ICSC San Diego Recap
Last month, ICSC hosted the Western Regional conference for the first time back in San Diego since 2018. Going into this year’s regional conference, there was a lot of hearsay that it would not be as good as it traditionally has been due to the lower number of registrants. I personally had not been to an ICSC Regional Conference before, so I really didn’t have anything to compare it to. Traditionally it is a lot of our clients and local brokers favorite convention, so I willing to take a chance, plus it was being hosted in San Diego the home of my alma mater – Go Toreros, so I have another excuse to get down there! Our team rented a place in Point Loma, which is where some of my extended family lives, and decided that we were going to make an extended trip out of it. The weather everyday was absolutely gorgeous and it never sucks getting to look at the ocean every day.
Day 1 – Touch Down [in] San Diego (RIP Chargers)
We arrived Wednesday and started off the trip at the RBN Western Regional Kick Off Party where we watched the Padres take on the Dodgers, which is always fun to attend if you happen to be in San Diego and both teams are at Petco Park. After that ended, I got to show a few of the RBN brokers around my old stomping grounds in Downtown San Diego to a personal favorite bar of mine, Moonshine Flats. However, I will say those who went with me, you are lucky those spinning shot chairs were out of order.
Day 2 – It’s Game Day! (ICSC)
Get up and go! I am sure most of the guys reading this can totally relate, but every conference I have this long conversation with myself on whether I should or shouldn’t wear the heels that will make my outfit look better, and then I make the grave mistake of choosing the heels and every time without fail, by the end of the day I am so mad at myself. However, since this was just a 1 day conference, I thought you know what, I can risk it, let’s do it. No surprise to anyone reading this, my heels did a number on my feet, so much so that I had to buy a pack of Band-Aids around noon and somehow I still ended up using every single one of them before 5 o’clock. When will I learn ? I don’t know, but I am sure this won’t be the last time this happens. Anyway back to the actual conference!! Strategically, I like to keep around +/- 25% of my calendar open, if I can, so I can take some on the fly meetings or calls if necessary. So, for this conference that’s exactly what I did and by the end of the day, I ended up filling the rest of my calendar and was able to see and catch up with so many clients and brokers from other markets that I wasn’t even expecting to run into. Even with my shoe casualties, it was still a great day and a really productive one at that. To close out the evening, our team headed back to the house to celebrate my mom’s birthday with my extended family over some amazing Italian food and drinks. Happy Birthday Mom!!
Day 3 – Let Me Show You the Ropes
This was Angelica’s first time being in San Diego with me so naturally, I had to show her all of my favorite spots that I used to visit back when I lived here. I planned out the entire day starting off with a long strenuous walk up and down the hills of Point Loma and Sunset Cliffs, the view makes it worth every second of it! After we showered off, we were ready for a full day of eating and drinking. First one the list, a flight of beer from the original Ballast Point Home Brew Mart which is located immediately under the University of San Diego (my alma mater). This is where my love for beer started, which makes sense since San Diego is the Craft Beer Capital. Next up on the list was the fresh fish mecca of San Diego, Point Loma Seafoods. Here we got an array of things: sushi, scallop sandwiches, calamari, fish & chips, clam chowder, you name it, they have it. Now that we have a solid base in our stomachs, we set sail to have what I consider to be the strongest Mai Tai I have ever had at the Bali Hai down the street, which sits on the bay and looks over Downtown and the Coronado base, the views here are absolutely stunning. After that we went back to the house and sat in the front yard and shared some laughs until the sun set. While it was a fantastic day and we had so much fun enjoying some great spots, I really hope ICSC will host the Western Regional Conference here next year, because I have a full list of amazing places up my sleeve that we still need to check out!
Now I am sure you are eagerly waiting to hear my review on the actual conference itself, so here it is. I am happy to say, it is also now one of my favorite conventions to attend! Outside of it being in beautiful San Diego, I found this conference to be extremely efficient. I got to see all of the deal makers that I talk to on a day-to-day basis under one roof. Every hall I walked down I saw someone I knew and whether it was just an opportunity to catch up in a quick passing by conversation or setting an on-the-fly meeting for later, it was great having that face to face opportunity that you get that by just being there and in the room. It was so nice to see everyone out there making deals. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and had a great show and trip to San Diego too.
Stay Classy!