Day One: A Little Okie Hospitality

Day One is here and ICSC is officially in full swing. You can tell when this show begins because the monorail goes from a few folks in shorts leisurely riding around sipping souvenir half-yards of who-knows-what to absolutely bulging with businesspeople in wool suits and their various satchels and purses. Inside it’s like a Roman bus during rush hour (except with slightly less groping from strangers). Attendees at this show are fully suited and booted in their best professional attire, even given the crowds and Vegas heat. It’s quite a sight.

Our first round of meetings went well. We’ve met with folks from Von Maur, General Growth, Horizon, a dine-in movie theater concept, and have meetings later today with REI and Cabela’s. Though often deals are actually done at the show, typically they are a result of meeting year after year, making your case and building relationships. For instance, this is the 4th year we’ve met with REI. Eventually that ship may come in.

Mayor Cornett hosted a lunch today at our booth for our local delegation as well as any contacts they may have made in town. About 50 people attended, and the place was hopping. We also even conducted an impromptu meeting with a valuable potential service provider. I always say, nothing helps consummate a business relationship like barbecue. Actually, I don’t always say that, but I might start. The way things went today, it certainly seems a propos.

I thought I would show a few photos of the booth and discuss our décor a bit. We try to go really image-heavy with our graphics. Lots of pretty pictures. We want people to associate “Oklahoma City” with great shots of some of our unique community amenities and quality of life offerings: Myriad Gardens, Bricktown Canal, the Boathouse District, Skydance Bridge, and our fantastic new skyline. And of course the Thunder. We’ve got these cardboard cutouts of K.D. and Rumble that attract attention. People do enjoy the taking of photos with the cardboard cutouts – mostly polite ones, at that (we still get the occasional salty Seattleite by).