SPREE has been a long awaited event for our company. Some of our clients [and hopefully future clients] attend the show every year and this year was close and convenient in LV. Four of us were supposed to travel to the show, but last minute the owner of the company had to travel to our factory in China and another coworker had too much going on at the office to miss two days. So they both canceled their flights and left me and BT to represent.
We left bright and early Tuesday morning and as soon as we landed we were off to the Paris hotel for the expo. Brian doesn’t mess around – he wanted in on the action immediately. Turns out we were a few hours early, so Brian took me to the hotel’s French Sports Bar. Convenient that nearly every TV was tuned into the golf channel for pre shows of The Masters. Brian hosts a sports radio show on the weekends [Real Golf Radio] and is more passionate about golf than anyone I have ever met. He actually attended the Masters and had to leave Vegas early to fly to Augusta – which left me in LV for 6 hours by myself…but more on that later.
After our lunch we hit the show. Zach’s family is really into shows and attend quite a few each year between aviation, spa, and fun center conventions. If you have never been to an expo before – then you would not know how exhausting they are. I know it sounds dumb, but you walk and walk and walk…all day long. We spent 6 hours exploring all the booths, meeting lots of nice and interesting people, testing out new products, and getting our free swag on.
Poor Brian spent a lot of time on the phone
Going Kardashian style at Panda Hats [this was technically a wolf]
[In the midst of making fun of these magic mineral bands…someone purchased one for me and forced me to wear it. We’ll see how it works out.]
In the afternoon we met up with one of our biggest clients, Zagg. They had three members of their staff at the show and we made the rounds with them the rest of the day. Brian basically distracted everyone while I took tons of forbidden pictures. After six hours at the show, the Zagg men took us out to an amazing dinner at the Wynn. [No pictures – I was busy stuffing my face with bread.] Those guys are a blast and we laughed until we almost burst into tears. I am sure the four men were hesitant to take me out for dinner and then to the tables in the casino later – but we all enjoyed ourselves and as predictable of me, things got mildly inappropriate. They were pleased a 25-year-old gal could keep up with a bunch of “old married men”. Their words, not mine.
Around midnight we finally checked into our hotel. It was a long day and I was grateful to have a stack of magazines and free wifi.
With all the prep for leaving, I missed my new favorite show! I am a huge fan of Smash – I can’t get enough.
We had planned to go to the show both days we were there, but we covered the entire show floor our first day. Brian’s flight was scheduled to leave around noon, so we had breakfast at Max Brenner at Caesars before he took off.
[Their cinnamon granola – divine]
[BT’s hot chocolate – love the Hug Mug!]
We grubbed on our food faster than we thought we would and I made Brian go to a few shops with me. Our last stop was Nike and we literally spent FOREVER in there looking for the perfect basketball shoe. He even made a friend.
Then he was gone. Off to Augusta to attend and interview at the Masters. I was a little jealous, and I don’t even enjoy golf! But my experiences with our clients lately [pretty much all golf related] have made me appreciate the sport more. Annnnnd fall in love with Rickie Fowler.
My flight didn’t leave until 6:15 pm – so that left me plenty of time to cruise around the Forum Shops and journey on over to Fashion Show Mall. [They have TOPSHOP there now, FYI!]
Overall, it was a great trip! The show was exciting and we did tons of networking. Not to mention it was 75-80 degrees and I got to wear sandalls for the first time in MONTHS! But seriously, I plan to attend a few more shows this year, and can’t wait to see what they have in store for us!