Thanks to voluntary downsizing by long-time exhibitors and the repurposing of our exhibit floor it looks like the 2012 SHOT Show® will have more new exhibitors than any SHOT Show in recent memory.
And a number of exhibitors who requested booth relocations will be moved as space allows, in order of SHOT Show priority points.
Focusing our exhibit floor on those companies that are involved in our core business — shooting, hunting, outdoor and tactical — will infuse the SHOT Show with new product offerings that will offer retailers new profit opportunities.
By all accounts there will be more new companies and more new product launches than ever before and that makes at the 2012 SHOT Show just too good to miss.
Yet vendors like Sius Ascor Equipment has tried for years to exhibit @ SHOT without success. This Swiss company manufacturers and supplies electronic scoring equipment to USA Shooting, the Olympic Games, Camp Perry, the U. S. Military, etc., but cannot get a slot at SHOT. What is wrong with this picture, Mr. Dolnack? Mr. Glenn Goodwin would like your cooperation: glen@shotresponse.com
Which is exactly why we are taking these actions. We have 260 companies on the waiting list that we are trying to work in the mix. I’m not going to recount the priority point process yet again, but we are doing everything we can to accommodate our customers so that we can continue to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports as the industry’s trade association.
Sgt. Jim Hagearty, I also find it funny that the NSSF likes to pat themselves on the back for trying to get people off the list. I have talked to other companies on the list and they haven’t gotten off. The NSSF must be picking and choosing who gets in to the supposed new spaces. It looks and feels like there’s a good old boys club, how much money can you give us then we will see if there any chance we can get you in. Maybe somebody should start a new show, there would at least 260 companies ready to sign up. You know that if Trade shows don’t grow they die like MAC world did. I find Mr. Dolnack’s response just that and doesn’t really answer the question.
Thanks, Chris for your comment . . . . I am a big MAC person and you are 100% correct. I have been attending the SHOT Show for years . . . . which spun out of NSGA because of the size and large mix of non-shooting/hunting related products. Now as I walked the aisles in Orlando, Hilton Convention Center, now the Sands, I see more and more “stuff” that you find in the mail order catalogs . . . . . offshore high profit margin items . . . . . bobble head dolls. low end promotional items . . . . items of no interest to a lawman, firearms instructor, outdoor sportsman, or shooting industry. When I contacted NSSF about all the “junk” increasing at the show, I was informed, “Just look at the big box retailer inventory and the mail order company catalogs . . . . . they are addressing their marking needs. This is certainly NOT what I want nor do any of the trade people I work with on a daily basis. You may have hit the nail on the head . . . . . it may be time for a change if we cannot return to our core business. (Just a sidebar FYI: My other life was and international product manager and this current business model runs contrary to anything I have ever seen. It is too big, too expensive to run, too expensive to exhibit, and has lost focus . . . . just my opinion.)
Jim
I went to the last show and was not happy the way some of the vendors treated some of the smaller buyers..I have a gun shop /shooting range in oregon.We the small time folks are the ones who keep them in biz … To me it seems to be just a big shit show
Mikegage62
where is your Gun Store and Range in Oregon
Thank you, Mike for sharing your thoughts. The small family business man, like yourself, make this country great . . . . I highly respect you and your counterparts. Even as a State law enforcement educator and buyer, I do my best to support local business. Keep up the good work.
Sgt. Jim Hagearty