Ah, “love” … The word that can mean anything from “Those shoes are amazing” and “That’s the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten” to “I would take a bullet for you” and “I feel one with the universe.” We love everything from our cell phones and cars to puppies and our moms. It’s a wonderfully diverse term of expression.

Saturday is Valentine’s Day, a celebration folks seem either to embrace with delight or abhor with vehemence. But whatever your stance on the holiday, the Inside Self-Storage World Expo is giving you two things to love this weekend: a final opportunity to cash in on early-bird registration discounts for the upcoming event in Las Vegas, April 6-9, and a chance to win a free trip to the show that includes airfare, hotel and more. I mean, who doesn’t love a great deal and free stuff?

Because we love our audience, the ISS Expo early-bird registration deadline has been extended to Feb. 16. This will be your final chance to save $275 on the Premium Package, $150 on the Education Package, $50 on the Expo-Only Package, and $150 on each of six add-on workshops. This deadline won’t be extended further, so if you’re planning to attend the show, take some of that cash you were planning to spend on flowers and champagne and sign up now.

Or perhaps you’d rather attend the show for free? You’ve got one to three minutes to tell us why, and it could happen!

Self-storage managers and owner-operators are invited to participate in our Self-Storage Talk (SST) “Loving Las Vegas” video challenge, in which one lucky winner will receive roundtrip airfare to Las Vegas, three nights at the Paris Hotel & Resort, a Premium Education Package to the expo, and a Total Self-Storage Solutions 2015 DVD package containing copies of all 45 of the show’s concurrent-education seminars. Sponsored by Chateau Products Inc., this prize package is valued at approximately $2,400. Now there’s something to love!

What do you have to do to win? Simply record a one- to three-minute video answering the statement, “Why you should send ME to the ISS Expo this year!” We encourage you to be creative in your response—sing a song, do a dramatic interpretation, read a poem … or just tell it straight. So long as it’s tasteful and violates no copyright laws, we’ll hear your case. The contest is open to U.S.-based operators who are also members of SST. Forum membership is free, and new members are eligible to win.

You have until noon Pacific Time on March 2 to submit your entry. You can e-mail it to [email protected] or, if the video is larger than 10MB, send it through our content-upload system. Please include your name, your SST username, and your facility name and location. The winner will be selected by ISS editorial staff (including yours truly) and announced on March 9. Complete details can be viewed at www.selfstoragetalk.com/contest.

So there you have it … Two things to love about the upcoming ISS Expo: discounts and the chance to win a free trip to Vegas. Whatever your plans for Valentine’s Day weekendskywriting your sweetheart’s name across the heavens, creating a Build-A-Bear, overdosing on chocolate-covered Doritos—make time to take advantage of these rewarding opportunities.

Do any of you have a contest video already in the works? Are you planning to enter the challenge? I’d love to hear a spoiler from some of our SST members. If you’re too shy to record a video yourself, perhaps you have a great concept to share with your fellow operators. Feel free to post it in the comments section below or in the contest thread linked above.