Looking for Mr. or Ms. Good . . . Good Business Lead, That’s It
John Horne, an agent for New York Life, probably didn’t know it, but he and about 4,000 single people were at the Anaheim Convention Center for the same reason.
“We’re here to get leads,” Horne said. “We’re looking to get names of people who are interested in us.” Unlike most of the others, however, Horne was looking for business leads.
He was one of nearly 80 exhibitors last weekend at the county’s first Singles Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center, a potpourri of goods and services essential for stylish singlehood.
A fairly chummy gathering, the expo was a place where everybody wanted to get to know--at least for a minute--everybody else, and pens and business cards flashed brightly.
“As far as I’m concerned,” said Don Vote, 23, a printer from Orange, “what they have to offer here is other single people. You get together and talk about the exhibits, about everything here. At least that’s been the conversation so far.”
Gary Linneman, 39, a machinist from Huntington Beach, said he “couldn’t imagine, when I heard about it on the radio, what a singles expo would be like. I like it. There are a lot of good-looking women here.”
For the exhibitors, it may have been a question of keeping them down on the farm after they had seen Paree. The visiting singles may have come to the expo to meet each other, but some of the exhibitors shortly began to take on the appearance of slightly subdued carnival barkers in a bid to divert attention from the meeting game and direct it toward their wares.
And, because of the array of items, it often worked. If you didn’t care for the jewelry or lingerie booths, for instance, you could always have your handwriting or your serum cholesterol analyzed. You could get the lowdown on prudent party drinking at the Beer Drinkers of America exhibit, book a cruise or arrange a vacation at Club Med. You could acquire one of several styles of Spuds McKenzie T-shirts, pick up armfuls of literature from singles groups or sign up for “The Dating Game.”
The expo was the brainchild of Bob Chandler, a producer of consumer shows whose company, Expo Productions, is based in Irvine. He said he has produced similar shows in other markets, but the Anaheim Convention Center expo was the first of its kind in the county.
The idea, he said, was to “exhibit goods and services that are of particular interest to single living.”
These goods and services are not necessarily unlike things just anyone would use, but they are particularly targeted for single people. The auto exhibitors were a good example. No station wagons or mini-vans here. Most of the cars were either small or fast or expensive, or all three.
Candice Connell, for instance, fleet manager of Connell Chevrolet, was directing lustful stares toward a red Corvette the agency will award in a giveaway promotion next month.
“There are a lot of single people out there,” she said, “and they all need cars.”
And, she said, a well-heeled single person generally isn’t averse to a muscular sports car, such as a Corvette. Her Costa Mesa dealership also expects a good amount of business from singles next year when it takes delivery of a new version of the Corvette that, it is said, will cost about $50,000 and be able to reach 184 m.p.h.
And Elliott Sills was offering the perfect accessory for such a rocket ship: a high-ticket cellular phone. Representing Cellular Communications Corp. in Irvine, Sills was happily touting the ideal phones for the on-the-go single person, priced from $900 to $2,900.
“Oh, this is a good show for us,” he said. “Phones like these, sure, they’re status symbols, and they’re convenient, and single people like them. One of our most lucrative involvements is with single people.”
But if Sills was attracting a fair number of expo visitors away from each other, Mark Welfley appeared to have hit the mother lode. His product: the condom-in-a-matchbook.
Welfley, who operates his company, In Touch Group, in Whittier, said his product, Midnight Condoms, was designed “to go where conventional condoms cannot: hair salons, hotel gift shops, places like that. They’re designed with the single person in mind, because we figure they’ll be our biggest users. We’re billing them as the BMW of designer condoms.”
It is the package, and not the condom itself, that is specially designed. The Japanese-made condom is enclosed in a matchbook-type cover, either in glossy black or in a bright artistic design.
“We think they’ll go over great at nightclubs,” Welfley said. “You can offer a person one and say, ‘Hey, can I light you up?’ ”
In the middle of it all, on a raised platform, a nearly continuous series of short tableaux were being played out: a type of demonstration match-up of a couple by members of the crew of the “Love Connection” TV show; getting-to-know-you games, such as a business-card scavenger hunt with various sports celebrities; contestant sign-ups for “The Dating Game” and a new show called “Sweethearts,” and periodic announcements (“Anybody finds Jennifer’s mommy, send her up here,” or “Where’s the guy who was standing out in front here with a hickey on his neck?”).
The main attractions, however, were more personal.
“It’s a good excuse to see other singles from all around,” said Babe Manly, 40, a United Parcel Service driver from Anaheim. “It’s much better than going to a bar. Everybody wants a connection, right? Here, the women can shop around before they do anything.”
Chandler said that when he stages the expo next year--he said he intends to make it an annual event in the county--he is going to put more stock in comments like those from Manly and others who said they came to the expo principally to meet other single people.
He said the concentration on product exhibitions rather than on activities that would allow visitors to interact was probably in part responsible for the low turnout. Chandler estimated last week that 15,000 to 20,000 people would attend; he guessed that “somewhere in the area of 4,000” actually showed up.
“In talking to our visitors, I think most of them had a good time,” Chandler said. “But we learned a lot. Next time I’d like to get more singles organizations involved, grass-roots-type clubs.
“And we need something more along the line of music and entertainment. That was the general consensus, to get more activities going where people can meet each other. That’s why a lot of the people were there.”
The Single Best
If you have been single for some time, chances are you have developed some fairly strong preferences as to where you go to meet other single people. Have you had your best luck meeting new people at church functions, ski weekends, at singles’ club gatherings, health clubs, bars? You also have probably developed a list of places that will never see your shadow again. We would like to know where you have had your best success in finding another compatible single person in the county--and where you have had your greatest disappointments. Send us your personal top and bottom three and tell us why you picked them. We will compile the responses and publish them as a sort of consumer’s guide for the county single.
Dancing, Dirty and Otherwise
Is dancing declining? Once upon a time, it was an absolute social necessity to know how to dance and dance well. But today, no matter how much audiences may applaud the stars who dip and swoop and tango their way seductively across the screen in films such as “Salsa” and “Dirty Dancing,” many singles blanch at the idea of an evening of dancing. Are you a person who loves to dance, but can’t seem to find any skilled or willing partners? Or are you an insecure hoofer who dreads an evening set to music? In either case, we would like to know how you manage to keep your social balance on the dance floor.
Parting With Panache
It can be one of the most awkward and potentially painful episodes in life: breaking up with a lover. If you have done the breaking up, did you ease into it over time or use the cold-turkey approach? Was it possible to turn the relationship into a friendship? Or was the break permanent? Is there a way to avoid much of the inevitable trauma? We would like to pass on any tips you have on how to end a romance as cleanly as possible. And if you can give us an example of how not to do it, we would like to hear about that too.
