The Big Expo

This past Monday through Thursday, I was downtown Dallas at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. You know, the one by the big lighted ball. JCPenney had a major Expo for all the 1,000+ store managers, and it was HUGE! There was also a concurrent meeting for the district managers, so needless to say, there were many people around. This event was a major undertaking, and many people were involved. I mainly had to walk a lot. From the room we were stationed in to the floor of the Expo, many footsteps were required to move between the two. Highlights include certain celebrities, some free swag, and models. Yes, fashion models. Young girls in skimpy clothing...

Speaking of celebrities, allow me to run through the list. I'll begin with Master Chef Martin Yan.
Mr. Yan has been cooking for decades. He has been on countless cooking shows, in countless countries, and has his show on PBS: Yan Can Cook, which has been on the air for nearly 20 years. His own shows/travelogues number over 2,000! He was promoting a new line of cookwear exclusive to JCPenney. And he was cooking. I was very surprised to meet him, and was even more surprised when I was able to eat some food prepared by him. Talk about dancing tastebuds! You can read all about him at his official website here: http://www.yancancook.com/

Next on the list were the fashion designers. First off is Michelle Bohbot, designer of Bisou-Bisou, which is distributed throughout the U.S.A. by JCPenney exclusively. Second is Nicole Miller, a very popular fashion designer, and Nick Graham, of Joe Boxer fame. They all were debuting their new collections to be sold at JCPenney. Also there was interior designer Chris Madden, an Oprah favorite. New to Penneys was Shaun Tomson, a world famous surfer who is debuting a new line of men's clothing. It was cool to talk with him. I wish I had his accent. Another highlight of the Expo was the Superman Returns booth. I'm still not quite sure what JCPenney has to do with the new movie; I think we are going to sell some children's clothing based on it. A replica of the new Superman suit was on display, along with several props used in the film, including some award trophies on display in the Daily Planet newsroom, plus several newspapers. The best part was the video clip they played, along with the sign posted below the monitor prohibiting the use of cameras at the display. Pretty cool. The movie looks to be a great rehash of the Christopher Reeve films. The actor portraying Superman is Brandon Routh, and they got him looking so much like Christopher Reeve, that I think this film is going to be a success. Plus, they've ingeniously cast Kevin Spacey as the bald Lex Luthor. This is going to be a huge summer blockbuster!
This all happened on Tuesday. Wednesday had 2 celebrities.

After the evening's dinner, two stand-up comedians performed. The opening act was Jon Manfrellotti, a regular guest on the hit show Everybody Loves Raymond. A little crass, but funny. The main attraction was none other than Raymond himself, Ray Romano! Getting back to his roots as a stand up comedian, he tore the house down. I was very lucky to get to hear 45 minutes of Ray Romano for FREE!!! He also brought a couple videos, one of which was a gag reel from his TV show. The other was a video he made several years ago when his twin sons were about 2. It basically shows the fun/terror of having twin boys. It was sweet, and very clever.

All in all, it was a huge success, and a boatload of fun. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them uploaded.

Oh, and by the way... MODELS!