John Roser, a self-storage manager and regular cartoon-contributor to Inside Self-Storage magazine, dropped me a line a couple weeks back. He's a clever guy, so it didn't surprise me that he had another great idea. It was such a good one, we put it in motion almost immediately.

John also happens to be a regular participant of Self-Storage Talk, our popular online forum for anyone in the industry to meet others, share thoughts, ask for suggestions to problems and exchange war stories. Since its launch earlier in the year, it has grown from a handful of folks to thousands of members, including people from all walks of self-storage life: owners, operators, managers, investors, lenders, insurers, builders, developers, consultants, aficionados and wannabes.

Knowing the Inside Self-Storage World Expo is just around the corner (Jan. 26-29 in Las Vegas), John suggested we set aside a time and place for Self-Storage Talk members to meet and put a name to the face, so to speak. And so the ISS Expo tradeshow department got the gears going and viola! a press release is now posted and making its way through all types of public relations/media channels: Self-Storage Talk Member Lounge Added to ISS Expo.

On Jan. 27 and 28, forum members can mingle in booth #1012 of the tradeshow floor, Sand Expo Hall C, at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas. The first 50 forum members to visit the lounge on Jan. 28, starting at 9 a.m., will receive a free gift.

We'll all be there ... will you? Hopefully John will be there, too, because I like to give credit when credit is due.

If you're not a current member of Self-Storage Talk, click on now and learn what all the chatter's about. Then book your trip for the conference and set aside morning time to meet your new friends.

The ISS Expo includes four days of educational seminars, networking opportunities, exhibits and more. For details and to register, visit http://www.insideselfstorageworldexpo.com/.