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March Tanner Gun Show - Volunteers Needed for Appleseed Table

Started by zombiehunter, March 02, 2009, 09:49:45 PM

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zombiehunter

Coloradans, this is your second Call to Action in the same day!  Appleseed opportunities abound!

The next Tanner Gun Show 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 
Join the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association! http://www.nebraskafirearms.org/

zombiehunter

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
Join the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association! http://www.nebraskafirearms.org/

Colo Joe

I can work the 3rd shift                                                             

Colorado Sam

I can be there for shift 1 and 2. might be able to get a buddy but his first appleseed is the weekend after.

Colorado Pete

"Good shooting is good execution of the fundamentals. Great shooting is great execution of the fundamentals. X's are what you want. Tens are okay, but nines indicate you've got a problem" - Jim Starr
"The purpose of shooting is hitting" - Jeff Cooper

Colorado Sam

Is anyone based out of the Springs headed up on Saturday that I might be able to catch a ride with?

zombiehunter

Quote from: Colorado Sam on March 18, 2009, 09:24:41 PM
Is anyone based out of the Springs headed up on Saturday that I might be able to catch a ride with?

Negative; I'm south Denver.
Join the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association! http://www.nebraskafirearms.org/

Franktown_Kid

Update Thursday 8 March 09 by Franktown Kid

The next Tanner Gun Show 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:

Franktown Kid will be arriving Friday pm time TBD. Will be in a Lance Camper on a White Dodge Dually. Plan is to park North of the building as close to the service entrance as practical. He plans to be there or at the Appleseed table 'til the show is over Sunday.

Set up is Friday noon - 8 pm - Franktown Kid will do set up. Time not determined yet. Anyone else who wants to help should call or email or pm today (Thursday). Expect a real late response. It's a chance to preview the show before it opens, and cherry pick the guns.

If you want to buy ammo, best to be there early Saturday. By 10:00 - Noon the selection will be picked over.

If you're working the table, walk past the line, enter the building, and go to the counter on the right and ask for your badge / credentials. Tell them you're with Appleseed.

If you're bringing a firearm in, be sure to get a sticker so you can leave with it later w/o a background check! If you want to bring something to sell, fine, bring it. After all it's a gun show.

Saturday, March 21
Shift 1: 8:30 am - 1:00 pm         4.5 hrs - Zombie Hunter, Friend, Colorado Sam, friend(maybe), Franktown Kid
Shift 2: 12:30 am - 5:00 pm       4.5 hrs - Colorado Sam, Friend (maybe), Franktown Kid

Sunday, March 22
Shift 3: 8:30 am -  1:30 pm          4.5 hrs - Colorado Joe, Franktown Kid
Shift 4: 12:30 am - 6:00 pm          5.5 hrs (show ends at 4:00 estimate two hrs for teardown - bring work gloves and a jacket. They open the overhead doors so vehicles can load out, and it can get chilly.) - Colorado Pete, Franktown Kid

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.

Stuff we'll need / have:

 Stack of SWAT Brochures (have about 500 est - is that enough?)
 Stack of CAQT targets to hand out (down to 11)
 Q&D AQT (12)
 Redcoats (0)
 Appleseed Flyers (will print off some tonight)
 Liberty Training Rifle handout with parts list (if I can get to it)
 Display of all the targets we use (will probably make Friday evening)
 Talking Targets display (also use in class)(will probably make Friday evening)
 Sight Picture display (also use in class)(will probably make Friday evening)
 IMC, trajectory and cone of fire display (also use in class)(will probably make Friday evening)
 Blown up pictures of an Appleseed shoot (does anyone have any?)
 Banner over the table at rear - 7ft by 48" (being made as I write this - heavily plagarized from Sacramento A/S banner)
 Gasden & Betsy Ross flags - (Zombie is bringing)
 Four little American table size flags (have)
 Poles, c-clamps to hold banner, flags (I will fab up tonight)
 Table cover and non slip strip to put under it (have, Walmart)
 Two or three folding chairs, trash can (have)
 Gaffer tape in several different colors (Walmart)
 Rifles: M1, LTR-Irons, LTR-Glass, 10-22 stock for sling demo (I will bring these)
 Rifles: Other typical A/S rifles (if you want to bring one or more do so - hey it's a gunshow!)
 Something to hold rifles off the table - univeral bipod, shooting rest bags, work or display stand (I have none of this kind of stuff)

 For Sale - Patriots by Languth (3 copies)
 For Sale - Raul Revere's Ride - Hackett Fischer (1 copy)
 For Sale - Boston's Gun Bible (1 copy)
 For Sale - Nine GI Slings
 For Sale - Assorted 10-22 LTR Conversion parts
 For Sale - Assorted Swivels and bases
 For Sale - Two pair scope rings
 For Sale - And a partridge in a pear tree


So what do you say?  Who wants which shifts?  Got a buddy interested in Appleseed?  Sign up for 2 of the spots!

Zombie 

It looks like it's a go. I'll still be making stuff right up to opening time. The first time is often like that. The next one will be easy tho!

Looks like we got enough people. Thanks to all that helped and will help.....

Franktown Kid


[/quote]
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them, and these will continue till they have been resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress." - Frederick Douglass

zombiehunter

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...  **)
Join the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association! http://www.nebraskafirearms.org/

RichardsA

How did the table go at the gun show?? See you all next Saturday!
"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds..."-Sam Adams

zombiehunter

Quote from: RichardsA on March 23, 2009, 02:54:38 PM
How did the table go at the gun show?? See you all next Saturday!

It went great!  Lots of good contact made both with new shooters and with more experienced shooters who have kids.  Quite a few people said they're going to sign up for a shoot - now we just have to wait and see if they actually get off their couches and show up.  ;)

Another big thanks to FranktownKid for reserving the table, making the Appleseed banner, and building the display.  Everything came together quite well, especially considering it was our first show! 
Join the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association! http://www.nebraskafirearms.org/

Colorado Sam

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.

Franktown_Kid

"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.
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them, and these will continue till they have been resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress." - Frederick Douglass

Colorado Sam

Glad to hear Sunday went as well, or even better as Saturday :)

I think the other exhibitor who came around was the guy from Leisures Treasures who was at the last April 18-19 shoot. Which would be amazing news since we left a stack of around 60 fliers at they're store.

It was a learning experience for all of us but a huge success!! Even if everything didnt go as planned people became educated about America, and I think alot of them are going to come to shoots in Colorado.

In addition to being a great state coordinator Franktown Kid runs a good booth.

Bettendorf

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.