As I recover from another successful SHOT Show, I thought I would reflect on what I have learned over the years. It is helpful to know what SHOT Show is, how to qualify to attend, and some helpful tips for your first time attending. If you are thinking about attending in 2025, or just want an idea of how other people navigate the show, this is an article for you. If you have questions that I have not addressed, feel free to ask away in the comments.
SHOT Show 2025
SHOT Show is returning to Las Vegas January 21-24, 2025. Operated by the NSSF, the show has regularly occurred in mid-January at the Venetian Expo and Caesar Forums in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is four days long, occurring from Tuesday through Friday with pre-events occurring the weekend before.
Industry Day and Suppliers Showcase
The Monday before the show features “Industry Day at the Range” and the “Suppliers Showcase.” Industry Day at the Range is hosted at an outdoor range in Boulder, Nevada, about 45 minutes from the Venetian. The Suppliers Showcase runs concurrently with Industry Day at the Venetian with over 500 exhibitors focusing on materials, software, tools, machinery, and logistics available.
SHOT Show: The Main Event
The main exhibition halls open at 8:30 am and remain jam-packed until 5:30 pm when the floor closes. More than 2,500 exhibitors like Smith & Wesson, Glock, and IWI with swarms of staff members and displays take up the multiple large event spaces in the Venetian and Caesar’s Forum. Each exhibitor displays new and existing products, with firearms available for dry handling and SMEs available for any questions you might have. Additionally, many of the exhibitors give away product samples and promotional items (stickers, hats, shirts, keychains, morale patches, etc.).
It’s a huge event with more miles and miles of aisles full of exhibitors and attendees alike.
There are also networking events after the show, aptly named “SHOT After Dark.” If you’re interested in attending educational events at the show, there are a multitude of classes provided throughout including SHOT University, the Law Enforcement Education Program, and Export Training.
A variety of big-name vendors also host happy hours, meet-and-greets, and special prize drawings.
Who can attend?
SHOT Show is not open to the public, but there are many ways to qualify to attend as either Buyers, Media, and/or Exhibitors. Generally, as a buyer, you must work for a business that has been identified by the NSSF as industry-relevant.
Active-duty law enforcement and military are also eligible. It also helps if the organization or individual is a member of the NSSF and has previously attended. It should be noted that if you register and are rejected, there is no refund of the registration fee, so better to make sure everything is in order before registering.
For editorial media (print, blogs, etc), NSSF requires a “Letter of Assignment from an editor or publisher of a recognized industry-related news publication.” For broadcast media (video), NSSF requires a “Letter of Assignment from a recognized industry-related news TV, radio or Web-based video/audio show.”
It is worth noting the SHOT Show does not recognize social media platforms as qualifying news outlets.
Tips For Your First Time
Hotel Choices:
There are many choices of hotels, and the taxis and Ubers/Lyfts in Vegas are easy to find and very efficient. It generally comes down to:
1) how nice or swanky of a room do you want,
2) how close it is to the event, and
3) how much you are willing to pay?
Generally, a nice room fairly close to the event is going to run over $200/night. However, the more you are willing to walk or travel, clean functional rooms can be found for under $100/night.
After staying in various hotels at different distances and levels of quality (including the Venetian, Riviera (now demolished), Mirage (now owned by Hard Rock Hotels), Flamingo, and Mandalay Bay), I have settled with Treasure Island as my annual preferred choice. The rooms are relatively modern, there are several places to eat and a CVS is on the property. Further, Treasure Island is right across the street from the Venetian, so it’s a short walk to the Venetian Expo halls. For the past 5 years, I have renewed my reservations during the current show, as hotel reservation blocks have already been opened to returning attendees. If you are new, registration for the hotel blocks opens prior to conference registration.
Reserve Early and Check Registrations:
Especially for your first year, check the SHOT Show website often. Registration opens in October and it might take some time to register on your first go-round. Once your registration is confirmed, double-check that everything you signed up for is represented (changes are generally unavailable once you arrive). As soon as your registration is approved, it is best to plan your hotel and flights as needed.
Though Vegas never sells out, flights and hotels may become scarce or more expensive as time goes on. Restaurants (especially those near the show) tend to get very busy during SHOT Show. I will often pick out my lunch and dinner choices a month in advance and make reservations. Vegas restaurants are usually outstanding about honoring reservations close to your exact time, so it is worth a bit of extra effort to research choices well in advance.
Navigating the Exhibitor Halls, You ‘Gotta’ Have a Plan:
With almost 14 miles of aisles, and approximately five exhibitor halls each with around 500 exhibitors each, SHOT Show can be overwhelming. Don’t try to see it all in one day and make a list of what you are specifically interested in to help guide your navigation of the exhibition halls. Broadly speaking, there are two law enforcement/military/gear halls, there is the downstairs main hall (mainly smaller companies), a main hall on the second floor where most of the larger companies are, and the overflow halls in the Caesar Forums.
I generally focus on the smaller companies on day one (Tuesday), the law enforcement/military/gear and Caesar Forums on day two (Wednesday), the main hall on day three (Thursday), and use day four for circling back to any exhibitors I need to spend more time engaging or visiting. This is not the best plan for getting the best swag (promotional items), but tends to somewhat avoid the main crowds each day making it easier to have conversations with the exhibitors.
Be Prepared for it to be Busy:
The above plan is based on just how busy SHOT Show can become. Though the event itself is huge, there are also well over 50,000 people attending and the crowds can get frustrating to even the most even-tempered of us. When you have been on your feet for hours, often carrying bags, dodging the crowds can become tiring!
Plan on this as a reality and take breaks as needed. I have learned that stepping away to have a nice lunch often reinvigorates me for the afternoon. Overall, the people are great and everyone is respectful (I have actually never seen outright poor behavior in over a decade of attending SHOT Show). However, many people, especially the media, have their own plans and agendas and everyone needs to be willing to occasionally wait to talk to an exhibitor, or be willing to walk away to come back later (note that I devote the last day to return trips for just this purpose).
Relax and Enjoy Vegas:
You can easily become lost in SHOT Show events from the moment you wake up until the moment you lose consciousness. But, just as it pays to plan out SHOT Show and your eating options, I strongly encourage you to also enjoy Vegas.
There are so many top-notch shows you can easily attend a few a year and have things to do for many years to come. I always try to plan a minimum of one non-SHOT show activity each day and try to fly out the Saturday before the show to have a few days of vacation before SHOT Show begins. This year, I went with Potted Potter, Piff the Magic Dragon, Tournament of Kings (an annual tradition at this point), and Tape Face. I find I enjoy SHOT Show more if I also plan some time away.
Summary
Hopefully I have answered some of your questions and provided some useful tips on how I navigate SHOT Show. Some additional tips include wearing comfortable shoes (my activity tracker showed 8-9 miles of walking each day), making sure to hydrate, and ensuring you get a decent amount of sleep. It is well known that people are easily susceptible to the “Vegas crud,” if you run your body down without properly fueling and hydrating. There are millions who converge on Vegas from all corners of the world, and therefore many millions of new germs for your immune system to conquer! Don’t let your SHOT show be ruined by getting sick. If you have any questions let me hear them in the comments.
