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shot show in Las Vegas Feb 08
5mmgunguy
Member Posts: 3,092 ✭✭
How do you get into the shot show in Las Vegas?
Comments
D.
I've written this on a couple of the last occasions for the SHOT Show:
From the SHOT Show website:
NOTE: "Only individuals doing business in the shooting, hunting or outdoor trade or affiliated with the trade may
attend the SHOT Show. Attendees may be required to provide additional verification of their trade-related business
or affiliation (e.g., FFL or other supporting documentation) prior to or during the show. Individuals should carefully
review the show's exhibitor and attendee rules prior to registering. Registration and subsequent admission constitutes
full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of all show rules."
Usually there is a great misunderstanding about what SHOT Show really is. It's a trade show for the outdoor industry. Some folks still think it's just one huge gun show, when in reality, it's an industry show where retail establishments work out their orders for the year and industry professionals review what's new and upcoming. But basically it's for the retailers to do business, negotiate prices and to get their orders in for the year.
There have always been thousands of the general public that get in simply because they know an FFL or some other related industry professional like a store owner/manager. They still have to pay for a ticket to get in but $20.00 for a 4-day trade show is inexpensive. The big hit comes from the hotels/motels and restaurants that enjoy the trade show gouge that goes on in every city with an exhibition hall.
It's getting to be prohibitively expensive to travel to the show and stay for the duration. Yes, I know you can write it off but you still have to have it to spend in the first place. Rooms in and around Las Vegas are just about sold out if they're anywhere near the show and have been due to the Super Bowl ('08) and a couple of other goings-on.
It's a great experience but those 4-days go really fast and I have yet to be able to see and talk with all of the exhibitors that I want to work with. Nowadays, with the internet, you can pretty much be there without the expense of staying at the show and struggling through the huge crowds. There are lots of sites that feature daily updates complete with photographs if you search around a bit.
Best.
Will a CCR get one in?
No. It is not a gun show. If you want the same thing go to the NRA convention. That's open to the public.
Think the admission fee should be ramped up to minimum of $50-$100. Our money is easily recovered by many sources.
I attend another....NO, I stopped attenting another yearly national-international in OPE because my time and resources were being wasted.
Screening should be improved, and maybe badges better coded so when a exhibitor 'sees' the difference in badges they can prioritize, amd maximize all our time & resources.
Don't like LV, so I don't do LV. SCI in Reno is as close as I get. Have a great time. The companies that care will provide info, etc.
Everywhere else sucks, and I mean sucks.
Dallas? Please. New Orleans. Yeah, if you want to get robbed. Orlando? There were crickets chirping louder than the eventgoers at last year's SHOT show.
LV is it. Don't like it? Don't go. But for most of us "little people" it's where we get a chance to put hand to product and see if it's something we, in our "little world" down here would like to spend what little money we have for inventory, and then sell to customers.
I've been an 01 FFL since 1989 and a 07/C2 since 1999, so I've been around the block a few times, and know what's what. Big Crowds is what SHOT wants and needs. It feeds the city that the convention is held in and makes everyone happy.
My only complaint this year is that they scheduled it the same weekend as the Super Bowl. That was not smart. Luckily, my wife, who is the Uber-planner, had our hotel rooms and airfare bought and paid for in March. Life is good.
D.
Like your "map & message". By the message, and location, I guess illegal immigrants are a problem, and you have my sympathy.
A situation joke you may like, goes something like this;
America's problem like Floridas Alligators, New Orleans flooding dikes, and illegal immigrants could be solved by...
Dig a moat, build a wall the entire length between Mexico & the USA.
Use the dirt to fill in New Orleans....and more.
Put the alligators in the moat.
Show locations have always been an issue, and will always be as long as everyone can't get there easy, and with little cost. But that's part of being committed to business. The S.S. has another big problem with some locations not being 'show friendly' , and 'attendee friendly' because, you guessed it
GUNS.
There are alot of good places to have shows, but people (attendees) have to make the best of, if they want to Learn & Earn, besides getting show specials. It's not a question of "little people", and my comment wasn't intended along that vein, especially since a huge part of the industry make up was, and still is Mom & Pop stores.
Over the years, a fair amount of S.S. "visitors" have NADA to do within the industry.....and don't even work for a firearms related business.
All I'm saying is too often heavily paying attendees like you, like us little people wait too, too many times, and too long to really 'talk to a vendor, a factory, much less really get to see new products by a heavily paying exhibitor, and can't. Everyone loses in some way....except the non involved person.
One good thing about LV is the Super Bowl won't be blacked out. Bet you'll see alot of TV's and ear buds on the 3rd.
Hope you, and Ihre Uber-Fachplanner (auf Deutsch=your Super Expert Planner)first have a safe trip, lost of fun, and it's financially very rewarding.
Since I don't know who you want to win the Super Bowl, can't say the same, but if I was going to LV, I'd bet you a bier on New England, even though I'm a hopeless Raider fan.