We are here for the duration. We were in the convention center until about 4:30. We learned a few interesting things.

My observations and some of the things we learned are as follows:

1- We had walked through that entire hall by 1 PM. It usually takes us far longer. I am not sure if the reduced time is due to a smaller show or the layout.

2-The layout was difficult to follow. This was in part because the rooms were labeled differently on the map than the actual signage.

3- The traffic seemed very light . I heard a lot of complaints.

4- I saw no USFWS booth.

5- I noted quite a few empty booths. More than normal.

6- The shuttle service worked well for us. The driver on the bus we took was Mr. Personality. He was quite entertaining.

7-I was told about the decision regarding the location by someone who knows. What I was told is that there is a massive convention who makes SCI look tiny. The other convention was simply more attractive to Vegas. Corruption allegations are simply wrong.

8- I heard a lot of complaints about both Reno & Vegas. No matter what, someone will be unhappy.

9- I have yet to see a protest or a protestor.

10- The APP is quite helpful. However, not all exhibitors were listed. To be listed on the APP, a fee of $500 was required. In spite of paying , some exhibitors were not listed.

Did you stop by and say hi to Andrew?

I did indeed.

One other thing. I was shocked at who was NOT here. For example, TenPoint crossbow always exhibits. They are not here. Neither is Raven.

How is the Blaser booth

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
How is the Blaser booth

Mike

Not sure. When I it, I ran (as opposed to walk ) by as fast as I could.

$500 to be included in an app for the show when you already have a booth??

Bloody typical SCI bullshit!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
$500 to be included in an app for the show when you already have a booth??

Bloody typical SCI bullshit!

Saeed, I have to agree with you.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
How is the Blaser booth

Mike

Not sure. When I it, I ran (as opposed to walk ) by as fast as I could.

You should check out their optics.

Mike

My observations for the show are similar to most of Larry’s.

The layout was a little difficult to follow as per the map provided.

The traffic was steady but light. We didn’t see the entire show in the first day as we
Were able to stop into our regulars Phs ie CMS,Michel Mantheakis, Pete Barnard and had a good
Chat to all! Usually not doable as per previous shows where day one was always busy!.

Will finish off the rest of the aisles today, but our overall experience has been positive.
We are staying for the entire 4 days at Peppermill.tried to book a dinner for last night but none of the restaurants there could fit us in!!
Ended up going the RuthChris steakhouse at Silver Legacy and had a great meal!!
All staff from hotels restaurants , cabs have been super friendly and welcoming of Sci returning to there town.

All the outfitters are hoping Friday is the busy day to write the bookings etc.
I hope that it happens for them!

Blaser booth had the new optics there , they are superb but the price of the scopes was way up there too!

I thought SCI was one of the bigger conventions in LV at least that is what I was told by a couple of taxi drivers.It seems strange that they could not book the show in Vegas at Mandalay Bay or the convention centre sometime during a whole two month period.Reno is nice too no big deal.

LarryShores,
WRT absence of crossbow company;
A FRIEND AND HIS ARCHER SONS ARE ATTENDING A MAJOR ARCHERY CONVENTION IN THE SOUTHEAST USA.

The US archery market may be more important for those products than the African market.

Only speculation on my part.

Larry,

I never been to the SCI convention, but the ATA is going on now through Saturday. That may be a reason why TenPoint and Raven isn't there.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

7-I was told about the decision regarding the location by someone who knows. What I was told is that there is a massive convention who makes SCI look tiny. The other convention was simply more attractive to Vegas. Corruption allegations are simply wrong.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) convention - CES 2019, is going on this week in Las Vegas and they expect 180,000 attendees

quote:

Originally posted by crshelton:
LarryShores,
WRT absence of crossbow company;
A FRIEND AND HIS ARCHER SONS ARE ATTENDING A MAJOR ARCHERY CONVENTION IN THE SOUTHEAST USA.

The US archery market may be more important for those products than the African market.

Only speculation on my part.

Yep.. the ATA (Archery Trade Association) show is this week in Kentucky...

https://www.archerytrade.org/

Well, this probably explains the absence of the cross bow companies.

There is a bit of horrible news. A long time exhibitor, Tom Julian, was killed in a tragic accident while on the way to SCI. His company makes custom cabinets, bars, etc.

There are definitely more people today. Still slow in my book. Lots of people
are complaining about the show being dead.

ATA, ISE in Denver, and SCI in Reno. Great for everyone across the country but sucks for several smaller companies to try and support them all.

Very sad about Tom Julian. He was one of a kind for sure. Very sad news. Hopefully his two sons will keep the business going forward.

Tom Julian was a very fine gentleman & my wife & are are both saddened by his death.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

7-I was told about the decision regarding the location by someone who knows. What I was told is that there is a massive convention who makes SCI look tiny. The other convention was simply more attractive to Vegas. Corruption allegations are simply wrong.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) convention - CES 2019, is going on this week in Las Vegas and they expect 180,000 attendees

CES is huge

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Well, this probably explains the absence of the cross bow companies.

There is a bit of horrible news. A long time exhibitor, Tom Julian, was killed in a tragic accident while on the way to SCI. His company makes custom cabinets, bars, etc.

There are definitely more people today. Still slow in my book. Lots of people
are complaining about the show being dead.

Wow. A long time advertiser in Sporting Classics. Sad.

I hated to hear it. Tom attended my private show for several years. He and his family have always been good people.

My wife and I are enjoying Reno. It was a pleasure to meet Andrew Baldry, Arjun Reddy, and Scott Guthrie (Zindele Safari's.) It was good to see Charl again and to meet a few other people.

My wife and I also spent the morning in Reno and found prices cheaper than Vegas and the people very friendly.

Larry and his stunningly beautiful wife very kindly invited me to a dinner party and here there were a large number of AR members and familiar faces. That was extremely generous Larry and I thank you very much.







I was looking for the Wild Orchid which drew some funny looks from the reception.

That's funny. I see Buzzer attended that reception.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Larry and his stunningly beautiful wife very kindly invited me to a dinner party and here there were a large number of AR members and familiar faces. That was extremely generous Larry and I thank you very much.







I was looking for the Wild Orchid which drew some funny looks from the reception.

Andrew:

We appreciate the comments and were glad you could make it. Perhaps I will see you during the last two days.

The show is always fun
Got to see friends, will see more today and tomorrow
Stopped bu Andrew’s booth, talked to John Sharp about his book
It’s been fun, almost got ran over by couple scooters but dodged the bullets ( keeping my hunting reflexes sharp )
Gonna find my truck this morning...

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
The show is always fun
Got to see friends, will see more today and tomorrow
Stopped bu Andrew’s booth, talked to John Sharp about his book
It’s been fun, almost got ran over by couple scooters but dodged the bullets ( keeping my hunting reflexes sharp )
Gonna find my truck this morning...

Nice meeting you and see you for a steak later

Larry and his wife hosted me for dinner in Darwin in August. The guy is a class act. Plus, since his wife is a surgeon, I got free medical advice for what was then my fresh plastic surgery from the infamous Australian dog bite! How can you beat that?

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
The show is always fun
Got to see friends, will see more today and tomorrow
Stopped bu Andrew’s booth, talked to John Sharp about his book
It’s been fun, almost got ran over by couple scooters but dodged the bullets ( keeping my hunting reflexes sharp )
Gonna find my truck this morning...

Nice meeting you and see you for a steak later

Gaining weight during SCI Mate?

Definitely more people today. Far busier.

I take back my prior comments about the bus shuttle service. They are a problem now. Long waits.

A cab driver made an interesting comment. He said it seems the show used to be bigger.

Weather has been decent for the most part.

There are some interesting gadgets if one looks hard enough. I bought 5 “gutting guides.” These stop one from slicing the guts open. I also bought this fold up shooting bench. Should be killer for ground blinds. The Swarovski dS scope is amazing.

quote:

The Swarovski dS scope is amazing.

That it is, but it ain't cheap at $4500 a pop. Almost what I paid for entire my Swarovski BTX 95 mm modular spotting scope set up.

I was at the show today and thought the crowd was decent sized. One comment I consistently heard from exhibitors was that, even though the crowd was a bit smaller, people were there to book hunts and business was OK.

I did have a complaint for the people who organized registration. Many of us had tp park to the north, near the Atlantis; but were not allowed to enter the building on the north end, instead having to walk clear around to the front. The long walk wasn’t a big deal except that ITS RENO IN JANUARY! What if the weather had been bad?

Highlight of my visit was attending the dinner that Larry Shores hosted. It was great being able to finally meet some of the personalities who frequent this site. Larry and Mary Lynn, Thank You for the gracious hospitality.

Looking forward to next year’s show. It’s easy for me since it’s just a 2 1/2 hour drive over the Sierra’s.

I’ve been wandering around for a couple days also.

Crowds look bigger than last year in Vegas, but as said by others the set up is goofy.

The guys I’ve been talking with are noting that the volume is lower than the usual SCI show, and that a lot of their usual clients who go to both shows are electing to just go to Dallas over the fact they are so close together and Dallas is cheaper.

Have not met up with some folks as I’ve missed them at their booths.

Also, I’m told that a lot of Africa guys had issues with visas this year.

I’m leaving before noon and one of the guys I was going to talk with got his visa late, but is supposed to be here tomorrow AM, so no real time for looking around tomorrow.

Honestly, with the friendliness and cheaper prices in Reno, I do think I prefer it here- if not for the airline issues...

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
I was at the show today and thought the crowd was decent sized. One comment I consistently heard from exhibitors was that, even though the crowd was a bit smaller, people were there to book hunts and business was OK.

I did have a complaint for the people who organized registration. Many of us had tp park to the north, near the Atlantis; but were not allowed to enter the building on the north end, instead having to walk clear around to the front. The long walk wasn’t a big deal except that ITS RENO IN JANUARY! What if the weather had been bad?

Highlight of my visit was attending the dinner that Larry Shores hosted. It was great being able to finally meet some of the personalities who frequent this site. Larry and Mary Lynn, Thank You for the gracious hospitality.

Looking forward to next year’s show. It’s easy for me since it’s just a 2 1/2 hour drive over the Sierra’s.

Missing the dinner is probably what we miss most by not attending.

Larry always puts together an outstanding group of people.

Cheers
J&J

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
I was at the show today and thought the crowd was decent sized. One comment I consistently heard from exhibitors was that, even though the crowd was a bit smaller, people were there to book hunts and business was OK.

I did have a complaint for the people who organized registration. Many of us had tp park to the north, near the Atlantis; but were not allowed to enter the building on the north end, instead having to walk clear around to the front. The long walk wasn’t a big deal except that ITS RENO IN JANUARY! What if the weather had been bad?

Highlight of my visit was attending the dinner that Larry Shores hosted. It was great being able to finally meet some of the personalities who frequent this site. Larry and Mary Lynn, Thank You for the gracious hospitality.

Looking forward to next year’s show. It’s easy for me since it’s just a 2 1/2 hour drive over the Sierra’s.

Thanks Dan. It was a pleasure to meet you .

I thought of one other thing. When we came in, we noticed a variety of SCI apparel for little kids. We were going to buy this little vest for our soon to be 2 year old grandson. We should not have waited. These were gone in no time.

I agree with most of Larry's comments, USFWS was absent due to the government shutdown...I was told by a Deputy Director that they can't use gov issued cell phones or computers.My wife and I were fortunate enough to have been invited to Larry and Mary Lynn's party (and they are a class act)and it was a lot of fun. A couple of other AR members reluctantly identified themselves and it was good to put a face to a name.
Foot traffic appears to me to be light for a major convention, but as mentioned, the halls are oddly laid out and you cant see very much of it at one time.I am on a knee walker scooter thing following foot/ankle surgery and I had no trouble rolling that awkward bastard thru the halls due to aisle congestion (rolling on carpet is another matter, though).
The app thing did appear to upset several of the outfitters I talked to as did the spotty cell and wifi service.
As with every other show, some outfitters are selling lots of hunts and others are twiddling their thumbs and I heard the same complaints here in Reno as I will hear in Dallas next week.

I did not think the traffic was very heavy for a Saturday. I thought it was extraordinarily light.

Most exhibitors that I spoke with complained about the lack of sales.

The buses were a nightmare except for Wednesday.

My wife had recent shoulder surgery . She was walking around with her left shoulder in a sling. The number of people with shoulder problems who stopped her to discuss her surgery was astounding to me.
We estimate she was stopped by 30 people. Lots of people in pain out there.

Listening to many opinions, I can not help but think that without a change in the business model, we are going to see a severe decline in SCI.

I never saw a protestor or a protest. I did see a billboard with a anti-hunting message.

I covered as much as 5.9 miles in a day walking around the show. That is far less than the Vegas shows. Not sure why.

The floors seemed to be easier on the feet than I remember.

We had a fantastic time. Spent too much money. Drank too much Crown Royal. More will be consumed tonight.


Can’t wait to do it again.

It looks to me that everyone was having a great time at Larrys dinner. A nice way to do it Larry and Mrs Shores too.

I am sure Reno has some nice places too and probably the show will be building and correcting its problems and get on better next year.

It is just a long way there for us Texas guys and with DSC just a week away we wouldn't go to both shows.

Larry Shores:"Listening to many opinions, I can not help but think that without a change in the business model, we are going to see a severe decline in SCI."


In light of what Larry has recently posted, I ran across this newspaper article a couple of days ago. This article has some very interesting comments in it, even though it was published before the convention. Reality is now in the books for 2019. It will be interesting how SCI spins the convention. It appears that even some on SCI's board had concerns about the move back to Reno and the loss of 166-180 exhibitors and losing $1 million dollars a year in income. The internet said that SCI had 1100 exhibitors in 2018 and 877 this year. That is a difference of -223.


Safari Club International annual convention returns to Reno this week
Jason Hidalgo, Reno Gazette Journal Published 6:00 a.m. PT Jan. 8, 2019

Reno’s biggest trade show is back this week as the Safari Club International Annual Convention kicks off on Wednesday in the Biggest Little City.

The Safari Club’s 47th annual convention will run from Jan. 9 to 12 at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. The last time the show was held in Northern Nevada was 2013. Reno was supposed to host the event in 2015 but Safari Club pulled out, citing insufficient air service for its attendees.

The organization, however, announced in 2016 that it will return to Reno for a three-year stint from 2019 to 2021. The group plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for 2022, with the site of the next convention still to be determined. Reno is actively trying to land the 2023 show, with results likely depending on certain key factors, said Reno-Sparks Visitor and Convention Authority President and CEO Phil DeLone.

More: Public funding required for Reno convention center expansion

“SCI’s return to our destination hinges on successful financial results for these conventions in 2019 and beyond as well as the community’s commitment to building an expansion to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, which is necessary to meet Safari Club International’s trade show growth and requirements,” DeLone said.


Safari Club, meanwhile, described the return to Reno as “going home,” adding that Reno has hosted more conventions for the organization than any other city. This year’s convention will be the 21st time that Reno has been the site of the event. Las Vegas has played host to the convention 16 times.

The return of the convention, which attracted more than 18,000 attendees in 2018, has been a boon to area hotels. As of last week, advanced reservations stood at 17,950 room nights, according to DeLone. More than 20,000 attendees from about 103 countries also are expected, bringing an estimated economic impact approaching $20 million.


Phil DeLone, former Safari Club International CEO, talks about returning to Reno and what it will take to ensure the group keeps coming back. Jason Hidalgo

“From the interest we have seen from the membership and exhibitors, as well as the high advanced number of room nights pre-confirmed at the area resorts, all indications suggest a very well attended and robust convention and trade show,” DeLone said.

Prior to his return to Reno to lead the RSCVA, Delone served as Safari Club CEO from 2012 to 2016. It also was DeLone who announced the annual convention’s return to Reno back in July 2016, several months before taking the RSCVA post.

The convention’s return to Reno serves as a big boost for the city, particularly after the cancellation of the 2019 Interbike trade show. Interbike was supposed to be held at Reno-Tahoe through 2022. The fate of the annual bicycle convention, which attracted 23,000 attendees as recently as 2015, is in doubt after seeing a decline in attendance in the last few years combined with tariff impacts on the industry.

The loss of Interbike also makes the Safari Club convention even more important for Reno. Although the number of available flights at Reno-Tahoe International Airport has seen significant improvement in recent years as the economy rebounded, Las Vegas continues to have the edge on Reno for air travel options.

Safari Club also raised concerns about Reno’s smaller convention space last year. Back in July, Skip Donau, a member of the Safari Club’s board of directors, told the RSCVA board that the organization is losing between 166 to 180 exhibitors by moving the show from Las Vegas to Reno.



“We’re leaving $1 million (per year) to be here,” Donau said. “Our group really loves Reno but we can’t continue to leave $1 million this year and another $1 million next year and the year after that for a long period of time.”

The RSCVA is in the midst of a feasibility study to look at options for expanding the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. Expanding the facility to meet the needs of large conventions such as Safari Club is expected to require around $135 million in public funding, likely through another room tax increase.

Safari Club, meanwhile, says it is looking forward to its return to the Biggest Little City.

“(Reno) is a great place to get together with old buddies and to stop back at old haunts,” the Safari Club stated on its official site for the convention.

IF YOU GO

The Safari Club International convention will be held from 10 a.m., Wednesday, Jan. 9 to Saturday afternoon on Jan. 12. The event is open to SCI members, with registration available for new joining members onsite at the event. The convention will feature various exhibits including the latest guns and hunting equipment. Attendees also can book hunts, listen to speakers and enjoy various types of entertainment at the event. For more details, visit: https://www.safariclub.org/sci-annual-convention.

Jason Hidalgo covers business, technology and gaming for the Reno Gazette-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @jasonhidalgo. Support local journalism: RGJ digital subscription.