Having returned and mostly recovered from this year’s, annual shooting, hunting and outdoor trade show in Las Vegas, it’s time to post my annual reflection on “Hits, and Misses” at the show.
Overall, it was a great show.
I asked dozens of vendors what they thought of the show this year, and the reply was 100% positive. The Caesars convention center area was busy for the entire show, and everyone I talked to gained at least some new customers while there.
The efforts by the NSSF to filter the number of "lookee-loos" and clean up the attendance list, overall has definitely brought positive results.
Here is my impression of the show after discussions with vendors, attendees, members of the press, and the team I brought with me.
The free concert for attendees.
There was a great deal of buzz after the concert that was held that, unfortunately, due to previous commitments, I was unable to attend this year.
Networking events and nightclub entry each night
Again, though I did not attend, the overall feeling was that these events were highly worthwhile and allowed an additional place to interact with customers and new contacts. One thing I did not get a good feel on was if one of them was any better than the others. Perhaps we will dive deeper into that next year.
Attendance
As stated, above, attendance, this year was overwhelmingly high quality customers and high quality media. The NSSF has done an excellent job of purging their lists of people that don’t do much but take up space at the show.
The new product center
This is often one of the highlights of the show, where companies can feature their new products. It is a great resource for media to be able to go in, see new products, and then visit the booths that display those products for deeper interaction and content scheduling. the only thing that could make this area better is if it were larger, as there were many companies with new products that did not have them on display in the new product area.
The new "retail area"
One of the things that often comes off at SHOT Show is that there are a lot of great products on display, but no opportunity to take any home. Those small, there was a retail area set up outside of the Caesars Forum, where people could purchase items from more than a dozen vendors. This area seemed to be a big hit this year, and should be looked at to expand in the future. Additionally, there were no sales allowed on the show floor. This is a HUGE opportunity for both the NSSF and vendors, who can avoid large shipping costs and can even make some money to offset costs if they were allowed to sell their samples.
The SHOT after-parties
While the after party‘s/events seemed to number about the same, there did not seem to be as many events that were what would be considered. “spectacular.“ This may have been due to the new networking events put on by the NSSF after the show. I did not hear anything negative about any aftershow events that were put on and all of the ones my team and I attended seemed both well attended and well planned.
Industry Day at the Range
You can never control the weather, and the weather this year was rather awful. Temperatures in the high 30s to low 40s, wind, and rain made for a brutal outdoor experience. Those that check the weather ahead of time and we’re prepared were treated to an uncrowded event that allowed experience and interaction with more companies and products. That certainly isn’t a bad thing. Additionally, the event was expanded and looks to expand again next year. There were two things that greatly disappointed me and others I talked to at this year's "Range Day"... (and also dropped Range Day from the "Hits" column.)
1. Several main participants shut down and packed up their booths UP TO AN HOUR EARLY.
Bad form.
2. For the first time in many years, there was no lunch provided for media. "Buyers" were treated to lunch from 12:00-2:00 at food trucks. The feedback here was that "media" was less respected for their attendance than "buyers" were. This was mentioned a LOT in my survey of attendees. Personally, I don't know that this is a "deal breaker." I simply bought my team lunch and headed back out on the range.
The Restrooms
One word describes the condition of the restrooms on the show floor this year- DISGUSTING!
I was certainly not the only one to comment on the dismal condition of the restrooms in the convention center. Overflowing, trash, cans, disgusting toilets, and floors sticky with who-knows-what seemed to be the order of the day.
Some responsibility for this falls upon the attendees. Folks, it takes one second to lift up a toilet seat, flush a toilet, or walk from a urinal to the trashcan to dispose of your chew, snus, gum, and trash. Not performing these tasks is not only lazy – it is extremely disrespectful. Be better.
The press room hours
Once again, the pressroom closed an hour BEFORE the show closed on Friday. This creates quite a conundrum for working media, as there are still things to accomplish when the show ends on Friday. Additionally, this means that all equipment and materials has to be either carried onto the show floor, left behind, or checked at the Palazzo front desk. almost every media person I spoke with would like to see the media room left open for an hour after the event. Additionally, afternoon, and after show refreshments in the press room as in previous shows were sorely lacking.
Swag
This was a HUGE miss on the part of many vendors at the show. (No hats at HORNADY, of all places??)
Promotional items used correctly can have a huge, HUGE impact on your booth visits, as well as impressions made by your brand both at the show and for the entire year in between. I still carry a DDT backpack with RITON Optics’ logo on it that I received 3 or 4 years ago at their booth. I saw several others being carried around at the show and was asked more than a few times if they were giving those backpacks out at the booth. I would say that’s a pretty good impression and branding for both brands, wouldn’t you?
The promotional items that were there were generally low quality. The exception to this was “Retro Rifle,” who again gave away hundreds of shirts in their booth and had people asking all over the show where people got them from. This drove a great deal of traffic both to their booth and the Caesars Forum convention center area. This was a very smart move on their part, and one that is easily imitated.
Booth Pre-Marketing & follow-up
This applies mostly to media, but was also reiterated when I asked some attendees. I, personally, received less pre-SHOT Show messages this year than I have in at least the past three years.
If any pre-marketing was done, it was mainly done in bulk in the week to 10 days prior to the show. There’s a huge opportunity here for companies out there that pay attention and want to make a ton of money. Giving a compelling reason to not only come to your booth, but to make it a priority, can can you a lot of exposure and add $$$’s to your bottom line. This is increased exponentially when you send these out to media. In past articles, I have gone over the benefits of having media specific promotional items or samples marketed before the show and available at your booth as being a great way for a lot of excellent coverage. I can’t help but wonder if some of the large numbers of turnovers in marketing people across the industry and a shift to both rookie “marketing managers” and a heavier emphasis on social media is part of the cause.
This is a huge miss and even bigger opportunity for any brands that learn a lesson from it and implement it in the future.
There were some notable exceptions, such as WOOX, Seirus, Beyond Clothing, Mantis X, Ditale Outdoors, Mossberg, and Midway USA Foundation.
All sent compelling and individually addressed messages, rather than a simple press release or press release-like message like “Company X debuts product Y at SHOT 2023,” and already have had good follow up from the show. This is a key component of an effective content marketing program and one that, again, offers a HUGE opportunity to any company that steps up and takes advantage of it.
Badge Scan
As a registered media person, I was a bit surprised at the low numbers of folks that asked to scan our badges. I’m sure that this is likely due to some fee being involved for the technology, but with a show like SHOT, that cost may be worth it. If you do not have badge- scanning lead gathering technology availability, make sure that you gather cards, have a card scanning app, and follow up promptly with people you interacted with at the show, as well as add all of those names and emails to your marketing database. If you don’t have a marketing database, remember that they are very similar to trees. The best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago. The next best time is TODAY.
Separate Range Days
This is a tough one, as it is nice to be able to focus on one company and their products for a bit, but the time taken away from other events is definitely on the other side of the balance sheet… Industry day at the range is one of the easiest ways to get your products actually in the hands and utilized by 2000+ active industry media. I don’t know any other place where that is possible in a single, eight hour period.
Industry day will be expanded again next year, so there is an opportunity for those that were missing to come back, and those that have not attended or displayed in the past to put their name in for first crack at a new booth.
If you are interested in Industry Day at the Range, you can find more information at THIS LINK.
Overall, this year’s SHOT Show will go down as one of the best ever, and all of the new ideas and events implemented seemed to be very well received. Hopefully, after a year of reflection, next year's show will offer more and be even better!
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