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In a couple of months, the summer edition of the ASD Military Tactical Outdoor Show will take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center (August 8-11).

Although the summer show has traditionally been considered the weak sister to the February-March show, the past couple of years have seen the summer show acquit itself well - or at least better than expected.

Truth be told, the attrition rate of army/navy style exhibitors seems to be greater at the winter show than the summer show.

The summer show, many theorize, may eventually become a stronger attraction for our unique market than the winter show, as the summer show will enjoy a standalone exclusivity with the absence of both The SHOT Show and the Army Navy Military Expo, which are January - February shows.

In order to plan for a successful summer ASD/MTO show this time around, army/navy centric exhibitors should pre-promote using their own resources; direct mail, email, smoke signal, pantomime, the plain old telephone. Getting “our” buyers to Las Vegas in August is mainly “our” responsibility, not show management’s.

Exhibitors should also provide a compelling reason for buyers to endure face-melting temperatures in Sin(ge) City. Namely, great show-only prices, new or closeout products, threats to “take attendance.”

The ASD Show is a conglomerate of many markets, many products and many industries. Our portion is miniscule, to be charitable. Each market segment at the show judges success by different standards than we do, and many of these other-worldly exhibitors find the ASD Show to be their most lucrative trade show among whatever other shows they may utilize.

The army/navy market exhibitors who have done best at the ASD/MTO Shows have drawn strength from highlighting the “niche” nature of their product lines; these companies find that they do not have any spot-on competitors at the show.

Other milsurp exhibitors who have enjoyed long term success at ASD have fostered relationships with some of the general merchandise, apparel and gift buyers who make up the bulk of the buyer congregation at these shows. We cannot count on milsurp-only buyers to justify our show investment anymore; there simply aren’t enough of them in general, and not enough of them attending the shows specifically.

The latter may change if the Army Navy Military Expo continues to grow, and if milsurp buyers continue to find a sense of purpose at The SHOT Show.

But for now, the ASD/MTO Shows are still integral to our fortunes, as long as exhibitors approach them with a smart game plan.