[A guest blog spot by ISS Tradeshow Sales Manager Danica Cullins.]

My husband, Bill, and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary in December. As Ive always enjoyed adrenaline-related activity, I was excited to receive a hot-air balloon ride as a gift. Even better, we were told we could remit the gift certificate in almost any state. A little tired of the Arizona landscape, we planned to balloon near Lake Tahoe, with Mountain High Balloons, just prior to the Inside Self-Storage Summer Expo in Reno-Tahoe, Nev., last week. 
 

My life has become a testament to the simple truth that you can meet a storage developer anywhere! Approximately 6,000 feet above Truckee, our pilot, Ray Shady, asked what made us decide to do our ride in that area. Im sure this is a routine question he asks of all passengers, but when I told him Id be in town for the whole the week producing the ISS Expo, his eyes lit up. As it turns out of course he has recently purchased land for the purpose of developing a storage facility. His story is special in that he spends winters in New Zealand and the facility will be in Fiji.

Yes, its possible there may be tickets sold for a boxing match between Teri and I to determine who gets to travel south and write a feature story on this project for ISS magazine! (OK, so it's not likely, but the daydream of visiting this island paradise did serve me well for a good 10 minutes!) 
 

Even more intriguing is Rays ground crewman, Jeremiah, and his wife have also been actively discussing a self-storage investment. So it happened that all three ballooning experts joined us several days later for the ISS Expo at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. They enjoyed the seminar program and felt grateful to have so many vendors in one place to answer their questions. 

All around, spirits were high in Reno. The class of our attendees was at its best, and vendors were pleased to have lengthy discussions with qualified buyers. That was the most important news I heard all week. The entire ISS team is committed to more of the same Feb. 5-8 in Las Vegas. We'll be at the Venetian Hotel and Sands Convention Center for this next show, the industry's largest yet. You don't want to miss it!