Location: Sani-Bright Carpet Cleaning, Indianapolis, Indiana
Dates: November 5-6, 2026
IICRC Continuing Education: 14 credit hours
Early Bird Pricing: Before September 30th
$995 - 1st person
$745 - 2nd person
$600 - each additional person
Late Bird Pricing:
$1,250 - 1st person
$1,000 - 2nd person
$850 - each additional person
Combo:
If you do the Dye Strip and Rug-A-Palooza, take $250 per person off your Rug-A-Palooza ticket.
Non-Members:
$1,750 to attend. No discount for early registration or multiple attendees unless they sign up for membership.
Knowledge is a powerful thing, and there is a lot of history in rugs and rug cleaners. Spend the day listening to our excellent speakers: Ellen Amirkhan, Randy Hyde and Robert Mann.
We’ll split into groups to rotate from hands-on demonstration station to station. Stations will include rug check-in procedures, peroxide use on urine stains, tufted rug washing techniques, post-cleaning treatments and more!
There is no better way to learn something new in rug cleaning than getting your boots wet! We will have until early afternoon to be on Sani-Bright's wash floor. Join your fellow rug cleaners for a fun day of dusting, washing and treating rugs!
Lunch, drinks and snacks are included each day!
The Tallison Hotel, a Tribute Portfolio
10210 Pennsylvania Pkwy
Carmel, IN 46280
317-663-5530
Room Rate: $149 + Tax
Breakfast and WiFi included
Ellen Amirkhan
You Can’t Learn Rug ID, Valuation and Photography on Facebook!
The impetus for this lecture stems from Ellen’s frustration with rug questions and answers on Facebook that drive her crazy and her complete inability for the past 30+ years to teach rug photography. There will be questions posed for the audience to weigh in on. In addition, she is also perplexed over some person’s random definitions of “antique, vintage, collector, decorative, reproduction and modern/contemporary rugs found in a quarterly rug magazine.” Ellen thinks you will find it thought provoking and may stimulate personal, quiet reflection.
Ellen Amirkhan's Bio
Since 1980, Ellen Amirkhan has served as president of Oriental Rug Cleaning Co. in Dallas, Texas, a business started by her grandfather in 1911 that specializes in cleaning, repairing, appraising and selling oriental rugs. A Past President of Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration, Ellen holds the designations of Certified Rug Specialist and ISA CAPP. She is a co-developer of the Master Rug Cleaner Program, co-author of A Comprehensive Guide to Oriental and Specialty Rug Cleaning and the video series Unraveling the Riddle of Rug Identification, and serves as an expert witness for the legal profession.
Randy Hyde
Fast Fashion Underfoot; Cleaning the Latest Trends
Rugs don’t look like they did 30 years ago, and many are not made the same way either. Changes in materials and structure require changes in cleaning process. Randy Hyde and Robert Mann will discuss the challenges of cleaning the latest fashions in area rugs.
Short presentation followed by slides and lots of audience participation.
Randy Hyde's Bio
Randy Hyde is the owner of Renaissance Rug Cleaning, Inc., which he founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1999. He began his career with Atiyeh Brothers in the late 1980s before joining renowned rug dealer, author and tribal rug expert James Opie in 1996, where he managed the wash plant and worked in rug sales.
In 1999, Randy established Renaissance Rug Cleaning. Today, the company provides specialized cleaning and restoration services for many of Portland's leading rug dealers, collectors, designers and homeowners.
Randy served on the Association of Rug Care Specialists (ARCS) Board of Directors from 2015 to 2016 and as ARCS President from 2016 to 2018. Throughout his career, Randy has traveled to major rug-producing regions, including Turkey, Iran, Nepal and Afghanistan.
Robert Mann
Fast Fashion Underfoot; Cleaning the Latest Trends
Rugs don’t look like they did 30 years ago, and many are not made the same way either. Changes in materials and structure require changes in cleaning process. Randy Hyde and Robert Mann will discuss the challenges of cleaning the latest fashions in area rugs.
Short presentation followed by slides and lots of audience participation.
Robert Mann's Bio
In February 1978 I began a career in the rug business as an apprentice to an Iranian man named Hamid Sharifzadeh. I had travelled extensively in rug-producing countries and somehow it all made sense.
Working for rug shops and dealers I did basic repairs. When rugs were too dirty to work on, I would clean them in the bathtub or out in the driveway.
In January 1982 I opened a small wash plant in Denver and hired two employees. Time went by, the business grew, we hired more people and very slowly we began to figure out what we were doing.
Our present location is a 24,000-square-foot building housing a wash plant and restoration facility. We offer a range of services, repairs, restoration, mounting, appraisal and expert consultation. We buy and sell antique rugs and textiles.
Clients include private individuals, dealers and institutions. The work ranges from cleaning residential rugs to large-scale grant-funded projects for major museums. We offer restoration services at our Denver facility and at our partner workshop, Antique Textile Conservation, in Izmir, Turkey.
Working worldwide, we provide technical and production design assistance to producers of new hand-made carpets in nearly all the major rug-producing countries. Working with different people in the greater “rug universe” has been the key to building my business as it is today. I have had good teachers and continue to learn every day.