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June 12, 2015
NSSF Industry Summit Earns Rave Reviews
NSSF recently held its Industry Summit in Savannah, Georgia. A gathering of our industry’s most prominent and influential professionals, each Summit we put together strives to be a “think tank” for discussing the issues most affecting our industry’s efforts to expand participation in hunting and the shooting sports.
This year’s Summit theme was diversity. As I stated in a recent press release about the Summit, over the years many of us have discussed how to expand shooting participation numbers beyond the traditional predominance of Caucasian males. We’ve made tremendous strides in welcoming women into the sport in the past couple decades, but we haven’t been as successful when it comes to ethnic diversity. And the thing is, there are legions of African-American, Hispanic and Asian recreational and competitive shooters out there, as well as hunters, but they aren’t part of the greater family of gun enthusiasts most are familiar with. We need to change that, need to create the avenues that will welcome these shooters into the fold, and that’s what this year’s Summit focused on.
We received terrific feedback from the Summit via the survey we sent to attendees immediately after the event. Quite frankly, while our Summits have always been well-received and productive, this year’s meetings garnered more marks for high satisfaction than ever before and for everything from the tour of the Daniel Defense plant and the first night’s welcome reception, to the headlining speakers bringing to light the newest research in firearms buying trends and cutting edge business plans that incorporate diversity and community outreach efforts to expand shooting participation numbers. Here are a few of the many positive comments we received:
This was the first Summit we have attended and were very pleased with the networking, discussions and directions that NSSF is taking regarding diversity. Presenters were excellent and the facility was great.—Mike Christoff, President, Sticky Holsters and Mobile Tactics
A unified industry moving toward the same goals is paramount to the industry’s long-term success. The NSSF Industry Summit allows us to participate in and help shape that. The networking opportunities and insight gained from the various speakers is worth the time invested and a ‘must attend’ spot on my calendar. Looking forward to 2016.—Paul D. Parrott, Vice President Sales, Marketing and Business Development, Strategic Armory Corps
The second Summit in a row I have been able to return to work with useful information and action items in hand. Well worth the time spent. Keep up the great work!—Bill Kempffer, Deep River Sporting Clays and Shooting School
This year’s Summit was a spyglass to the future of the sport and our bottom line as a retailer. I felt confident on the direction my company has travelled based on the overall summit message and I have factual information to fine-tune for increased future success.—Dennis Rohman, P2K Sports
This year’s NSSF Industry Summit was my first. It’s a valuable event and I’ve met some wonderful people here! I’m looking forward to next year’s Summit.—Sarah Donnell, President, Primer 180
Our survey showed that 99 percent of respondents were satisfied with their Summit experience, 98 percent said the Summit met their expectations and 94 percent of the respondents said they plan to attend next year’s event June 6-8 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Those are numbers any event organizer would be proud of—and we certainly are.
NSSF would like to thank its many sponsors for their support of the 2015 Industry Summit, including Georgia USA, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, PolyCase Ammunition, Troy Defense, Blue Force Gear, Daniel Defense, Boy Scouts of America and Magpul.
Chris Dolnack is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDolnack.
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