Spent way too much before it was over at 5:00 pm today. Great convention. Everyone I talked to said that business was brisk and better than DSC. One outfitter told me he was tired of counting money.

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Spent way too much before it was over at 5:00 pm today. Great convention. Everyone I talked to said that business was brisk and better than DSC. One outfitter told me he was tired of counting money.

That is good news. Just maybe SCI is first for hunters?

That was tongue in check Saeed.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
I thought Thursday was definitely busier than Wednesday. Nice getting together Darin. Also fun to meet Faisal. He'd be a fun guy to share camp with.

You are right about Faisal. Good guy.

I was there for my 2nd time. I thought it was a great show. Never saw a protester.

SCI still has a looooong way to go in promoting legal, ethical hunting to the uninformed. They are certainly generating the funds to run a first class public relations campaign before it's too late.

I talked to two metro police officers who had been assigned to inside the show who had never seen anything like it. They were giddy about their assignment. I also talked with a casino security woman while waiting for my wife who said that the show had changed her perception about hunters and conservation-for the better. I explained to her about hunting quotas, anti poaching, meat and money distribution, etc., and she was positive in her remarks.

A visitor told me that he walked out front (yesterday) and there were about 100 protesters waving placards at motorists. He joined their throng for a while until they realised he was the enemy. The camo clothes he was wearing may have given them a clue.

I thought the new expanded show floor was great - although I didn't see much of it up close. There is certainly a lot more room to move about. I believe the reports of numbers being down were exaggerated. I expect there were similar numbers to the last few years. No doubt some outfitters and such will be finding it hard - there are so many factors working against us. What I did notice at the show were the great numbers of hunters from outside the USA. LOTS of Mexican hunters, lots of Canadians and very many Aussie visitors. It really helps when there are so many developing markets.

They predicted 300 or more protestors. Nothing in the Las Vegas Review Journal this morning, so their protests seemed to have lost a lot of steam. Yes, Matt, I agree with your assessments as well.

Enjoyed the show. According to my phone I covered about 13 miles and I didn't come close to seeing it all.

Went Wed/Thur, thought it was great! Got to see lots of old friends & swap stories.

Trying to decide about 2017, leopard/buff in Zim, Scotland Grouse, are at top right now?

Won a couple of Thursday Silent Auction items (wife's Valentine Day present!).

Agree with many that the show is massive. Many times a friend would call & we

would meet in the 1000 area, took 5 minutes of brisk walking from the 6000 area!

Also agree that education about conservation, poaching, habitat destruction,

$ from trophy hunting,...is the key to our survival as hunters. Talked with Ivan Carter

at length & believe his new show is going in the correct direction to accomplish this.

Overall, very good convention!

Jim

I might be wrong but there seemed to be fewer people to me.

Some outfitters I talked to did incredibly well. Others did not. Lion hunts have an obvious issue as do jumbo from certain countries. I was told by some operators in Zim that buff were difficult due to the cost.

There seemed to be fewer benches to rest our feet for a few minutes.

We had difficulty using the new system for our tickets. Help had to be enlisted to solve the issues. However, it did seem the lines were FAR shorter. I am not sure if the new system is the reason for this or if attendance is down.

I saw a lot of new ACDC shirts on Saturday.

We had a lot of fun. I am sure we will go again.

Larry: There were fewer benches to rest your feet.

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Larry: There were fewer benches to rest your feet.

Or maybe I am just getting old.

We both are! Nice to see you again at Charl's booth and to meet your lovely wife.

Just returned from the Show in Las Vegas and enjoyed it to the max. Great to be back after missing last years Show. SCI added an additional 500 Exhibitors this year and increased the display area by 17 complete rows. Aisles were wider, same number of benches(Larry ) just spread out more as was the entire Show. Show attendance was up just a little over the past couple of years(according to the Show Manager) whom I visited with for a bit.

I don't care what you think about SCI, the people who run it, how they run it, etc. Continue to "spin" those questions as you like. But in speaking directly about the "Show" it is without a doubt the largest, best and greatest Show in existence for us at the moment hands down. Not an opinion, simply the fact. Attend if you wish, but if you do not you are missing one hell of an event if you hunt, fish or do anything outdoors.

The booth I helped out in sold numerous Buff hunts, 3 Leopard hunts and various other hunts of lesser statue. In visiting with a dozen or so other Exhibitors I know, all had positive experiences at the Show. As usual the taxidermy displays were worth the cost of admission. Mandalay Bay provides a great backdrop for this event as compared to other venues I have visited in the past.

Congrats to SCI for putting on a fantastic event.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

Sidenote: Bet the house took a real beating on the Super Bowl results (saw a lot of really sad faces around) after the Denver D made Cam Newton look like a High School JV quarterback.

Mandalay Bay added another 300,000 square feet to their convention center floor space this past year in order to accommodate SCI and other conventions.

Larry Sellers

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Mandalay Bay added another 300,000 square feet to their convention center floor space this past year in order to accommodate SCI and other conventions.

I have been showing at SCI forever and there is zero doubt that it was the least attended show since our participation.I would say , and other longtime vendors with the experience to have an educated opinion agreed, down by at least 25% in attendance. Lots of factors are slowing the business down this year, but to say it was going gangbusters is simply not painting a realistic picture.

I have gone to the show a very long time. That is my conclusion as well Dave. I don't pretend to know the actual numbers.

Spot on Dave much less participation, and the donated hunts just kills our business!! for 2 plus hours every day there's nobody walking around, 100 s of possible clients of the floor. SCI can rather charge us double for booth space but this donation thing must stop.

I was there every day, all day, and people were walking around and the convention appeared to busy the entire time. Not sure what you meant by "for two plus hours every day there's nobody walking around." Can you explain? Now, mind you, not every booth had visitors stopping by to either chat(as most hunters do with their PHs) or book a hunt, but I noticed one irritating thing again this year and that is that alot of vendors/outfitters were just sitting there on their cell phones, talking with others in their own booth and/or otherwise ignoring people walking by and looking at their booths and not reaching out to those walking the aisles. Business is not going to just fall into your laps. I'm sure a lot of business was missed by that mistake. I was more apt to stop and talk with someone when they greeted me. Some that I would not have stopped at, but for that greeting, got some of my hard earned cash. Not that I need to instruct anyone in how to market their business, as that's their business, but it does help to speak to strangers who are passing your booth. (Some have even hired beautiful girls to do it for them)

quote:

Originally posted by INTREPID SAFARIS:
Spot on Dave much less participation, and the donated hunts just kills our business!! for 2 plus hours every day there's nobody walking around, 100 s of possible clients of the floor. SCI can rather charge us double for booth space but this donation thing must stop.

U E G

Phillip, I presume is talking about the daytime auctions.
It was indeed obvious that the traffic went almost dead during those hours.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
I have been showing at SCI forever and there is zero doubt that it was the least attended show since our participation.I would say , and other longtime vendors with the experience to have an educated opinion agreed, down by at least 25% in attendance. Lots of factors are slowing the business down this year, but to say it was going gangbusters is simply not painting a realistic picture.

Dave my guess was a down third , rather than 1/4--
though the stretched out floor plan could have accounted for some small amount of thinning the crowd.

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Larry: There were fewer benches to rest your feet.

Appeared to have fewer displays in the aisle as well.

Anybody know why Ruger and Smith and Wesson weren't at the show?

Interesting how Larry Sellers can claim an increase in attendance over previous years, and Clan Colla and others report attendance down 25-33%. Which one is accurate?

I attended the daytime auction on two occasions, but only for an hour at most, and coming out, I didn't find the aisles abandoned. But, hey, I guess that it's all about one's perception. As to actual attendance we'll have to leave that to SCI's official figures.

Yes I am talking about day time auctions, USE ENOUGH GUN, I was in booth all the time talking to everyone that wanted to talk or showed interest handed out half the marketing material I did last year, trust me my friend those isles went quick when those auctions were on, for the life of it I don't know why they have them during day time, I have 3 booths there at a cost of almost 8000 just for the booths, I honestly think it is not fear to the vendors to have so much stuff going on during show hours.

But we did some business not as good as last year thou. Just my 2 cents worth...

Those who are sure attendance was down - you do realise the convention was near twice the size of 2015? That really diluted the feet on the ground. I thought it was OK - about the same as the last few years. 2007 is but a distant memory.

Visitors that I asked all seemed very, very happy with the whole show.

MATT hope you are well, yes I know that but if SCI keeps on adding booths they better find A way to get more people in the doors then.

Phillip: They have both the day and night auctions to accommodate all of SCI visitors, as some will not stay around during the evenings, but do other things (dinner, shows, shopping, gambling, sightseeing, etc.) while in Las Vegas. Sorry that I didn't catch your booth, but I am sure that I walked by it more than once. Next year I will be looking for the beautiful girls to grab me or a personal greeting from your booth. Again, I agree with Matt. Everyone that I talked to enjoyed the show.

Use Enough gun. Please do looking forward to your visit, sorry you mist my booth next year I will make sure the girls have shorter skirts on...

Okey dokey. . . . . Will be looking for the girls with THE SHORTEST skirts in '17. Now, that will be a definite calling card for you!

quote:

Originally posted by INTREPID SAFARIS:
MATT hope you are well, yes I know that but if SCI keeps on adding booths they better find A way to get more people in the doors then.

Phillip - SCI did not simply add booths absent-mindedly - if you recall last year we were all crammed into the one smaller room (during construction), so some companies who regularly attend could not get a space and many of us gave up our surplus booth spaces to accommodate some of those. This year it was expanded to the new permanent space and everything was able to spread out again and companies allowed to take their full compliment.

Yes there must be more people through the door - but it is up to all exhibitors, not just SCI itself to promote the convention to the safari hunting world. It remains a members-only convention

According to the latest SCI report that I received today, SCI reported that the SCI Convention had over 1,000,000.00(one million) square feet of exhibit space, attracting nearly 25,000 (twenty five thousand) hunters, conservantionists, guides and outfitters annually. So, no exact numbers as of yet. Pretty impressive amount of convention space used this year. Here in SCI's own words:

"LARGE CONGRESSIONAL TURNOUT FOR 2016 SCI CONVENTION
Posted by firstforwildlife on February 10, 2016.
Congress-at-ConventionSCI was proud to have 9 Members of Congress in attendance at our annual convention and further understand SCI’s mission of “First for Hunters.” Attracting nearly 25,000 hunters, conservationists, guides, and outfitters annually, our convention has everything the sportsmen and women can dream of over 1 million square feet of exhibit space. SCI’s Convention presented lawmakers with one of the best opportunities to interact with the sportsmen’s community and the outdoor industry in the U.S."

Dave - Just curious what year you are comparing this years 25% decrease in attendance to? Is it last year, 2014, 2013, 2012 or maybe some other. Please list the attendance figures for your comparative year and the numbers for this year so we can see exactly what you are referring to if you will. I am guessing the 25% number is just something you picked out of the air? Right?

Maybe it was just YOUR booth that experienced a 25% decrease in activity? Maybe YOUR product is now not as popular as in the past? Maybe YOUR booth didn't have the appeal folks were looking for? Maybe YOUR type of client is going away? All seem to be a possibility huh?

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
I have been showing at SCI forever and there is zero doubt that it was the least attended show since our participation.I would say , and other longtime vendors with the experience to have an educated opinion agreed, down by at least 25% in attendance. Lots of factors are slowing the business down this year, but to say it was going gangbusters is simply not painting a realistic picture.

Matt - I think you are spot on with your observations. SCI has now provided the Convention goer with the ultimate venue, size and variety of Exhibitors to fulfill their every need and want. Now it's up to the Exhibitors to do their part in helping bring additional Show goers to the Convention. I can't help believe that constantly bashing SCI is a productive way to accomplish this?

As a Members Only Show, participating members will always be limited to a degree. No couples with a half dozen urchins who show up for one day as entertainment for the family will be in the SCI count as some of the other Shows. Just a difference and matter of fact.

As UEG pointed out the added benefit of SCI attracting Foreign Country Leaders as well as numerous US Congressional folks is such a great opportunity for these folks to get educated and see just what we are all about as hunters.

I see the "marketplace" really changing in this day and time. DG hunting is taking a major hit with less quota, out of sight prices, import restrictions of trophies, out of control airline regs. and much more. I talked with two very big and successful African bowhunting companies at the Show. One has expanded their business two fold and the other has tripled their operation. Both of these companies are COMPLETELY booked through 2017. They are marketing and appealing to the 30 to 50 age group. Both are looking at ways to further still the size of their operations. Just maybe all the old, rich, out of shape hunters (I fall in the old category) have slowly dwindled away and are no longer the mainstay of the Industry. Future marketing now needs to be geared to that younger group of hunters like I mentioned above?

As to the Live Auctions taking folks away from the Show. There are thousands of folks walking the Show while a few hundred are attending the Live Auction each day. A lot of those folks are also there for a short period of time looking to bid on a couple of hunts or so. This really is a moot point in affecting the amount of people that are diverted from the Show floor.

As I stated before, not trying to compare the SCI Convention with anyone else out there and not supporting how SCI as an organization is run. Simply commenting on what a great event the SCI 2016 Convention turned out to be.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

Larry,

You are spot on. I totally agree that bashing SCI at every possible opportunity does little for hunting overall and may even drive people away from hunting. The show is a super venue for all that is hunting sellers or buyers and if it was not very important to a huge amount of outfitters there would not be a waiting line to get a booth. Personally I'm very happy to be the consulting part of Atcheson Taxidermy and highly value the contacts I've made at the show. Additionally its a lot of fun!!!!

Mark

We took two of our grandkids again to the show this year on free youth passes that SCI offers (up to 6 youth passes are available to SCI members). They loved it and so did the vendors and outfitters that they were introduced to. I even saw Bill Jones, who I had mistakenly reported on a prior thread here on AR as potentially being 'dead'. And Kendall Jones (no relation) and her mom were there after the recent death of Kendall's father. They and a myriad of other 'famous' hunters, t.v. personalities, actors, well-known supporters and benefactors of SCI and hunting.

UEG- Glad your kidos liked the Show and bet they were overwhelmed by the taxidermy displays. Bet Bill Jones was glad to be their as well. My only regret is that I was so busy didn't have a chance to see and visit with as many folks as I would have liked to, you included.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member