Coloradans, this is your second Call to Action in the same day! Appleseed opportunities abound!
The next Tanner Gun Show (http://www.tannergunshow.com/) is March 21/22. FranktownKid has reserved and paid for a table for us to promote Appleseed. Wondering what you can do to help Appleseed? Wonder no more. We need volunteers. If we man the table in shifts, nobody will be stranded at there all day or all weekend. Here's what FranktownKid and I discussed:
4 shifts during the show, with 2-3 people per shift:
Saturday, March 21
Shift 1: 8:30 am - 1:00 pm 4.5 hrs (setup)
Shift 2: 12:30 am - 5:00 pm 4.5 hrs
Sunday, March 22
Shift 3: 8:30 am - 1:30 pm 4.5 hrs
Shift 4: 12:30 am - 6:00 pm 5.5 hrs (teardown - bring work gloves and a jacket. They open the overhead doors so vehicles can load out, and it can get chilly.)
FranktownKid will soon have a list of what we need for the table, which he'll post here. If you have any of the items on the list and are willing to bring them, speak up and let everyone know. I'll be bringing my Gadsden and Betsy Ross flags for the cause.
So what do you say? Who wants which shifts? Got a buddy interested in Appleseed? Sign up for 2 of the spots!
Zombie
I'll get it started! A buddy and I'll sign up for Shift 1. So that's 2 for Shift 1. Who's next?
Z
I can work the 3rd shift
I can be there for shift 1 and 2. might be able to get a buddy but his first appleseed is the weekend after.
Is anyone based out of the Springs headed up on Saturday that I might be able to catch a ride with?
I've also got a stack of Quick & Dirty AQTs (the 20 round AQT) and Red Coat targets that I will bring.
Also, I'll see if I can scrounge up a partridge in a pear tree... **)
The show went great! :) all day Saturday we had a steady flow of individuals and families who were interested in the program. It will be really interesting to see if there has been a spike in pre-registration for the shoot's in Colorado.
Thanks to Franktown Kid for organizing the whole operation and making the banner. Wihout his hardwork it couldnt have happened.
"No war plan outlasts the first encounter with the enemy" - Carl von Clauswitz.
The plan was to load up and be at the show for set up some time Friday afternoon. But Friday afternoon came and I was still chasing parts for the frame to hold the banner and some other loose ends. The banner wasn't finished at the printers. They were redoing it for the third time. My wife went to pick it up about closing time. The ink wasn't quite dry. We got it unrolled and set it on the bed under the ceiling fan to dry it out some more. Nice smell.
By about seven p.m. everything was loaded in the camper, except the banner (still drying and stinking), the yet unbuilt frame, and the flyers - still printing sort of.... I'd been printing flyers off and on all afternoon. The printer was recalibrating instead of printing. I gave up with about a ream of flyers, hoping it'd be enough (it was - barely).
I started work on the banner frame. Finished it up at 11:00 p.m. and assembled it with the banner. It ain't gonna work. I usually over engineer things. but not this time. I'd used ½" PVC and while it didn't break it was way too flexy. Lessee, stores are closed, what to do? After a few false starts, the wife and I robbed some 1" PVC from the dogs' agility equipment and cobbled up something that looked like it would work. I loaded it in the camper and headed off to the show about 2 a.m. - not p.m. as planned.
Saturday, I awoke and tried to get in the Gun Show. Nope, not 'til eight. Co. Sam, Zombie, and two friends John and Justin showed up, we got in and had the whole table set up with 15 minutes to spare before Show Time. Thanks Guys, you saved the day.
After that it was all anti-climatic.
Saturday at 9 a.m. the show opened with the line wrapped around the building, 3 or four people wide. Later I spoke to a Gun Show "vet" and commented that I'd expected the Post Election Frenzy to have died off by now. He said it was like this from the 92 election until AWB I was passed 18 months later and it'd probably continue like this until AWB II is passed.
Saturday a lot of people were there to buy things. The major ammo vendors were a couple of rows from us, and you couldn't even walk down their aisles in the morning. Later when you could the tables were almost bare of ammo in any caliber people wanted. Powder was picked over, as were bullets. The commercial gun dealers tables didn't seem as densely packed as usual. And there were the gougers. One guy was trying to sell Wal-Mart bulk packed Federal .22 for $25 a box!
Sunday, the crowd seemed more relaxed. People were looking and talking more. I think they were more of the typical gun show crowd, Saturday had had a lot of urgent buyers.
For Appleseeding purposes, both days we had a target rich environment!
Results:
We handed out a little less than a ream of flyers. Ditto for SWAT glossies. A fair number of Classification and Redcoat targets.
We had good steady traffic with a few quiet spells, 'til an hour before closing when everything pretty much died off.
We spoke to people who had never heard of Appleseed. They have now (hopefully we planted some seeds that will grow).
We spoke to people who had heard of Appleseed, Fred, and/or Shotgun News. Many of them thanked us for what we were doing (that really makes you feel good).
We spoke to people who were coming to an Appleseed. I hope they really are. We talked to them about equipment, LTRs and slings. We encouraged them to bring a .22 and a Hi Power rifle.
We spoke to people who said "I was wondering when the program would get to Colorado" Boy, did we leap on them like a frog on a Junebug. They know now. Hope they come.
Others didn't know how to find out about the program, but had heard about it and were glad we were there to provide the info.
One guy wanted us to put on a shoot a little closer to Denver - the one we are doing is a whole hour away. Guess I need to start looking for a 400-yard range in downtown somewhere, maybe Mile High stadium or the parking lot?
We spoke to people you could tell weren't interested and we just lost them. Oh well. When you are making cold calls - which these folks were essentially, you can expect to make a "sale" 1 in 25 times. Just can't let it discourage you. But why were they at a gun show?
We spoke to families and couples, where Dad seemed interested. We tried to "upsell" by pointing out the whole family could come for the price of Dad. I think we succeeded in several cases. We also emphasized how we were female and family friendly in a sometimes male dominated arena.
Most of those who said they were coming weren't coming alone.
Occasionally I'd ask someone if they could hit a man-sized target at 500 yards on the first shot. Interesting discussions would follow. If someone claimed to be a real hot shot, I'd suggest he become an instructor. Most weren't interested. Well you gotta try different approaches to see what's going to work.
If I realized right away I was speaking to someone older, who was probably an accomplished rifle shooter (after a while you can kinda tell these guys), I'd move straightaways to asking if he had kids or grand kids that needed to learn to shoot a rifle. However, usually these guys already had taught their kids, grandkids, cousins, etc. I'd mention we needed instructors, but these usually weren't productive contacts. Typically he had his own house in order and didn't need us. That's OK. If everyone did that we could declare a victory and go home.
We had an M1 on display that I could've sold several times. Told several people about CMP, both rifles and ammo.
We had a Mauser 98K with a rich history on display that also attracted some attention and also could've been sold.
We had two LTRs, that hardly attracted any attention - not what I expected. But we did show several folks how to set one up for an Appleseed, while emphasizing that though LTRs are nice, any rifle will do, and you can easily add a sling.
We had an LTR stock with a sling, and demo'ed loop sling usage to lots of people.
We spoke to some folks from out of town and also grandparents with grandkids out of state, and explained that Appleseed is Nationwide program. Someone wanted one in Hawaii, another in Iowa. Sent them to the website.
We spoke about the events of 18-19 April 1775 and several people were really pleased we were doing the history aspect of the program. We spoke to several teachers who really liked it.
Two people came by who wanted us to consider using their gun clubs for a shoot. You bet we will!
One guy from either a gun school or a gun store - or maybe a combo - I'm not quite sure, came up and said he'd been looking for us hoping we were there. He needed a bunch of flyers; he was out. Wow!! He has some now.
The Banner never fell down and killed anybody.
Did we do any good? No way to be sure.
Part of what we are trying to do is build "brand recognition". I think it's happening, and I think we moved it forward some.
Will more people immediately come to Appleseed than would have otherwise because of our effort? I think so, but probably not a lot.
Did we plant the idea in a lot of people's minds? I think we did. A lot of people don't "buy" the first time they hear about something. Maybe they will later.
I think it's worth doing again. We will.
I want to thank Zombie, his two friends John and Justin, Co. Sam, Co. Joe, and Co. Pete, without whom this wouldn't have happened. Thanks guys.
I spoke with someone at the table on Saturday. I signed myself and my wife up lastnight on the interweb. I think we are the last 2 people to fill the slots. We'll be bringing a couple AR-15s out the shoot.