Don’t Mess With Texas!
We’ve all heard it, but now let’s live by it! We’re moving the Annual Summit to Dallas in 2010. We thought we’d try something new and here are a few reasons why. Come enjoy the accessibility and charm of Dallas and Grapevine at this year’s Annual Summit!

The Gaylord Texan is just six miles from the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, both located in Grapevine, a city known for it’s charm.

We know price is always a factor and that’s why we worked (or are working) doubly hard. We thought we couldn’t beat the convenience to the airport, but we’ve managed to secure a room block rate of $199 per night (plus $15 resort fee which includes WiFi in the rooms among other things)! That’s pretty good for a place like the Gaylord – a four-star resort!

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport provides nonstop services to 128 domestic and 37 international destinations. D/FW is larger than the island of Manhattan and is the third busiest airports in the world with some 1,600 flights per day. Air travel to Dallas takes fewer than four hours from most cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The airport is only 10 minutes from downtown too!

The city is home to some very notable retailers and Shop.org members like Neiman Marcus, American Eagle, Southwest Airlines (Dallas), GameStop (Grapevine), JC Penney (Plano), Mary Kay Inc. (Dallas), The Container Store (Coppell), and Zale Corporation (Irving), plus many others! Highland Park Village, built in 1931, was the first planned shopping center in the U.S. and Northpark Center was the first air-conditioned mall in the U.S. And, At 5.5 million square feet, the Dallas Market Center is the world’s largest market for wholesale merchandise.

Major Industries in Dallas include Tourism, High Tech (second only to Silicon Valley), Banking, and Petroleum. The integrated circuit computer chip was invented in 1958 in Dallas. The Dallas INFOMART, designed to be the world's first technology market center, was built to resemble London’s Crystal Palace. The frozen margarita machine was invented in Dallas... .and you might even get to enjoy some of these onsite!

The Gaylord Texan is four and a half acres of indoor gardens and winding waterways, fine dining, casual restaurants, fun nightlife and unparalleled shopping experiences. If you love adventure sports, then you should visit Six Flags Over Texas or try Scotty’s Golf Park. The Dallas World Aquarium, Dallas Zoo and the Louis Tussaud’s Palace of Wax and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! are all fun places to visit while in Dallas! The Dallas Museum of Art is home to one of the largest collection of post-1945 art in the country, while Fair Park, a district with numerous museums and venues, features the nation’s largest collection of 1930s Art Deco, exposition-style architecture.

No need to pack for extremes the weather in Dallas is pretty temperate. The average for September is 77 degrees. Lake Grapevine is an attraction with many water sports if you need to get away and cool off.

You know what they say about Southern cooking, well get ready to enjoy yourself. Dallas is home to one five-diamond restaurant, seven four-star restaurants, 10 four-diamond restaurants and 7,000 other restaurants to enjoy.

Dallas has the ninth largest population in the nation. Texans are known for throwing parties and they’ll find just about any excuse to create a get-together! We hope this attitude carries over into the Annual Summit to help facilitate great networking for the digital retail community. There is something for everyone in Dallas from the arts to outdoor activities.

In Dallas they like to Live Large and Think Big®! They outdo themselves with everything it seems – entertainment, food, communities and business! DFW Metroplex is home to 24 Fortune 500 companies. (source Fortune Magazine, 2008).