shot showThe annual Shot Show was held this year at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas. The last time it was held in the west was in January 2007 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Now, if you don't know what the Shot Show is, it's a trade show bringing together manufacturers and distributors of firearms, outdoor products, hunting gear and tactical suppliers with retailers. This is an industry show, not a show for the general public. There's no buying of merchandise by consumers going on during the show, nor is the general public allowed entrance into the show.

If you are in the industry and you haven't been to the show, I have to tell you, it is something to see, especially when it was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. At the Sands... well, it's like packing ten pounds of garbage into a five pound bag. The Sands is simply not a large enough venue to handle the number of exibitors elegantly.

If you weren't fighting to get around knucklheads who stop in the middle of the narrow aisles to have a conversation, you're tripping over half the people who are toting rolling carts behind them. It really was a pain in the you know what to get around the show especially when you're lost most of the first day. Getting lost at this year's show was an easy task, or missing significant portions of it was even easier unless you used the layout map to find where everything was in the multi-room, multi-floor complex.

My award for the most elaborate corporate presence once again goes to Nikon. Two two-story wooden buildings that look like a hunting lodge joined together with a patio-like cover takes the cake everytime I see it. There were others that do a great job with their presentations, but Nikon always catches my eye.

Unfortunately, the show will be held at the Sands Convention Center again in January 2011. I really wish they would move it back to the Las Vegas Convention Center where the aisles were wide and you have some breathing room to walk without tripping over everything from feet, to rolling tote boxes to electric scooters. You would have thought the Sands was a convention for the Scooter Store. And, by the end of the first day with my feet so tired and sore, those pesky and annoying rent-a-scooters looked quite enticing. I understand their popularity.

If you're in the outdoor, military/tactical gear or firearms industry and you haven't made it to the Shot Show, you have got to go. You are missing one of the greatest annual events that exposes your business to retailers, or as a retailer, it is by far the best source for new product innovations and connecting with suppliers. I know that each time I go I'll find several new products that more than pay back the cost of going to this event.

The National Sports Shooting Foundation does a great job with this premier event. Despite the crowded conditions, this year's show was no doubt a success for the industry and retailers as well. You would have never known that we are in the middle of the worst recession in 70 years.

Next year, I promise pictures of some of the more elaborate manufacturer's exhibits and new products.