To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. Don’t Miss This Opportunity D espite all the benefits, there are still retailers who don’t want to spend the time to attend the SHOT Show. According to Sanetti, if you’re one of those retailers, you’re missing the biggest opportunity the industry offers to learn, meet with your vendors and suppliers and network with other people who are facing the same challenges as you. “Staying home from the SHOT Show is a false economy,” Sanetti said. “You can’t get information about new products from anywhere else this early in the year. You usually can’t handle a new product until you buy one from a distributor — unless you go to the SHOT Show. There, you can do that thing we all love to do: pick up the guns, see how they feel — all that hands-on experience for which there’s no substitute.” In addition, Sanetti said, attendance at the show will increase your bottom line. “The SHOT Show is the largest gathering of retail firearms dealers in the world,” he said. “You have lots of opportunities to talk to people in the same boat as you, to compare experiences, learn tips and find out how to defend yourself legally, and to learn how to increase your sales promotion and potential. All these things go right to your bottom line. They make you a more effective salesperson, and they make you better able to avoid the ‘false’ customers that could incur legal liability and cost you money.” Sanetti says SHOT Show allows attendees to learn what the best of this business is about. “It’s a giant emporium for learning everything there is 2010, when we’ll be at the Sands,” she said. “We’ll also be using some of the space at the Venetian.” In the future, the SHOT Show likely will alternate between Las Vegas and Orlando every few years, but there are no plans to have the show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Mannuzza said. “Another big show that’s the second- or third-largest show on the planet has taken our (January) weeks at the Las Vegas Convention Center,” Mannuzza said. Instead of holding a February show, NSSF planners say it’s important to give the attendees and exhibitors desirable dates. “Both the attendees and the exhibitors about the industry, and in this business, like everything else, knowledge is power and power is money. If you want to be a more effective retailer, you have to come to the SHOT Show,” Sanetti said. Future Show Locations n recent years, there have been questions about where future SHOT Shows would be held, due to the increasing size of the event and stiff competition for show space in Las Vegas and Orlando. Of the more than 12,000 business-to-business shows in North America, the SHOT Show has gone from 29th in size two years ago, to 23rd. “For the fifth time in six years, we received an award for being one of the 50 fastest-growing shows,” Mannuzza said. Although some scheduling challenges remain, the opening of the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas has eased the problem. “We already signed our contract for I have made it plain that they want the SHOT Show to be held in January,” she said. “So we have secured January dates for the next few years. The show probably will be in Las Vegas for the next two or three years, and then will go back to Orlando for a year. It’s important the East Coast buyers have an opportunity to come to the show.” And for those exhibitors and attendees who have heard rumors of the possibility of a show in Atlanta, that isn’t going to happen, according to Mannuzza. “The facility in Atlanta isn’t big enough and our post-show survey made it clear: nobody wants to go to Atlanta,” Mannuzza said. Your customer, their gun and their shotshell should be a winning team. If they hear the word ‘lost’ or ‘miss’ more often than they would like, maybe they should be customizing their shotshells to the team. It’s fun and easy. They select their custom load and put it together on a MEC Reloader. MEC has seven models to choose from and has supplied over two million machines to beginners and experts. Circle No. 239 on Inquiry Card 50 Read SI DIGITAL www.shootingindustry.com • SHOT SHOW SUPER ISSUE 2009