First Time At SHOT Show

First Time At SHOT Show

I’m into double digit SHOT Shows (which pales in comparison to some people), but I’ve attended it as low-level media, mid-level buyer and now as higher-level media, so I have a fairly broad experience with this event. It’s tempting to think of SHOT as just another gun show, where the point of things is to hang out and look at cool guns and snarf up some swag from the dealers, errr, vendors.

This is not the case. It’s an INDUSTRY show, not a local gun show. It’s fun, but it’s also serious business, where millions of dollars of deals will be made. Some tips for surviving your first time there.

  1. SHOT is overwhelming on a level that is hard for people to comprehend. It’s the NRA Annual Meeting times 10, a local gun show 10 times 10. Nothing you have ever done in the firearms industry before can prepare you for SHOT. 
  2. If you’re going there for swag, stay the hell away from those of us whose livelihood depends on meeting people at SHOT. You’re going there for fun (and it can be fun, lots of fun), I’m going because it’s part of my job. If I have to wait for 10 minutes of my 30 minute appointment because someone is yammering on with the Director of Marketing about a great idea for a gun they should make, rest assured your words are falling on deaf ears. He’s more concerned about the appointment he’s missing with me than he is with what’s being told to him.
  3. Those red collapsible carts (or big red shopping bags) are instruments of Satan. Nothing says “I’m not really serious about attending SHOT” than a cart full of brochures and pamphlets.
  4. Monday Range Day may seem attractive because it’s invite-only and therefore cool, but what it really is is cold (I’ve yet to attend one that got above 60 degrees), windy and usually rainy. All this for a chance wait a half hour so you can put ten rounds downrange through a new pistol. Unless you’re media and have to go there or a dealer with masochistic streak, ignore it.
  5. The after-hours event opportunities for first-timers are limited. Embrace that fact, because unless your last name ends in “Trump,” you are not going to get invited to the Glock party or the Taran Tactical party or pretty much any major event. Accept it, and move on. Rather, leverage the connections you have in order to make better ones for later use. 
  6. Look at attending the Wednesday Beer Garden or similar NSSF-sponsored events to make good connections now so as to improve your experience later. 
  7. How do you make those connections? Don’t be someone who looks like they’re going to SHOT just for the free stuff (see items #1 and #2). To quote a very wise and very experienced firearms marketing dude, the gun industry is a small industry. It’s even smaller if you’re a jerk. 
  8. Consider staying until Friday afternoon. That’s the most social time in the booths, when things are winding down. In the past, there have been soft good vendors who would rather sell you their display items on Friday than ship them back home.
  9. Relax and soak in the vibe. It’s amazing experience. Enjoy it for what it is. At my first SHOT Show, I made the connections which resulted in me working as a full-time firearms writer for one of the biggest publications out there and I didn’t need a cart full of brochures to make it happen.