It's 10:00 AM Las Vegas time.
The ICSC Spring Convention 2007 is officially off and running. Sunday is historically a slow day as the Trade Expo only draws a portion of the attendance that the Leasing Mall does. The action will begin in earnest tonight during the cocktail party circuit, which only seems to get more crowded every year. It will be interesting, however, to see if the addition of the Public Sector Showcase to the Trade Expo will generate some added Sunday traffic.
As for me, the convention got off to a really early start--like at 7:30 A.M. Saturday morning. Running my picture on this blog as well as in the magazine itself I guess has made me a bit more recognizable. At JFK airport in New York I had my first useful conversation of the convention, chatting with New York-based architect Frankie Campione with CREATE Architecture Planning & Design. We talked for a few moments waiting to buy some Starbucks. Campione talked about CREATE's projects with PREIT, Developers Diversified Realty Corp. and new client Tanger Outlet Centers. Meanwhile, I mentioned the changes to our upcoming SADI awards.
Of course the plane itself seemed to be half-filled with retail real estate professionals. Someone was wearing a Original SoupMan shirt--a growing concept based on the real-life Soup Nazi made famous in an episode of Seinfeld. I believe this will be the hain's first time at the Spring Convention. Word is they will be handing out free samples at their booth. So convention-goers can add that as a stop when picking up the other various free samples usually doled out in the Leasing Mall.