SHOT Show Downside

[tac40]

Do you think SHOT has the ability to launch new products the same way that it did 10 years ago?

IMHO, no. Too many venues out there and the rising cost may turn some of the big vendors off. The crowd felt like it was looking for an used car deal.

[JustMatt]

This happened in the video game industry a few years ago. They have a trade show called E3, it all but disappeared in a matter of a year. I never attended E3 but by all accounts it was on par with SHOT. I did attend last years SHOT in Orlando and was impressed with the size and didn't find it over crowded that bad. I remember guys from LWRC, MagPul, Larue, Surefire, ASP and Taser all taking time to talk to me even when I identified myself as a correctional officer and that there product didn't affect me professionally but I was interested personally. Maybe Vegas is bigger than SHOT when it's in Orlando? As to new product launches, how many people there are in a position to buy the LEO/MIL only stuff that 90% of us go there to see? I did bring back some info for my CERT team commander but the majority of what I was there to see was for my own personal enjoyment. It would seem that maybe SHOT has grown to big and can no longer serve it's purpose as originally intended.

[jdun]

This happened in the video game industry a few years ago. They have a trade show called E3, it all but disappeared in a matter of a year. I never attended E3 but by all accounts it was on par with SHOT. I did attend last years SHOT in Orlando and was impressed with the size and didn't find it over crowded that bad. I remember guys from LWRC, MagPul, Larue, Surefire, ASP and Taser all taking time to talk to me even when I identified myself as a correctional officer and that there product didn't affect me professionally but I was interested personally. Maybe Vegas is bigger than SHOT when it's in Orlando? As to new product launches, how many people there are in a position to buy the LEO/MIL only stuff that 90% of us go there to see? I did bring back some info for my CERT team commander but the majority of what I was there to see was for my own personal enjoyment. It would seem that maybe SHOT has grown to big and can no longer serve it's purpose as originally intended.

E3 was dissolved because it started to strictly limit the number of people that was allowed to enter. Instead of over 60+K attendees, it drops down to less then 5k.

The E3 staff did it because there were complaints that the convention was costing way too much for the vendors. Cost did come down but the vendors saw less people to promote their products too. In the end the vendors start leaving E3 because well no one came to see their products.

What end up happening was many new gaming conventions started taking over what E3 used to offer. Now instead of going to one big gaming convention every year, the vendors are going to multiple gaming conventions each year.

Becareful what you wish for, E3 was not the only one that fell for it. Comdex comes to mind

[joffe]

They might just need to hire new people. There are plenty of huge trade shows, especially within consumer electronics and computer games, that manage to organize very effectively and draw crowds and praise every year. Maybe they could poach some of those people?

[Stickman]

Poor overall management may be a part of it.

[Fontaine]

What end up happening was many new gaming conventions started taking over what E3 used to offer. Now instead of going to one big gaming convention every year, the vendors are going to multiple gaming conventions each year.

Penny Arcade Expo is a great time, and it's an example of what happens when you get fans to make a convention by the fans for the fans.

It seems to me that SHOT show truly is no longer a industry event. Literally half of my firearms buddies got into the show, and only a small percentage of them are actually involved in the industry.

Clearly, there is some pent up demand from the fan boys and armchair commandos for a venue (count me in their ranks), hopefully someone somewhere sometime will be able to form an event where they can get all the manufacturers that hate each other to set up booths in the same convention center.