I would have shot the show girls with my 300D + L-glass + 440EX flash but my coworkers would have made fun of me. (I do, however, go to car shows with my camera setup, bahaha)
To answer your question about the girls: they do it a few times a week, going from trade show to trade show to look cute. Some of the girls work as hostesses in hostess bars (google for "Hostess bars" and "Japan" to read up on the whole messed up thing). They usually take in roughly 200 bucks a day, which to be honest, ain't great if you're only doing two shows a week.
BTW, I went out with a "event companion" girl a while ago and she turned out to be a total nutjob with major personality and self-confidence disorders. So keep it to a one-night stand if you have the chance. And yeah she was kind of hot, but not on fire like the girls above, I'm a dork who posts on GAF for chrissakes.