After channeling James Bond and Alice Cooper during my first day of the Big Show, here’s a recap of Day Two (Monday, January 12).

Opening Keynote: The Company of the Future: 8:30-9:30AM
This was quite a show. After glow-in-the-dark dancers and two shirtless, Adonis-like men from Cirque Le Masque opened the talk, Walmart CEO H. Lee Scott had a tough act to follow. But the crowd relaxed a little after he told them he was going to keep his shirt on…

While acknowledging the tough retail environment, Mr. Scott, in his last public speech as the CEO before he retires in a couple weeks, gave a more hopeful and optimistic speech than his colleagues did. Looking ahead to the Obama inauguration just a few days away, he saw an opportunity to break political gridlock and achieve progress in health care, alternative energy, immigration and education. Many of Walmart’s biggest problems, it seems, are very American problems as well.

Scott’s demeanor was equally thoughtful and reflective in the Q&A. The most important lesson that he learned over the years: You have to hire people who are better than you and give them credit when credit is due. Humble words from the leader of the largest retailer in the world.

Hitting the trade show floor: 9:30AM-11:30AM
Indulge my fondness for understatement: there is a lot to see. It felt like it took about 30 minutes to find the tiny little “You Are Here” arrow on the huge map, so I quickly abandoned any attempt at a systematic strategy and thought I would follow the crowds for a while. My expectations were high-I had a room full of retail experts in front of me. Surely they could capture my attention for a while…

After getting lost for a bit, I stumbled across a gaggle of attractive young women in attire rarely exhibited in New York in the month of January. Did I wander all the way back to Spring Break: Cancun? No, JDA was playing a version of “Deal or No Deal” with the attendees, and apparently they not only brought suitcases full of prizes, but they brought along a model to open each case. When the show was over, they master of ceremonies asked the crowd to go see the models and sign up. And I’m thinking, this is a trick, right? I mean, I know trouble when I see it…

But no sooner did I escape then I bumped into “Rubber Boy,” a double, no, triple-jointed contortionist who manages, once an hour, to fold his body into a small trunk about the size of a shopping basket. Why? To demonstrate the “flexibility” of Intermec’s software and hardware systems, obviously. It brought back so many childhood dreams of wanting to run away with the circus. If only I had not wasted years so many years in school!

Wild demonstrations aside, there were a lot of good exhibit booths, many more of which would have appealed to me if I spoke XML. However, Gift Wrap Solutions showed me a machine that can perfectly gift wrap a random-sized box in less than 30 seconds. I just had to have one, until I found out that it cost $40,000. It also couldn’t gift wrap the hugs that I gave for Christmas this past year. Crestfallen, I resolved to go back tomorrow to see if I can barter a poem for it.

Greentailing in Tough Times: How Consumers are Reacting and Retailers Responding: 1:45-3:15PM
Interesting talk on Greentailing in today’s environment. What I really learned was that we are actually already onto Greentailing 2.0, with version 1.0 having blown by me when I was apparently wearing grunge and trying to make sense of Kurt Cobain lyrics. Nevertheless, Will Ander of McMillan Doolittle closed the round of speakers by highlighting that too many retailers are not getting it quite right: however well intentioned it may be, “Spend less!” is not necessarily a slogan that you want ringing in the consumer’s ears.

He did focus on some really good points, though. Green is not a fad, and it’s not going away-attitudes are continuing to shift in favor of environmentally friendly stores and products. However, it is important that retailers are realistic: most consumers are going “light” green-they are gradually adopting more green products, but they are not obsessive about it. Almost everyone is light green most of the time…

Sustainable Product Innovation: Perspectives from Danny Seo: 4:30-5:15PM
This was a late addition to my schedule, but continuing my green theme for the day, I dropped in on “eco-stylist” Danny Seo‘s presentation late in the afternoon. First of all, he’s started the largest teenage environmental activist groups in the country, written four books, published a DVD, is a featured columnist in Better Homes and Gardens, and has his own line of branded eco-friendly products that he sells through JCPenny. Any he’s my age. But he was a polished speaker, quizzing the audience for $500 prizes, and sharing some pearls of wisdom: green is an added value, but you need to sell the audience on the other features and engage the customer in new ways in order to sell green. Again, if only I had not wasted so many years getting an education!