Wow…do I have a lot to say today! If you logged on yesterday, you saw that we didn’t post. I’m so sorry! But we were super busy getting ready for the Epremier Women’s Expo happening all weekend at the Long Beach Convention Center… or at least we thought it was happening!

Let me start at the beginning…at a bridal show in April, I met a woman named Randi Natashi who approached me about participating in a women’s show (open to the public) that would be sponsored by BravoTV and Revlon. This would be their 3rd annual show and the event was expected to bring in 40,000 people. Because I care very much about the image of Little Designer Book and other businesses I represent, I didn’t say “yes” right away. Instead I went online to do some research about the event and of course, started following them on twitter… It appeared that Bravo would have some of it’s personalities attending the event and they were actively talking about it. Gretchen Rossi of the Real Housewives of OC, Patti Stanger of the Millionaire Matchmaker and Julie Hadden of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” were said to be making an appearance in addition to other well-known faces like Steve Harvey and bestselling author Dr. John Gray.

As a matter of fact, I’m holding in my hand a copy of the “show guide” which was printed approximately 6 weeks ago. It is an 8 1/2″  x 11″ 20-page booklet in full-color that is choc full of the bios of 25 well-known speakers, descriptions of four workshops, and a list of dancers and musical bands that would make up the “main-stage events”. What a great event, right? Except that…no one came.

With the exception of Gretchen Rossi who was there to reveal some pieces of her new make-up line (set to launch in 2010), there were no other familiar faces to be seen. I want to mention, however, that the quality of the exhibitors was exceptional! I’ve been to many trade shows of this size and these were some of the best exhibitors I’ve seen in one place. Businesses from Florida, Ohio, Vegas and other parts of the country, flew into Los Angeles to take part in this expo. Well known names like Shiela Kelly’s S-Factor, Waddell & Reed, Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery Physicians and Canyon Beachwear were there with fantastic products and services to sell.

So, what happened? Very little effort was put forth to get people through the door. The $30.00 fee to get in might have had something to do with that. And a few OC newspaper articles won’t do the trick to draw a crowd of that size. But even after Friday, when the decision was made to make admission FREE to everyone, there still wasn’t a line forming to get in. Here is a link to sponsorship information for the event where 35,000 in attendance was promised along with a fashion show, workshops and speakers…none of which took place.

Turns out, the event was NOT sponsored by BravoTV, Revlon, NBC, CNN or the other large companies that were mentioned in conjunction with this expo over the last several months. If your business is ever approached by Epremier or Randi Natashi and her team in the future, I would strongly caution you about paying her for any of the services she may promise.

And…a great lesson on choosing trade shows. For 40,000 people…they better have an outdoor board on Sunset Blvd. before I sign on the dotted-line!