Day Three: Kick Off Your Shoes and Stay Awhile

Day Three of ICSC means lighter traffic. Most of our meetings were on Monday and Tuesday, and I think the rest of the show kind of runs on that same kind of schedule. One thing is for certain – the massage chairs are VERY popular today. This show really takes it out of you, especially if you have to go to meetings all over the exhibit halls.

I’ve noticed a lot more flats out there than heels as well, and I was complimented on my choice of "comfortable" footwear yesterday by a girl from a Fro-Yo concept (I wore these euro-style Clarks I have). The show ends today in a couple hours, and I think all of our fellow exhibitors are just about ready to start packing up. You can hear the packing tape starting to be unfurled and the thud of equipment and furniture being folded and packed. You’re not really supposed to start breaking down your booths until 2 p.m., but often we’ll drag some of our chairs that aren’t being used into one of our conference rooms and start taking the legs off and doing things like that that can go unnoticed by passersby but help you get packed up faster.

Las Vegas has been hot as usual this week. Three years ago we got lucky and were blessed with pretty mild weather (high 70s and low 80s). It was very pleasant. I am dreading when the AC gets shut off and the freight doors are opened – it will get in the 90s in here in a hurry. However, the monorail was much easier to ride today and much more pleasant than packing in like sheaves in a shock (you thought I was going to go with sardines there, didn’t ya?).

I thought I might tell you a little bit about our technology that I referenced in an earlier entry. We have touchscreens positioned next to the podiums at our booths that allow attendees to look at info, videos, and even twitter feeds about Oklahoma City. When not being used, they flash pretty OKC pictures along with retail-specific “accolades,” like “Lowest Unemployment Rate in the U.S.” and such.

We also have a custom-built GIS-based application that displays maps and demographic and business info that we can use during our meetings. The app also generates reports that we can then load on a flash drive and give to the people we’re meeting with. It’s a good way to supply info and doesn’t burden them with even more paper.

Here in a couple hours we will begin bringing down the booth city that took three days to set up. It largely comes down in about 8 hours (hopefully, depending on how fast the convention center employees return your empty cartons). It is pretty amazing, and classic tradeshow.