(Filed Under wholesale Costume News). Organizers of the Halloween & Party Expo (HalloweenPartyExpo.com) say that exhibitors who want their time in the spotlight should sign up now for the Halloween Costume Style Show, scheduled from 5:30pm to 7pm on Saturday, January 23, 2011.

According to organizers, slots are going fast for the runway presentation, “which highlights 100 of the hottest and newest costumes in the industry during a professionally choreographed and produced multimedia performance,” and takes place during the Halloween & Party Expo, scheduled next year from January 22 through 25 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. 30 models and dancers from Houston and Las Vegas will walk the runway.

Rich Weber of Lenz Talent, who produced the 2010 Halloween Costume Style Show, will also produce next year’s show. Although H&P Expo organizers said last year’s presentation was well received, Weber said he expects an even larger crowd at the upcoming event and a production that rivals last year’s, which featured multimedia including fog, theater-quality sound and video close-ups of costumes projected on nine-foot screens.

“As the show closes, I watch the audience and am thrilled to see the common response: audience members looking at each other and saying ‘wow!’” Weber said. “The multimedia is some of the best I have seen in my 30 years of producing shows of this type.”

The show will once again work with underprivileged children through nonprofit Dance Houston, who will perform for the second consecutive year.

The H&P Expo’s Halloween Costume Style Show annually draws thousands of buyers and owners from specialty stores, retail chains, buying groups and major nonprofits, according to organizers.

In other news, organizers have announced that Bob Negen, a professional retail trainer, author and speaker will give the show’s keynote address, titled “The Foot Traffic Formula: How to Keep the Doors Swingin’ and the Register Ringin’.”

Negen’s talk will kick off the tradeshow: it will be held from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on January 22; right before the show floor opens at 11 a.m. H&P Expo organizers reported that he has a decade of experience teaching store owners and managers how to run successful businesses.

“We guarantee the audience will leave the keynote and enter the show fired up about their retail stores. It’s what we want this show to be about,” Jonathan Erwin of the H&P Expo, said. “I have heard Bob speak at the number of occasions at high-profile conferences, and he provides not only motivation, but practical, to-the-point information that stores need to bring people in the door, service them better and make more money.”

Topics Negen will cover include generating tons of foot traffic without spending a fortune on advertising; ensuring customers leave raving about their experience; getting local nonprofits to send members and support to your store; and positioning your store to get a jump start on next year.

“The secret to record Halloween sales is not t hope for foot traffic, its to drive foot traffic,” Negen said. “If your marketing dollars are more of a waste than a wow you won’t want to miss this session!”

The H&P Expo is offering attendees of the keynote address a prize raffle.

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Published 10-22-2010 by Amanda Torres Price