DAY THREE. The LockOut.

Heavy rains the evening prior and humidity levels foreign to San Franciscan souls gave way to heavy morning fog, so the shuttle to the exposition is late, late, late. Upon arrival they do realize that the fair is slowly winding down – certainly less people wandering around than the day before, and more time to talk to each that does stop by.

Meetings at the Buyer’s Club; packaging demonstrations; a more diverse selection of visitors to the booth, like product-sampling program coordinator Xander from LatestinBeauty.com out of the UK, a few retailers with interesting ideas on how to introduce Edelbio to the Asian market, and of course, more journalists. They swear they’ll write something as soon as it hits stores in France, which is quite the Catch-22, as that often depends on popularity, which is of course dependent on press and word-of-mouth. No matter, it’s not too vicious of a cycle to overcome.

The Swiss Hub of France also stops by for a visit and to offer their support breaking into the French market. Much appreciated, but we may be headed elsewhere on the globe. Still, friendly smiles, even to the American(!)

The afternoon should have been chock-full of conference sessions, but the empty seats of Monday morning are no longer. The word may have spread about the wealth of content offered in these sessions and before many of the bilingual offerings swarms of conference-goers gather, struggling to get through the door. Luckily, Beyond Beauty has employed some serious-minded girls, garbed in pink blazers and severe hairdos, to guard the doors and explain the situation to the frustrated many. It’s not nice being turned away at any door, even when what’s inside does not involve boozing and schmoozing but rather snoozing. No, I take that back, there’s not even a sleepy yawn among the audiences I’ve observed.

Maybe Ludovic, the Beyond Beauty photographer, has captured some. He’s very entertained by the audience and digs candid shots as a break from the usual scramble to find a flattering angle of the presenter. I doubt he’ll be reading this – having reacted to the news of this blog with a slight twinkle in his eye, as if to say, yeah. right – but if he does, he’ll know that I was very entertained by him. So much, in fact, that I may have to sneak around the conference trying to capture his most flattering angle. Because who’s taking pictures of the photographer if it isn’t the writer?

In any case, he’s not denied entry, so doesn’t have to deal with the custom of dropping off a business card so as to receive the presentation via email, afterwards. When I do, then you’ll get the re-cap. With all those people queuing up to see them, they must be giving away some major secrets, don’t you think?