This is the second time I have worked the ConExpo trade show in Las Vegas. It happens every three years and it’s a massive undertaking. The planning, expertise and number of people it takes to present our company and create meaningful customer experiences at the show is staggering. Needless to say the people I worked with are now my very good friends.

To create a little excitement, we built a complete three story building from scratch in just six days (see the photos in the gallery above). One of the more friendly industry publications hosted a “Shrimp Boil” at the end of the first day of the show. The shrimp was delicious, but really just an appetizer. We then went back to The Mirage, met more friends and shared a fabulous meal at FIN (see the cool group photo in the gallery above).

But hey, I think I’m getting ahead of myself. The night before, we held a kickoff dinner for the team. The highlights of the evening were appearances by Mike Rowe (details here) and the world dominating Terex All Star Band (completing the last leg of a globe spanning, three show tour that began in 2006 at the Genie ARA Superbowl Party). They rocked the house down to the ground. Later on, we found ourselves at The Beatles REVOLUTION Lounge.

Lionel Richie performed at our customer appreciation party. He was absolutely amazing; so was the party. Before and after Lionel Richie, my friend Marianne arranged for Splash to perform in the round on a stage in the exact middle of the ballroom. Splash was a favorite three years ago at the last ConExpo customer party where Huey Lewis was the headliner.

As you might imagine, the push to get to a show like ConExpo is long and arduous. My friend John, who made many significant contributions to our success reserved Friday night after the bulk of our work was done to celebrate our accomplishments. We had a fabulous dinner at Boa overlooking the strip. There isn’t a finer, more brilliant host than John. He also happens to be a terrific production partner. John and his team were, among many other things, responsible for assembling the three story building in our booth in just six days. Yeah, six days. Then after the show they took it down and the space was returned to its everyday use as a convention center parking lot.

But wait, there’s more!

The evening after the trade show closed, Christian (fourth from the left above) hosted a meal for us at the Hofbrau House.

I met Rene at the Hofbrau House and he invited me to go with his group to Jet to close out the evening. I popped in for a bit and was surprised to find out that Bow Wow was celebrating his 21st birthday at the club with Snoop Dogg in attendance. Pretty cool way to cap off an amazing week. Thanks Rene!