Hello, and welcome to SST! You are very welcome to attend the expo. The show caters to existing self-storage professionals as well as entrepreneurs investigating the business for the first time. If you just want to come in for a day and enjoy the exhibit hall, you can purchase a pass for only $85 if you buy by Feb. 26. (Registrations are available on site, but I suggest taking advantage of the pre-registration discount.)
Being that you're exploring the industry as a "newbie," you might want to check out the Developers Seminar that takes place on Wednesday, March 3. This workshop is specifically designed to help people like you decide if self-storage is the right fit for your business goals. You can read more here:
http://www.insideselfstorageworldexp...evelopers.html
If you want even more info, the standard
Education Package includes access to 40 seminars and roughly 30 roundtable discussions, many of which relate to issues of self-storage real estate, development, construction and financing -- topics of interest to someone entering the biz.
Please feel free to ask any additional questions you may have here in the forum. We are happy to help. I hope to see you in Las Vegas!