SHOT Show Triumphs ‘Against All Odds,’ Earns Gold 100 and Grand Awards

To: ALL MEDIA
For immediate release

October 7, 2015

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Bill Brassard
203-426-1320

SHOT Show Triumphs ‘Against All Odds,’ Earns Gold 100 and Grand Awards

NEWTOWN, Conn.—The SHOT Show, owned by the National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), was honored with Gold 100 recognition and a Grand Award at the Trade Show Executive Gold 100 Awards and Summit in Santa Barbara, California, last week.

The awards signify that the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) is among the Top 100 Trade Shows in the world and, for the Grand Award, that SHOT Show overcame great obstacles to achieve extraordinary success at its 2014 show, making it the perfect candidate in the Against All Odds category.

“We’re honored to receive these awards,” said Chris Dolnack, NSSF’s Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “I can’t imagine a better example of a trade show team rising to the occasion to overcome multiple challenges to put on a successful event than that shown by the SHOT Show team leading up to the 2014 show. It was a heroic, Mt. Everest-summit-like effort.”

The show faced such steep odds because NSSF had ended its relationship with a longtime show management company following the 2013 show. That led to the necessity of developing a new show management team along with new contracts for its convention center facility, partner hotels, general service contractor and other vendors—no small task for the largest trade show of its kind in the world that attracts 67,000 attendees, 1600 exhibitors and more than 2,400 members of the media.

With about half a year to produce a huge trade show from scratch, NSSF and its new show management company, ConvExx, new marketing firm, CSG, and longtime partner Freeman not only accomplished the mission but produced one of the most successful SHOT Shows in history. Buyer attendance grew by eight percent over the previous year. On the exhibition show floor, it was another SHOT Show sell-out, and the post-show survey revealed exhibitor satisfaction as the highest rated ever.

“Truly, we excelled against all odds,” said Dolnack. “There were those who said it couldn’t be done, but SHOT Show has long set a high bar for excellence and that was our motivation. I could not be more proud of all who contributed to the effort with their unique talents. Of course, now we have to do it again for the 2016 show—and we will!”

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About NSSF
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 12,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers. For more information, visit www.nssf.org.