit now. Thankfully the hotel is refundable.

To the Mikey’s Board and Cleaning Industry Family,

For 20 years, Mikey’s Fest has been more than just an event to me—it’s been a reunion, a labor of love, and a way for us to give back to the Ronald McDonald House. However, after much prayer and reflection, I have made the difficult decision to cancel the upcoming Kansas City event.

The industry is changing, and I’ve realized that the current Mikey’s Fest model—trying to balance a massive charity clean with high-level technical education—isn't serving you the way it used to. To do both well in a single day has become nearly impossible. As I look at the future through The Cleaning Standard, I see a desperate need for a different kind of training. The "new blood" in our industry needs us to slow down. They need the kind of nitty-gritty, hands-on instruction that Jim Pemberton and I have seen work so well in our smaller, residential-based courses. You can’t teach at that depth while "powering through" a massive facility in six hours.

For those of you who were planning to join us for the education and networking, I want to strongly encourage you to redirect that energy toward The Cleaning Business Expo in Las Vegas. Damon has done a phenomenal job putting together an event that offers incredible value and a scale that our industry really needs right now. I have a lot of respect for what he’s building, and I’ll be there myself as a vendor for The Cleaning Standard and GreenGlides. If you were on the fence about where to spend your travel budget, that is the place to be.

While we won’t be gathering in Kansas City this time, my commitment to the Ronald McDonald House isn't over. I plan to transition those efforts to "Locals Only" charity cleans—quiet, focused work days where local teams can knock out the cleaning without the pressure of a full-scale convention.

This isn’t an ending, but a necessary pivot. I need to focus my energy on creating the next generation of training that truly helps your business grow and your skills sharpen. I want to thank Jim Pemberton, Sammy Sales at Steam Action, and all of you who have supported this event over the decades.

I’m looking forward to this next chapter and seeing you all in Vegas.

Blessings,

Mike

Why does it have to be educational??? Why can't you just get together a bunch of like minded cleaners and bang out the cleaning and go relax,share stories over a beer and pizza or something??? Leave the classroom crap for times set aside for classroom crap? Helping in my world is just helping ya do it and go back to your own life i wanted to go to Mikey’s Fest in the bay area last summer. I wanted to go to help and for camaraderie. And i guarantee you i would've left for home long before class is in session. In 1986 i paid and sent my whole company to the Russian river for 5 weeks to volunteer and help uninsured (or under insured) flood victims. At the end i was begged to extend my stay and work for pay. That job landed me in small claims court to collect and all my memory pictures tarnished with evidence stickers on the back. Ill never forget the bit of advice given to me by one of the people we helped. (And testified on my behalf) He said when you show up be sure in your mind of what you are here to do if it's profit, thats ok make a fair profit and leave knowing that you did what you set out to do, same goes for charity. Do what you set out to do, or as much as you can do and leave knowing in you heart that you and your god knows you did it, mixing charity and business seldom leaves you with that warm fuzzy feeling you look for

 

[Mikey P]

Why can't you just get together a bunch of like minded cleaners and bang out the cleaning and go relax,share stories over a beer and pizza or something??

Ive done that exact thing for 20 years

Time for something new, for lots of reasons I'd rather not go into.

i wanted to go to Mikey’s Fest in the bay area last summer

That was not my event/fest, it was the bay area CFI chapter, which they do every year

 

[Dwain Ray]

Ive done that exact thing for 20 years

Time for something new, for lots of reasons I'd rather not go into.






That was not my event/fest, it was the bay area CFI chapter, which they do every year

I know how that is, i was the turkey challenge guy for 12 or so years and now not

 

[Living The Dream]

Mike’s Fest transformed my business, my procedures, my mindset, and honestly gave me the courage to leave my 6 figure+ job. We came together to deep clean a Ronald McDonald House, and I learned a lot in the facility, but the real magic happened after hours. I made friends for life. Like my buddy @Cleanworks and those conversations can’t be duplicated. It almost felt like a guilty pleasure. I showed up to serve, but I walked away with more than I gave.

 

[Mikey P]

Mike’s Fest transformed my business, my procedures, my mindset, and honestly gave me the courage to leave my 6 figure+ job. We came together to deep clean a Ronald McDonald House, and I learned a lot in the facility, but the real magic happened after hours. I made friends for life. Like my buddy @Cleanworks and those conversations can’t be duplicated. It almost felt like a guilty pleasure. I showed up to serve, but I walked away with more than I gave.

Almost every event had three to five people that would go home saying the same or soon thereafter...


Remember you coming to a phoenix is that the one and only or did you come to San Diego as well?