Did anyone know about this Hunting show?

[bettingpython]

http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=13864652

Tara Vreeland, News On 6
TULSA, Oklahoma -- A trade show touted as the "largest hunting and outdoor exhibition in the Midwest," turned out to be everything but.
Thousands of dollars were spent and thousands of people were expected, but that wasn't the case at the Tulsa Convention Center.
The organizer says some of the biggest names in hunting outfitters and fishing lodges were on hand at the Tulsa convention Center.
It was supposed to be the best yet.
They took aim at an attendance of 20,000, but really missed the target - only about 500 showed.
The Global Sporting Expo had all the elements. The brand new Tulsa Convention Center, booths and vendors from 19 countries and the lure of deep discounts on hunts and fishing trips.
"We had a great show, everything looked great… The public just didn't show up," said Tyler Lowery, Global Sporting Expos.
The Arkansas based company says it spent more than $50,000 in advertising alone.
"In hindsight, we probably should have put the money into billboards after speaking with other producers that do shows in that market like the Tulsa gun show and the Tulsa boat shows," Lowry said.
Lowery says they expected to profit $100,000 and another $30,000 for charities, but instead, they lost $120,000.
Some of the vendors, like White Peaks Ranch out of Utah, say the excitement to hit the Oklahoma market turned sour. And they say they feel scammed.
"If it was a scam, we wouldn't be here. We wouldn't have spent the money to get the venue. We wouldn't have spent the money to get the booths set up. Insurance for the event. I wouldn't have stood at the venue all three days if it was a scam," Lowery said.
Though it wasn't a total loss, Lowery says one in ten consumers bought a hunt.
"If we had the numbers that were projected to have, and paid for in advertising it would have been one of the most successful shows in the country," he said.
But the touted "best" experienced the "worst" due to the no-shows.
Lowrey says they counted on the Tulsa market to be a launch pad for other hunting trade shows. But after this weekend's flop, they say they have to step back and reevaluate.
They do not have any other shows planned for this year.

Seems to be it's their fault I never heard a thing about this.

 

[Old Fart]

I never heard anything, but I don't live in that neck of the woods.
Usually when something big happens in T-town they advertise a least some in the OKC market.

 

[dennishoddy]

I heard a short radio announcment about it, awhile back, but didn't pay attention to the dates, as I figured there would be more advertisment on TV. guess not. That promoter made a big boo-boo.

 

[sesh]

I saw a late night commercial for it but another problem, besides poor advertisement, it was during the last weekend of archery season. I wasn't going to miss the last weekend of archery to go get a bunch of brochures from outfitter's that are way out of my price range.

 

[JRSherman]

I didn't hear or see a single thing about it. They definitely should have put a little money into local billboards at the least. I always see those for the gun shows.

 

[Buzzgun]

Didn't know anything about it until I saw the news report.

 

[338Shooter]

Saw it on the news. I didn't know about it until then. I think the promoter has some 'splaing to do.

 

[ripnbst]

Yeah, they need to put ads on TV in the entire state and even St. Louis and Dallas areas. People would drive that far for the "BIGGEST HUNTING SHOW IN THE MIDWEST!!!"

They really needed to push that it would be awesome and it would have been.

 

[cscokd]

I saw a couple of ads, and the thoughts that crossed my mind went something like this:

Hmm, could be interesting, but I've never heard of this show before.

Odd that they would hold the world's best Global Hunting Expo in of all places, Tulsa, OK. I love NE OK, but if you are mining the market for people with the financial ability to go on Safaris and the like, OK ain't the place. If I ever become one of those types with vast sums of disposable income I would probably go to an expo in Dallas, but not here.

Wannemacher's wasn't built in a day.

 

[VIKING]

No, this is the first I've heard. I listen to Tulsa talk radio every morning while driving to work and never heard a word...Oh well, may have been a good idea.