Tag: exhibitors

SHOT Show Exhibitor October Deadlines

There are two crucial deadlines SHOT Show exhibitors need to meet in October. Both revolve around the important publication SHOT Show Tracker.

For those unfamiliar with this exhibitor tool, SHOT Show Tracker is a once-a-year publication detailing education sessions and special events being held during the show, show floor plans, travel and logistic information and, most importantly for exhibitors, a full listing of all registered exhibitors and their booth numbers. This publication is mailed, during early winter, to tens of thousands of pre-registered SHOT Show attendees.

SHOT Show Tracker provides several important benefits to our exhibitors. First, it lets potential customers know you’ll be at the show and exactly where they can find you, allowing them to schedule meetings with you in advance of the show. This kind of information is, essentially, complimentary advertising for each and every exhibitor, but its availability as a part of pre-show marketing is invaluable.

In addition to the pre-show boost all exhibitors receive from this publication, Tracker also provides a platform for your booth and company to stand out from the crowd through creative advertising opportunities. Exhibitors may purchase a variety of ad space for inclusion in SHOT Show Tracker. These include full- and half-page options, as well as four-color inside and outside front and back covers. So while you’re amping up all your other pre-show marketing plans—mailings and e-newsletters to your own mailing lists, company website updates telling show attendees where you’ll be at SHOT and invitations to special events you’re hosting at SHOT—make sure your show visibility is maximized through SHOT Show Tracker.

Ad space is limited, so it’s important that exhibitors interested in maximizing their presence and visibility at SHOT Show act now to reserve their space. SHOT Show Tracker ad space reservation deadline of Oct. 17 is fast approaching, and all artwork is due by Oct. 31. Materials received after this date will be placed in Tracker at the discretion of NSSF staff and as space allows.

For more information on advertising in SHOT Show Tracker, click here and choose the dropdown box on the SHOT Show Tracker line item. There you’ll find a listing of available spaces, plus a downloadable rate card and a link that details all ad specifications, including acceptable submission formats and sizing. Questions? Email me at djeannette@nssf.org, or my colleague Chris Tatulli, NSSF Director, Exhibitor and Sponsor Sales, at ctatulli@nssf.org.

Dave Jeannette is Senior Director, Sales for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @DaveJeannette.

First-Time SHOT Exhibitor? We Have the Resources to Help

ERCTrade show exhibition is nearly an art unto itself, especially when it comes to a show as enormous as SHOT Show. Simply put, this isn’t a bigger version of your local gun show with its folding high school cafeteria tables and chairs. Indeed, if you’ve never set up a booth at SHOT before, and even if you’ve attended smaller local or regional outdoor consumer shows, the list of items you need for a successful booth setup may not be obvious nor readily available to you before the show.

We can help. One of the many resources available and just a mouse click away is the Frequently Rented Items checklist. You’ll find this by going to shotshow.org, then clicking on the drop-down Exhibitors tab and clicking on the first item, the Exhibitor Resource Center (ERC). Under this heading you’ll click on the menu for General Information, Deadlines and Contract and find what we’ve affectionately dubbed the First-Timer Cheat Sheet, is an invaluable resource for any exhibitor, but especially those setting up shop for the first time at SHOT Show.

In this sheet you’ll find rates for the most common booth setup help, like electrical labor, freight and materials handling, end of show dismantling services, and post-show hours cleaning services. Then there are the smaller things, the trash cans, chairs, tables, table skirting and carpet, that one might assume are automatically provided at a show and would be woefully surprised to find they’re not (i.e., finding out you have nothing to sit on for four days would ruin almost anyone’s show experience).

One of the most important booth items you’ll find on this sheet are the listings for CompuLEAD services. CompuLEAD is a computerized sales/client lead retrieval system designed specifically for use at trade shows. You simply scan the show badge of each attendee you contact at the show, and CompuLEAD automatically collates that person’s full contact information, along with all the demographic information provided in the registration process, including job title, primary business interests and buying power, far more information than most business cards will contain.

This system not only eliminates the hassle of combing through stacks of business cards when you get home, trying to decipher all those illegible notes and numbers written on the back, you can append any prospect’s contact information and edit on the spot with notes, action codes and surveys, even run analysis reports. The setup is available for desktop and mobile use, as well as in a smartphone app.

Advanced rates on these exhibitor items and more are available until Dec. 26 (deadline for CompuLEAD products is Dec. 19), so plan now, get your orders in, and avoid a last-minute scramble to organize your booth during the winter holidays and in the last days before the show. For more information about CompuLead, click here, or call CompuSystem’s Heidi Marecek at 708-786-5565, ext. 312; Heidi.Marecek@csireg.com. If contacting CompuSystem, be sure to tell them you’re an NSSF member and SHOT Show exhibitor.

Quick Tip—Click on “Show All” at the top of the ERC page so you can easily view all forms and information within the ERC without having to go through each one individually.

Diedra Cauley is the director of exhibitions and conferences for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow her on Twitter at @dcauley.

2015 Registration Fees and NSSF Member Discounts

Your participation in the SHOT Show funds and supports the many NSSF programs that promote safety, protect our industry, and ensure the sports and livelihood we love are sustainable for years to come. However, with mounting pressure for increased gun regulation and restrictions, the NSSF’s government advocacy initiatives need more reinforcements than ever — your registration fees have a direct impact on our ability to continue our aggressive and focused initiatives on Capitol Hill.

The 2015 SHOT Show registration fees are being modified as a result of growing demand for aggressive advocacy and regulatory initiatives on behalf of our industry. You can further support these initiatives by joining the NSSF membership.

The NSSF is pleased to announce that not only does each qualifying NSSF Member company receive one complimentary SHOT Show registration, we’re also providing new, discounted SHOT Show registration fees for our valued, current buyer members:

Qualified Buyer Categories

Pre-Registration:
NSSF Members $35 (Non-members $70)
(members must register before Jan. 13, 2015 to qualify for pre-registration)

After the Pre-Registration Deadline or Onsite:
NSSF Members $70 (Non-members $140)

Registration fees for all non-buyer categories will remain the same as previous years:

Pre-Registration: $175
After the Pre-Registration Deadline or Onsite: $350

To qualify for these special member discounts, members must:

  • Register using their NSSF membership number
  • Attendee must be an NSSF member company with appropriate credentials to attend SHOT Show as a buyer. One complimentary registration per NSSF member company.

Registration for the 2015 SHOT Show will begin mid-August (specific date to be announced soon). For more information on how to register for the SHOT Show and receive your member discount, go to shotshow.org. To apply for NSSF membership or renew a lapsed membership, please click here or call 203-426-1320, ext. 209.

Chris Dolnack is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDolnack.

5 Keys for Exhibitors to Have a Successful Trade Show

There’s a sign hanging in a barber shop I once frequented that read, “If You’re Looking For A Helping Hand, Look Down At The End of Your Arm.” Truer words have never been spoken when it comes to exhibiting at a trade show. Here are five ways to help you enjoy a successful and profitable trade show experience.

1. Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan.

Open the show manual and calendar important deadlines on Outlook with reminders one week out. Seriously, you should read through the exhibitor manual when it’s received. You’ll save money.

2. Be Part of the Solution

Help show management eliminate tire-kickers by only credentialing booth staff. If vendors, customers and investors want to attend, have them register as legitimate attendees under their proper category. If your college roommate or boot camp buddy wants to attend, explain why they can’t or approach show management with an honest request for guest credentials.

3. Don’t Be Pennywise and Pound Foolish

Book your hotel rooms through the official show housing block as soon as it opens. There are a lot of poachers out there offering deals too good to be true. That’s because they are too good to be true. Booking in the block provides you with rate protection and helps the show organizer avoid attrition. I know of two major exhibitors who fell victim to these scammers and lost over $20,000. In one instance, the scammer went to jail, but the exhibitor was still out $12,000.

4. Close the Loop

Follow up on leads generated at the show. It seems so simple, but time and again attendees say that there is little follow-up post show. I mean, you rented a badge scanner, so why wouldn’t you send literature and have a sales rep contact an earnest prospective customer?

5.  Be As Loud As Spinal Tap

Don’t be another band with the volume on 10. As my colleague Bill Dunn says, turn it up to 11. Plan your pre- and in-show promotion. Use direct mail, email and social media channels to entice attendees to your exhibit. Use the show hashtag. Tell them about new products, show specials, contests and celebrity appearances.

 

Chris Dolnack is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDolnack.

First SHOT Show Exhibitor Academy a Hit

Last week in Las Vegas, representatives from 100 exhibiting companies attended the first-ever SHOT Show Exhibitor Academy to learn how to maximize their time and budgets while exhibiting at the world’s largest trade show for shooting, hunting, outdoor and law enforcement products.  Filled to capacity, our first SHOT Show Exhibitor Academy was a home run and included presentations on how to build the right booth, garner media attention, use social media, develop a show budget and navigate the show’s Exhibitor Resource Center, in addition to meeting and asking questions of the show’s management team.

Attendees were also treated to a back of the house tour of the Sands and the opportunity to experience several potential hospitality venues first-hand.  One of the highlights was a presentation on using social media to promote your exhibit by social media expert and book author Traci Browne.

Another was the opportunity to meet one-on-one with individual SHOT Show vendors including the Sands Expo, Freeman, CompuSystems, Century Security, onPeak, Venetian/Palazzo and all of the hotel partners in Las Vegas, as well as many other vendors that help produce the SHOT Show each year.

Our goal was to provide exhibitors with information that would make their SHOT Show experience more cost-effective and less stressful while increasing their ROI.  I’m pleased to tell you that 97% of the attendees said that they would recommend SHOT Show Exhibitor Academy to other exhibitors and that the experience was worth their time.

The exhibitor academy was something that ConvExx mentioned in their presentation to us last year and planning began soon after we selected ConvExx as our new show management partner.  That kind of creative, value-added, experiential exhibitor education makes our customers more successful in the long run and that helps make for a stronger show and industry.

Chris Dolnack is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDolnack.

Exhibitors: Are You an NSSF Member Yet? If Not, You’re Missing Out on SHOT Show Savings and Discounts

Membership in the National Shooting Sports Foundation, your industry’s trade association and the owner of the SHOT Show, has a long list of benefits.

For SHOT Show exhibitors, one of those benefits can mean huge savings on booth space at the show.

Non-members are paying $35 per square foot (or $3,500 for a 10×10). NSSF Supporting Members pay $30 per square foot (or $3,000 for a 10×10, a savings of $500). That $500 savings per 10×10 climbs to more than $2,000 for the average size booth at the SHOT Show.

The June 2 deadline for savings is right around the corner. You must be an NSSF member in good standing by this date to receive this booth-space discount.

NSSF-member exhibitors also increase their chances for a booth change at the show.

Priority points continue to be a key factor, but NSSF membership level increases your chances for a booth change considerably. For example, an NSSF Supporting Member with 55 priority points will have a better opportunity than a non-member with 110 priority points. We’ve received more than 500 booth change requests, so we encourage all exhibitors to improve their chances for a change by becoming an NSSF Supporting Member.

If you aren’t an NSSF member yet, please consider joining today — not only to save your company some cash, but to join the more than 10,000 other members that support our industry’s trade association and its mission to promote, protect and preserve our industry and our sports.

To join NSSF or renew your membership, visit nssf.org/join. Contact NSSF Member Services Coordinator Samantha Hughes at shughes@nssf.org with any questions.

Dave Jeannette is Senior Director, Sales for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @DaveJeannette.

2014 SHOT Show Was a Hit

Records were broken at the Las Vegas trade show

Let the record show that the 2014 SHOT Show was the most successful in its 36-year history. And with an extended contract that it be housed at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas, the SHOT Show’s future promises continued success and satisfaction. The 2014 SHOT Show was another one for the record books—record attendance, record sales, and record industry unity. The show also registered record satisfaction with attendees and exhibitors alike, with 75 percent of exhibitors completely or very satisfied, and 96 percent of exhibitors extremely or very likely to exhibit in 2015, according to our post–SHOT Show survey. Exhibitor satisfaction is confirmed by the record 96 percent of exhibit space renewals put under deposit onsite, and the 98 percent renewal rate we have reached within a month of the show’s conclusion.

Ditto for attendees, with 82 percent completely or very satisfied and 86 percent extremely or very likely to attend the 2015 SHOT Show. Total attendance increased 8 percent, to more than 67,000, in a year where we re-qualified attendees in the redbadge- buyer category, requiring documentation to verify purchasing authority.

All in all, the 2014 SHOT Show was a testament to the passion and enthusiasm that retailers, exhibitors, and industry associates share for our industry and the SHOT Show. It’s rewarding to know that all of our time and effort paid off, and you can rest assured that we’re working on making the 2015 SHOT Show even better.

The 2014 SHOT Show was very fortunate to have so many dedicated sponsors contribute to this record-setting year. For many of our sponsors, this is not the first time they have stepped up. Outdoor Channel marked its fourth consecutive year as the show’s Pinnacle Sponsor, the highest sponsorship level associated with the show.

Outdoor Channel’s unprecedented support of the 2014 SHOT Show demonstrates the company’s unwavering commitment to the outdoors industry and all that the industry’s premier trade show stands for.

Daniel Defense returned this year with some creative elements, including Venetian and Palazzo room key cards and pub-style tables near food vendors to facilitate quick meals and short meetings—not to mention the Daniel Defense–branded staircase in the main entry area to the Sands Expo.

Thanks, too, to Caracal for providing the shuttle service between the neighboring hotels and the show, saving many the time and money associated with taxi lines. GunBroker.com continued to be an extraordinary partner of the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the SHOT Show, sponsoring the NSSF Member Lounge and Business Center.

GunBroker .com is a great example of an NSSF member that makes the extra effort to help grow hunting and the shooting sports.

Also returning was ArmaLite as the title sponsor of the SHOT Show mobile app. This show-navigation technology enriches the SHOT Show experience for buyers and attendees, and we greatly appreciate ArmaLite’s support in this effort.

Ram Trucks returned as the official truck of SHOT Show for the third year running.

Smith & Wesson provided generous support as the Platinum Level Education Sponsor for the industry’s largest professional development opportunity for firearms retailers—SHOT Show University.

NSSF, owner and sponsor of the SHOT Show, extends its sincere thanks to all of our sponsors that contribute to its enduring success. We anticipate continued industry support in 2015.

With the Sands being an ever-improving venue, NSSF has contracted to stage the show there through 2018, adding another year to its agreement. The Sands recently completed a $37 million renovation that significantly upgraded its facilities, including redesigning and remodeling the lobby and adding escalators, new carpeting, Wi-Fi hotspots, food outlets, digital signage, and other amenities that have enhanced the trade-show experience for exhibitors and attendees. The 2014 SHOT Show is the fifth largest trade show in Las Vegas and the largest trade show of its kind in the world.

The show generates more than $73 million for the Las Vegas economy, and, more relevant to NSSF and its members, the SHOT Show provides your industry’s trade association with 80 percent of the revenue it directs during the year to promote, protect, and preserve that very industry.

Next year’s show will be held Jan. 20–23. See you there.

Chris Dolnack is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDolnack.

The Value of Trade Shows – Guest Blog from Timothy Schneider, Publisher, Association News

Appointment-only and reverse trade shows have grown demonstrably in popularity of late. Though these types of events have their place and can seem to be more cost-effective, the traditional trade-show format has inherent value that no other format does. As both an exhibitor at and organizer of trade shows, Timothy Schneider offers a well-rounded perspective and outlines three reasons why traditional trade-show exhibits help bridge gaps between customers and exhibitors.

The Value of Trade Shows, by Timothy Schneider

Attending, exhibiting at or sponsoring a trade show or conference can involve significant expense. In the past year, our company participated in a total of 50 different trade shows and conferences. When staff and travel expense is factored in, this level of live-event marketing can quickly dwarf the expense of the other forms of marketing our company utilizes.

In recent years, there’s been tremendous growth in the number of live-event marketing opportunities in practically every segment of the economy. There’s also been an increase in the number of appointment-only and reverse trade shows. In our experience, both as an exhibiting company and as an organizer of trade shows, we believe there’s a value in adding components to live events that help facilitate deal making. However, we also believe that the traditional trade-show format provides value that no other format can.

Read the full editorial on the Association News website.

Chris Dolnack is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDolnack.