Last year’s inaugural event raised $70,000 for the nine charities supported by Birdies for the Brave, and our goal for 2013 is to net $100,000. It’s a great opportunity for our industry to provide even more support for those who have sacrificed so much for our country.

NSSF is the title sponsor for the Birdies for the Brave event, and we are currently looking for other sponsors. In addition, please consider a high-value merchandise donation for the silent auction and raffle.

Learn more about the event and how to get involved.

How It All Began

For many years prior to the SHOT Show, NSSF and industry companies were exhibitors at the National Sporting Goods Association's trade show.

For many years before the formation of the SHOT Show, industry companies — from firearms and ammunition manufacturers to hunting and shooting sports accessory firms — had exhibited at the National Sporting Goods Association’s (NSGA) annual trade exposition, a show that encompassed a broad range of sporting equipment, from team sports to camping and fishing supplies.

In its heyday the NSGA show was considered a “mega show,” attracting close to 3,000 exhibitors and from a purely business perspective it was an attractive and successful venue for individual exhibitors in the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry.

During the mid-70s, the National Shooting Sports Foundation had developed major new programs and desired to continue to expand educational, safety and promotional efforts. This prompted NSSF and its Board of Governors to consider options for new funding sources.

Since its formation in 1961, NSSF’s sole funding — as with most industry associations — was from member dues. Some 15 years later, with essentially all the major companies in the industry as strong NSSF supporters, significant new income would have to be generated from a source other than membership.

Facing similar challenges, other industry associations had started their industry’s own trade show. Was it now NSSF’s turn? Was the firearms industry now ready to break away from the NSGA show and stand on its own two feet? The key question came down to this: Did the NSSF membership want to take a chance on a new venture that, if successful, would enable the Foundation to become a stronger and more capable entity that would better be able to meet the industry’s current and future challenges?

In the summer of 1977, NSSF mailed a questionnaire to hundreds of industry companies to gauge their interest in starting a separate trade show. When the responses were tallied, 81 percent of potential exhibitors voted “yes” for a new show.

With a green light from industry, NSSF formed a committee to direct the launch of the new trade show. The Charles Snitow Organization (later the Cahners Exposition Group and now part of Reed Exhibitions) was selected to manage the show. St. Louis was selected as the site for the inaugural event because of its central location.

Up Next: How the show got its name and preparations for the first SHOT Show.

The invoices have been mailed to all of our exhibitors.

We’ve included a prepaid return envelope for your convenience.

Thanks in advance for your payment and for your continued support of the SHOT Show.

While there, our focus was to educate IWA buyers on the breadth and reach of our exhibitors, in addition to offering them a chance to enjoy a first-rate U.S. city like Las Vegas. We also had the opportunity to visit with many of our current exhibitors and supporters of the SHOT Show.

In 2011, we exhibited at IWA for the first time and saw a 20 percent increase in qualified international buyer attendance. We’re looking for a similar increase in 2013 with the ultimate goal to double overall attendance by qualified international buyers. We are focusing these efforts on England, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Australia to benefit SHOT Show exhibitors.

Attending IWA is but one component of our strategy to increase attendance of qualified international buyers. NSSF has also applied for the U.S. Department of Commerce International Buyer Program, in which Commerce Department officials promote attendance for the 2013 SHOT Show.

The directory solicitations appear harmless, asking companies simply to update their information (which supposedly already exists in the directories and has been published for free). However, upon closer examination of the fine print, listings in the directories are far from “FREE.” By signing and returning the solicitation form with or without updating business information, companies will actually be entering into a three-year, irrevocable agreement that automatically renews and will require them to pay a significant amount of money with no foreseeable benefits. As the owner and sponsor of the SHOT Show, the National Shooting Sports Foundation itself has been targeted by these deceptive and misleading trade show directory scams.

The SHOT Show has no relationship with the FAIRGuide, Expo-Guide or any of their other branded directories, and they are not authorized to use the “SHOT Show” name and registered trademarks on information they send to show exhibitors and attendees. There is reason to believe that the FAIRGuide and other branded directories are part of a larger international syndicate composed of multiple trade show directory publishers all operated by the same conspirators. I know, we all love a conspiracy theory but the facts bear this out.

We strongly warn exhibitors and attendees to exercise extreme caution if they receive solicitations from Construct Data Verlag AG or any other suspicious third-party offers in order to avoid unwarranted and/or unnecessary legal and financial commitments.

Show exhibitors or attendees who may have fallen prey to any of these trade show directory scams are encouraged to contact NSSF’s legal department at 203-426-1320 or jyue@nssf.org.

Why are we exhibiting at IWA?

A key element of the strategic plan approved the National Shooting Sport Foundation Board of Governors is to increase international buyer attendance at the SHOT Show. Doing so increases sales opportunities for SHOT Show exhibitors and international retailers and wholesale distributors alike.

Following our first year as an exhibitor at the 2011 IWA & Outdoor Classics Show, international attendance increased 20 percent at the 2012 SHOT Show.

Our message here is simple — the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) and Conference is the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries. It is the world’s premier exposition of combined firearms, ammunition, law enforcement, cutlery, outdoor apparel, optics and related products and services.

The SHOT Show attracts buyers from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. It’s an event that you simply can’t miss. It’s the only place your can go to see everyone and everything you need to gain a competitive edge.

We invite IWA attendees to visit us at the USA Pavilion in Hall 5, Stand #136 to learn more about why you should consider attending the 2013 SHOT Show, Jan. 15-18, 2013. And as always NSSF members and SHOT Show exhibitors are welcome to stop by with any membership or SHOT Show questions. Auf Wiedersehen.

Chris Dolnack

I’d personally like to thank everyone out there that served as our eyes and ears in regard to suitcasing and outboarding at this year’s SHOT Show. Thanks to your efforts, a number of suitcasers and outboarders were shown the door after interfering with the day-to-day business of our paying customers at the show.

If you haven’t heard before, suitcasing and outboarding are unethical parasitic business practices in which non-exhibitors attempt to gain access to trade show attendees and/or exhibitors. These practices skirt the support of the organizer and the industry.

Suitcasing is when non-exhibiting companies or persons go to shows as an attendee to “work the aisles” from their suitcase (briefcase) and solicit business in the aisles or lobby area. Outboarding is when non-exhibiting companies set up exhibits at off-site locations — hotel hospitality suites or restaurants — and encourage show attendees to spend time with them off the show floor

Here are just a couple of incidents from the 2012 SHOT Show:

• A man with more chutzpah than smarts ingeniously procured a table from somewhere on the show floor and set up a makeshift booth against the wall on Level 1. It didn’t last long, though. He was reported to our suitcasing team and he was swiftly shown the door.
• A foreign national, who traveled quite a ways across the world to attend, was repeatedly spotted suitcasing on the show floor. He was reported by multiple attendees and was last seen enjoying the hospitality of Homeland Security.

The list goes on.

Besides for suitcasing, illegal activities reported at the show included trademark infringement — and we even nabbed someone trying to sell their SHOT Show set-up badge on Craigslist. Las Vegas Metro undercover detectives met the would-be scalper under the bus/taxi portico and placed him under arrest.

The SHOT Show is definitely not the place to engage in these activities. Much of our security team is made up of off-duty and retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Clark County Sheriff’s Department personnel. Not to mention, nearly 100 personnel from an alphabet soup assortment of federal law enforcement agencies are roaming floor in an enforcement capacity throughout the show. And what’s more we offer a cash reward to hotel personnel who turn in outboarders setting up shop within our hotel block.

Again, we thank everyone for keeping an eye out and reporting these activities. Our paying customers deserve the best, and by keeping these unethical business practices at bay, it’s just another way we can ensure the SHOT Show experience remains second to none.

We captured a time-lapse video of the show floor over nine days. Here it is in 1 minute and 30 seconds.

We made many improvements for 2012 based on last year’s feedback, and we’ll do so again for next year’s show.

Please take the time to provide us with your feedback. What did we do right? What could be improved upon? Please let us know. All of your input will be heard.

Record sales orders being written on site, record buyer attendance and what may be the highest level of enthusiasm our industry has shown to start a new year. That’s pretty much how you can sum up the 2012 SHOT Show.

We’d like to thank all involved in making this year’s show one to remember — most importantly, our 1,600 exhibiting companies, the 36,383 buyers (a new show record) and all the members of the press that made the trek to Las Vegas this year.

Also, hats off to Reed Exhibitions, Freeman and the Sands Expo and Convention Center for their hard work and dedication in making steady improvements over the past few years. We’ve all listened long and hard to everyone’s feedback, and we will continue to do so.

Everyone should keep an eye on their inboxes in the next couple of weeks for our post-show surveys. Please take the time to provide us with your feedback. What did we do right? What could be improved upon? Please let us know. All of your input will be heard.

Another success at this year’s show was Media Day at the Range, where more than 1,200 members of the press were able to test-drive hundreds of new products. This was the first year that NSSF served as the title sponsor of Media Day, and we extend our thanks to CMG Marketing & Events and Triple Curl PR & Advertising for putting on a great event.

I’d also like to thank NSSF’s Emerging Media Director Bill Dunn for filling in for me and Diedra here on the blog during the show. He did a great job providing updates throughout the week. We had more visits to our blog than ever before during the week of show, and we also picked up a ton of new followers on Twitter and Facebook in the process as well.

Thanks again to everyone for making this year’s SHOT Show a success. Time to start preparing for 2013.