I am not one for economic forecasts but decided to pay $60 to attend a half day conference on the state of Las Vegas produced by the Chamber of Commerce. I was pleasantly surprised by the fast talking, smart, Jeremy Aguero from Applied Analysis. I did get a few hints from him about the real estate market. They are building lots of new homes, at least 5 new casinos and resorts, and of course THE RAIDERS ARE COMING!! There is also a huge influx of people coming for the lower taxes and new job market. Especially in the construction field! If you look good in a hard hat you have a good chance of getting a job. Most of the new folks are from California (like us!). I enjoyed his speech and did not fall asleep.
The next set of speakers included a panel of interesting men talking about Las Vegas and the “global stage.” Here is what I got out of this section of the program: Marc Badain, Team President of the Raiders, talked about what the heck Vegas is going to do with the new stadium and how they are going to “go for the Superbowl” in about 2025. Kurt Melien, President of Live Nation (which I found out is also part of Ticketmaster), is the “be-all-know-all” of all of the cool acts that come to Vegas; including the stars that want to do a RESIDENCY here (Brittany, JLo, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, etc.). He said that they all demand first class venues and that Vegas has them. They are only going to allow one or two big shows to perform in the new Raiders stadium because only a few acts will draw that huge of a crowd. I was not sure why Clint Overby was there but he gave a very interesting view of the Motorcross Speedway (?) and how they do hundreds of mixed use events there throughout the year. I was glad to know about the speedway and thought it was great that it was such a popular venue close to the strip.
I skipped the talk on the Next Frontier, but LOVED the keynote speaker Michelle Poler. She was right up my alley with her “Hello Fears” attitude. She actually did 100 days of scary things that freaked her out and made a career out of it. I don’t think I could even do one of her fearful things. Well, maybe I would dance by myself in front of thousands in the NYC Times Square, but I doubt it. She went on roller coasters, jumped out of an airplane, posed nude, and gave a speech at a TED talk. She was also cute and very inspirational. Worth the $60! Oh and of course we got tons of free “chachkis” at the trade show booths. You can collect pens, notepads, chargers, gizmos to open jars, candy, and free food.