I'm up for a meetup at least,only being about 2 hrs away.

Not open to the public eh... Sounds like that consumer electronics show in Vegas a few weeks back.

I just read this on their site (their very poorly laid out site, it seems). It appears you can get in if you're an educator or student, too:

Who Should Attend?
· Specialty photo retailers
· Mass merchandisers
· Electronic retailers
· Online photo retailers
· Custom framing retailers
· Scrapbook retailers

· Sales Reps and Wholesalers
· Photo educators and students
· Press
· Industry Analysts
· Professional photographers – portrait, school and event
· Central, on-site and online photo printers
· Professional color image printer and publishers