Well Folks, another promotional effort is in the books. This past weekend the ISRA range in Bonfield held their annual open house. The open house gives an opportunity for people to view the range, whether a member or not, and be able to shoot some of the firearms provided by many manufacturers under the direct supervision of an instructor.
What sets this apart from a traditional gun show is that you could consider the open house as an event. Meaning that it was full day event instead of someone just cruising through a guns show for an hour to kill time or in search of that special something.
With that said, there was a tremendous amount of families attending the open house. More so than I have ever seen before. I do not have the attendance figures from this year's open house, but from what I was told at the end of the day the traffic was greater then last year in which ISRA had 3,000+ attendees.
The number of tables at the open house was limited. You had a few tables set up selling merchandise of one fashion or another. There was perhaps a total of 6-7 tables set up including us. The net result was, in which I believe, was that everyone that attended the open house stopped at our booth.
Castle Mountain dropped of his promotional box along with the banners for the event. I had also brought all of my promotional supplies. We left with almost nothing. I ran out of printed Illinois schedules by about 1:00pm. (I printed out 300 and the event started @ 10:00). the volume of traffic at the table was overwhelming at times. It would be 3 deep with people craning their necks to hear what we had to say.
A big thank you goes out to Lord Joker, Waffle & Boo Boo for helping work the table. :bow: :bow:
Next year I suggest that we bring two tables. (and more supplies :slap:) This will help us spread out a little more when we are talking to multiple people. Imagine 4 instructors standing shoulder to shoulder talking to different people about the Appleseed Project. We ended up trying to talk over one another from time to time. This also would allow for more people to come and help with promotions. :cool2:
All in all this was a great event and with the enthusiasm received from the people attending the open house I think it will very well help attendance at future AS.
I'm a bit camera challenged. This means I'm not one to take pictures. I promise I'll do better next time. >:D
So, you have to ask yourself, What have you done for promotions today!! It does the body good. ::)
Thanks,
Karl
Thank you Karl for your hard work and dedication. It is a pleasure to work with you anywhere we can. O0 O0 O0
No doubt your weekend blew the ILLinois Deer and Turkey Classic out of the water. Thanks for you and Viper's efforts
for that event. Many thanks to Joker, Waffle, and BooBoo. O0 O0 O0 O0 O0
We spoke with ISRA the next day, not even they expected such a heavy turn out. I suspect the Bill Boards Campaign
throughout Illinois has had some positive effect for ISRA and Appleseed. Now to see the people attend our events.
I perceive our efforts will bear good fruit.
Warmest regards to you good sir.
Castle Mountain