I’m writing this blog post from a small room in the Lane County Courthouse. I am watching the murder trial of one of my good friends on closed circuit TV. There will be more information about this situation in upcoming posts. Over the past few months I have put a tremendous amount of work into preparing for SHOT Show. This conference is held in Las Vegas and it is the largest shooting trade show in the world. It is a place where friendships, partnerships, and sponsorships are made. I have always envied all of my friends in the industry that make the trek yearly. There is expense involved and I always thought about how many kids that I could reach with the amount of money it costs for me to go. We as an organization could easily reach between 500-1000 kids with the funds that it would take to attend SHOT. I normally would just put my head down and pack my schedule so that I felt like I was doing something while all of my friends and sponsors go have fun. It has been nearly 2 years since I have gone to an industry event. During the lockdown we just buckled down, worked and were thrifty with the money we raised. We did some really great things in 2021.

I made the decision back in October that I had to be at SHOT. I had to go to reach those in the industry that don’t know about the important work we do to protect children. It will also be a time to network, touch base with current sponsors and most importantly see my friends from all over the country. I will be rooming with my good friend Charlie Cook. I always look forward to our travels together. Its always fun catching up and having some fun. I spent a few months in the research and planning of this trip. I wanted to maximize my trip to have the biggest impact for money the that it costs. I have identified who we need help from and what we could do with the support. I currently have 5-6 open projects with partners all over the country and this will give me the time to tie up all the loose ends.

Leading up to SHOT we have invested in this event from a infrastructure standpoint. We have put systems in place to help insure that the money we invest in networking brings us a good return on our investment. We had special landing page designed our website that will be event specific. It tells our history, our accomplishments, and how they can get involved to help us. We designed custom business cards that have a QR code that goes to a Link Tree link that has all the relevant info there. We will be able to make these links event specific. 2022 is shaping up to be our busiest year on record. We have SHOT Show, in February we start the Boat and Sportsman shows, which lasts the entire month and into March. Then we head back to Hawaii in the middle of the March for more classes on Oahu and Maui. It is going to be so great. The benefit of being in Vegas is that I can shore up all of our plans with our many partners in our upcoming events. Proper planning ensures that all goes smoothly, which increases our efficiency, and ensures we adhere to our strict budgets.

In closing I will keep everyone updated on our progress at the show. I hope you all follow along on our journey. I look forward to having fun, traveling, and meeting new friends in the industry. I appreciate all of your support along the way. I look back on all that we have done over the years and I’m really proud of all that we have accomplished. We are just getting started and SHOT Show is an important chapter in our story. Until next time. Be Safe!!