Exhibitor Information
What’s the intention behind this events?
Over the years, African outfitters have spent more and more time in international destinations marketing themselves – mostly in North America. And if there were one or two venues where they mostly congregate it would be the great international events hosted by SCI (Safari Club International) and DSC (Dallas Safari Club). However the world is changing and with it, so are the demands on both the busy executive who want to go hunting and the outfitter who wants to market himself. So along come a plethora of private venue functions, local hunting club gatherings, all in the pursuit of new hunters in the most cost effective way. While these two great major hunting clubs collectively represent 60 000 hunters, many do not get a chance to attend their fine exhibitions because of a variety of time and resource challenges.
Furthermore, and more importantly, there are probably and very conservatively 250 000 hunters in North America who have the means, who probably dream of, but have never hunted Africa. They have probably never been marketed to, and probably don’t realize that for what they spend on a local deer, mule or elk hunt; they could be on a Delta flight and in 16 hours be hunting 5 species for the same price on African soil. This is our market.
What is different about this event?
The show will focus only on Africa
The outfitters will all have to be registered and legal operators
The exhibitors will have ownership in the event
Why only Africa?
Africa offers more variety of game, both plains and big game than any other destination.
This destination has much to offer visitors and there is much to find out about, and much to risk, hence we thought, a focused event would be more suitable.
There is no exclusive African hunting expo or show, anywhere other than in Toronto, which we launched in 2009.
Considering there are over 10 000 Americans alone that visit Africa, we know they don’t all attend any one event currently, there must be an opportunity to show those existing customers what there is to offer.
Why Atlanta?
The big international shows in North America, where Africa features prominently are back west (Texas and Nevada).
A vast number of the existing hunting community live east of the Mississippi.
Georgia and the neighboring States have huge numbers of enthusiastic hunters.
Our mission is to explore potentially new markets for the African hunting industry.
Atlanta is one of the most accessible(and subsequently most reasonable) hubs to fly into.
Atlanta is the most accessible and direct route for the majority of all African outfitters
Delta has daily flights (now non-stop) from SA to Atlanta.
SAA also flies to Atlanta.
How will we vet the exhibitors?
We have had many comments on this topic and it is a very difficult issue to manage. There are legal and totally legitimate outfitters that may still offer substandard service. We cannot police that. Nor can we take action on hearsay.
We can and will work through the Country’s Hunting Associations and allow only those members that are registered. There will be a media and information centre with representation from the countries, for all exhibitors where all available information will be available of the members in that country and those attending.
The Agents and intermediaries exhibiting, that so often book many of the hunts to Africa will only be able to sell outfitters that are registered.
This was there will ALWAYS be recourse to any problems.
That said, there is an onus and responsibility that falls on the potential hunter to do his or her own reference checks and we will assist with this process.
Why are we offering 40% equity of the event to the first 100 exhibitors?
My thinking was that by offering ownership to the Industry, we would have a collective approach to the success of the event. It would not be us hosting a show for the African hunting industry, but rather with the Industry.
Do you have to attend each year to be part of this ownership?
Yes, because we do not want to have a situation where you join, and then sit back and not be part of the show’s growth.
If someone does not want to attend, the way they will retain their ownership the following year is to ensure they are the first 100 exhibitors.
How will the profits be distributed?
As and when there are profits, which may take a few years, these will be distributed shortly after the event, or used for further initiatives.
What will the entity be?
At this stage, it will be a JV which simple has a budget, the costs and income disclosed. There will be no downside for the 40$ outfitters, they will merely be enjoying a share of the profits in the first year. As and when there are surpluses, these will be distributed accordingly.
Booth allocation
Because there is no points system, booths will be drawn out of a hat or alphabetical. The premium positions, once we know which they are due to this event launching, will attract a premium, but not for the year 1.
Africa training & education seminars. When are these run? Does this happen during “sale” time – taking buyers away from Sale Floor.
Training seminars attract people, and add value for the visitor hence the reason we’d like to offer a limited number of training sessions. We will try having them at times that lessen the impact on the sales time, but the experience is that auctions during the day tended to impact more heavily than seminars.
Entrance Fee
$40 for both days and $60, which includes a year’s subscription to the African Hunting Gazette.
Management
Richard Lendrum (Publisher of African Hunting Gazette) will run the business with an Exco Board of 8 others.
The EXCO Board of 9 will be established (meeting a minimum of once a year, with 5 representatives from the Industry and 4 from the Future Publishing team).
Marketing & Awareness
The Show will be advertised nationally through the various hunting media (websites, magazines and TV shows appropriate for this market).
Aside from the location of the SHOW being in Atlanta, we will promote Africa as a destination to new markets; Elk hunters, sheep hunters, traditional North America hunters outside the existing markets.
We will seek some safaris as draws / raffles for attendees as a way to raise awareness.
Starting anything is always a risk. Both for us, who have stuck our necks out and committed to it and of course the exhibitors, who have taken time out and spent money attending to it. What we do know is that if we do NOT start a new show, nothing will happen and we will be left with the options we all have currently – which is not enough to secure the growth that Africa needs and deserves for her hunting.
So what steps have we taken?
We have offered a sizable share in the show to the first 100 exhibitors. This will hopefully get all the exhibitors to believe and feel that this is as much ‘their show’ as it is ours. The interest in the event form exhibitors is great and we will definitely have an event – whether it is 40, 50 or 100 exhibitors.
As for the visitors – Hopefully the exhibitors will firstly tell all their clients to come visit them at their show. We are working with the SCI chapters in Atlanta and neighboring states and will be offering an incentive for their members to visit our show – as there is more than half the membership that does not visit RENO and could visit our event if it’s within striking distance.
We have embarked on an extensive promotion campaign through the following channels and will continue to build where we can.
Publication advertising
African Hunting Gazette:
African Hunting Guide in association with Craig Boddington :
- African Hunter –
- Hunting Report –
- Sports Afield –
- Sporting Classics –
- Georgia’s Annual Hunting Guide –
- Tennessee’s Annual Hunting Guide –
- Petersen’s Hunting –
- Sportsmen’s News –
Television
- Wild TV channel advertising –
Website promotion
- www.africanhuntinggazette.co.za
- www.africanhuntingshow.com
- www.huntnetwork.com
- www.Bowsite.com
- www.safarinewsreel.com
Direct mail and emails
- Databases of ACTUAL hunters who have visited Africa in the last 4 years –
- African Hunting Gazette database of current and past subscribers
- Database of leading booking Agents – 14000 emails and 60 000 addresses
Conservation & fund raising
- Other number one mission is to get established. As we grow, hopefully, any funds raised or donated for conservation initiatives will be spent exclusively on African
- conservation initiatives.
- A conservation committee will be established to manage this process run by John Jackson III of Conservation Force and Dr. John Ledger, who is based in Joburg
- Hunt Donations
If, and only if, hunts are ever donated – they will be accepted for two reasons only:
to promote the show publicly, where visitors could win the prize and two where the funds go directly into African conservation initiatives.
Accommodation:
We have negotiated with the hotel, a rate that is vastly reduced and assists with us hosting the expo costs. The details of the property have been outlined under the venue section of the site but for more information visit www.africanhuntingshow.com.
When you book at the venue, as an additional incentive to stay there, we are including all reservations into a draw for the SAFARI. Just something extra we want to offer.