I really like the idea of food trucks. All the restaurants in and around the omni are packed at lunch time.

With SCI going to reno next year, DSC will be the one that is for sure. Without vegas, SCI suffers more in comparison in my opinion.

John,

The SCI show is here in Vegas for at least two more years according to the SCI website. Thank you Lord!

Mark

Another excellent show! The only one worth doing IMHO. The volunteers are incredibly helpful, prices are reasonable, and it's a friendly atmosphere to bring your whole family to. I look forward to next year!

MY only complain is the need to move the date on at least one week, hard for me to travel away from my family every year on news years day and for some reason airfare just seems much higher at that time of the year.

Not sure if this has been mentioned...I noticed what appeared to be a couple of unsold booth spaces sitting empty...if that happens again why not make one of them an AR meeting area?, instead of putting it downstairs.

quote:

Originally posted by Heym 450/400:
Not sure if this has been mentioned...I noticed what appeared to be a couple of unsold booth spaces sitting empty...if that happens again why not make one of them an AR meeting area?, instead of putting it downstairs.

Uhhh...Pretty sure that isn't going to happen. Every year, for whatever reason, an exhibitor or two doesn't show up. Weather, missed flights, death in family, or as with this past convention, a medical emergency. Empty booth space is ugly and the Exhibits Manager tries very hard to utilize any empty booth that is brought to her attention. I believe we (meaning DSC) are pretty generous in providing a meeting room, for which there is great demand and we are very happy to provide the space and I'm pretty sure the room will be available again next year.

There was a rather large empty space between the BVC booth and a booth selling leather goods and the like. Just as an example...

quote:

Originally posted by DrScott:
I have 14 items on my list so far which includes the items listed above and what I had outfitters tell me in the hall. Please keep them coming.

Moving the days to Wednesday though Saturday puts us in to New Years day for set up which the outfitters really hate and the volunteers aren't wild about it either. If we move to dates later in January we start to conflict with the other shows.

I agree on the convention hall food. When you deal with a city owned facility you are pretty well locked in to their food vendor. But the Owners Box and Texas Spice in the Omni are good and there are 4 restaurants right next to the Omni that are good (sushi, pizza, Mexican and Beergarten).

As a long-time exhibitor I have now, and have always had only one real complaint. PLEASE STOP THE DAMN ANNOUNCEMENTS OVER THE "TOO LOUD" SPEAKER. Its outrageously annoying, it constantly interrupts conversations with potential clients / others, and I can't recall the last time anyone ever paid one ounce of attention to what was being said?

As input, rather than a real complaint. The physical size might be big enough - but certainly not attendance to really warrant 4 days, especially Sunday. Sunday is dead! Or certainly it appears that way. I did numerous years in the Dallas Market Hall, before the convention center. It seems the show has tripled in size / exhibitors, but not in attendance. Making it harder when 3 times the exhibitors are competing for the same number of potential customers.

Just my perspective from a long-time exhibitor.

Altering/eliminating loudspeaker messages will be a priority for me.

Since there are banquets and parties that typically run past midnight on Saturday I don't think it likely that Sunday would be totally eliminated from the convention hours. Certainly move out would not be on Saturday night. I will bring up the suggestion of an earlier closing at our planning meetings - I can see some merit to closing at noon on Sunday. It would make the move out and traffic volunteers happy - they might get home before midnight. But I am sure there are people with different opinions that will have to be considered.

quote:

Originally posted by DrScott:
Altering/eliminating loudspeaker messages will be a priority for me.

Since there are banquets and parties that typically run past midnight on Saturday I don't think it likely that Sunday would be totally eliminated from the convention hours. Certainly move out would not be on Saturday night. I will bring up the suggestion of an earlier closing at our planning meetings - I can see some merit to closing at noon on Sunday. It would make the move out and traffic volunteers happy - they might get home before midnight. But I am sure there are people with different opinions that will have to be considered.

I hope to spend 4 days at dsc next year.

The aloft is an excellent hotel choice.

Cutting Sunday to noon is a waste - either have a full day or just cancel Sunday. I prefer you keep Sunday.

Karl - thanks again for the tickets.

Dsc is a great show.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:

quote:

Originally posted by DrScott:
Altering/eliminating loudspeaker messages will be a priority for me.

Since there are banquets and parties that typically run past midnight on Saturday I don't think it likely that Sunday would be totally eliminated from the convention hours. Certainly move out would not be on Saturday night. I will bring up the suggestion of an earlier closing at our planning meetings - I can see some merit to closing at noon on Sunday. It would make the move out and traffic volunteers happy - they might get home before midnight. But I am sure there are people with different opinions that will have to be considered.

I hope to spend 4 days at dsc next year.

The aloft is an excellent hotel choice.

Cutting Sunday to noon is a waste - either have a full day or just cancel Sunday. I prefer you keep Sunday.

Karl - thanks again for the tickets.

Dsc is a great show.

Mike

I can't understand why someone who hates hunting would want to attend the show.

quote:

Originally posted by DrScott:
Altering/eliminating loudspeaker messages will be a priority for me.

Since there are banquets and parties that typically run past midnight on Saturday I don't think it likely that Sunday would be totally eliminated from the convention hours. Certainly move out would not be on Saturday night. I will bring up the suggestion of an earlier closing at our planning meetings - I can see some merit to closing at noon on Sunday. It would make the move out and traffic volunteers happy - they might get home before midnight. But I am sure there
are people with different opinions that will have to be considered.

I like the Sundays. I travel from out of town with kids. So we can't leave until school lets out on Friday afternoon. Saturday tends to be crowded, and it can be difficult to chat with everyone. In the past, I've booked/bought more stuff Sunday than Saturday.

I agree that Sunday has very low attendance and should close by 1pm.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:

quote:

Originally posted by DrScott:
Altering/eliminating loudspeaker messages will be a priority for me.

Since there are banquets and parties that typically run past midnight on Saturday I don't think it likely that Sunday would be totally eliminated from the convention hours. Certainly move out would not be on Saturday night. I will bring up the suggestion of an earlier closing at our planning meetings - I can see some merit to closing at noon on Sunday. It would make the move out and traffic volunteers happy - they might get home before midnight. But I am sure there are people with different opinions that will have to be considered.

I hope to spend 4 days at dsc next year.

The aloft is an excellent hotel choice.

Cutting Sunday to noon is a waste - either have a full day or just cancel Sunday. I prefer you keep Sunday.

Karl - thanks again for the tickets.

Dsc is a great show.

Mike

I can't understand why someone who hates hunting would want to attend the show.

True I don't need to attend the hunting shows to book my hunts as I can use whatsapp to call my previous outfitters and book a hunt. But then I have not been blacklisted by someone I hunted many times and been called a liar by them on a public forum. Don't worry shootaway if you wire money someone will hunt with you regardless of your reputation.

I will be in vegas same time as sci - need to decide if I want to do the show - maybe look at some fishing trips, real estate, furniture and guns.

I booked my 2017 red deer hunt on ar.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by DrScott:
Altering/eliminating loudspeaker messages will be a priority for me.

Since there are banquets and parties that typically run past midnight on Saturday I don't think it likely that Sunday would be totally eliminated from the convention hours. Certainly move out would not be on Saturday night. I will bring up the suggestion of an earlier closing at our planning meetings - I can see some merit to closing at noon on Sunday. It would make the move out and traffic volunteers happy - they might get home before midnight. But I am sure there are people with different opinions that will have to be considered.

From breaking down a booth and hauling it away on Sunday afternoon for a few years now and attending DSC for a decade and a half...I think a 2:30-3 pm close time would be good for Sunday.

I may be the odd man out, but I like attending the show on Sunday. I live in Dallas and make it a priority to visit the show on Thursday before the heavy crowds descend on the show. I avoid the show on Saturday like the plague and almost always visit the show on Sunday to finalize business.

quote:

Originally posted by WBT:
I may be the odd man out, but I like attending the show on Sunday. I live in Dallas and make it a priority to visit the show on Thursday before the heavy crowds descend on the show. I avoid the show on Saturday like the plague and almost always visit the show on Sunday to finalize business.

Could you finalize that business by 1pm?

As one who also is there to the end to help one of the outfitters out with move out, those last couple of hours are extremely slow. Knocking off a couple of hours from the viewpoint of the outfitters I think would not hurt them business wise. And being able to be done with move out while there is still daylight has its advantages.

Many of the African outfitters and I'm sure from other foreign lands rent out storage units in the area. It's cheaper to buy furniture and whatever else you need in the booth and store it for a year than it is to rent those things. So move out isn't quite done when you leave the convention center, you still have to unload at the storage unit. With the hours as is, that usually means doing this in the dark. Not a huge deal, but it would be nice to do that while there's still daylight especially when you think about how the last couple hours of the show were pretty dead.

This past year we closed the convention at 3:00 on Sunday. A few years back we were closing at 4:00.

You can see the difficulty in making this decision. Just on this discussion thread there are people that want it to stay the same and others that want an earlier close and others that want to do away with Sunday altogether.

I can tell that I have discussed this already with DSC president and executive director. They will be at SCI and will do some further polling of the exhibitors. An idea to lower the price of a Sunday ticket if hours are shortened is also under consideration.

I don't know what the final decision will be but I do want you to know that you concerns are being heard and your participation is valued (and not just on this one issue).

quote:

I can tell that I have discussed this already with DSC president and executive director. They will be at SCI and will do some further polling of the exhibitors. An idea to lower the price of a Sunday ticket if hours are shortened is also under consideration.

I have avoided Saturday in favor of the days when it is easier to get around and actually talk to people. When it is very busy there are times you just can't speak to the exhibitors you want to see. I waited quite a while to talk to a PH once, and when he finally freed up he said he had to leave to go meet with another PH...

Due to my kids' schedules I have gone with them and my wife more than once on Sunday afternoon. I have bought tickets at 1:00 and pointed out the show is almost over, how about a discount. The answer was basically -- sure, if you wait until the last hour.

Thursday and Friday are good if you take off work as you can usually see the folks you want to talk to. Doesn't work well if you go after school as it closes so early, and after work is just not an option.

My youngest graduates from high school this spring so the timing is not so much of an issue any more.

I did skip the show this year as I had other things occupying me. Hopefully next year will be a different story.

quote:

Originally posted by DrScott:
This past year we closed the convention at 3:00 on Sunday. A few years back we were closing at 4:00.

You can see the difficulty in making this decision. Just on this discussion thread there are people that want it to stay the same and others that want an earlier close and others that want to do away with Sunday altogether.

I can tell that I have discussed this already with DSC president and executive director. They will be at SCI and will do some further polling of the exhibitors. An idea to lower the price of a Sunday ticket if hours are shortened is also under consideration.

I don't know what the final decision will be but I do want you to know that you concerns are being heard and your participation is valued (and not just on this one issue).

I was thinking it closed at 4 this year too. Come to think of it...we did get home a bit earlier this year than last. Three PM is not a bad choice.

It's nice to know that DSC actually seeks our opinions. Does SCI?