Previewing The 2023 NASGW Expo

Later this week, thousands of industry professionals — representing exhibiting manufacturers, wholesalers and sales rep organizations — will converge in Columbus, Ohio during the 2023 NASGW Expo. Due to its timing in the calendar, this annual event often serves as a precursor of what’s to come in the upcoming year — be it new products, buying trends and more.

Here on the eve of the Expo, we spoke with NASGW President Kenyon Gleason, who previewed the event and offered his take on what attendees can expect at the Greater Columbus Convention Center this week.

Getting A Jumpstart

In 2021 and 2022, the industry was still grappling with lingering effects of the pandemic, which impacted attendance at the NASGW Expo. Gleason forecasts this year’s event will be back to “normal.” (Even, “beyond ‘normal’ — in a good way.”)

“It’s nice to see ‘normalcy’ return to our show after COVID’s impact on the past couple years. Our show is sold out, and has been for several months. Attendee numbers will be high,” he said.

Gleason shared attendees will gain an edge on current conditions in the industry.

“Folks are very curious about new products and what’s happening, and this show is an opportunity for them to get a jumpstart on the next sales season,” he said. “We’re getting back to a show that really bursts at the seams — it’s very exciting.”

Word Of The Week

Founded in 1953, the NASGW is celebrating 70 years of bringing buyers and sellers together this year. The Association was originally known as the Sporting Goods Jobbers Association, changing its name in 1962. In light of this milestone anniversary, Gleason shared “vision” is going to be a frequent phrase attendees hear at this week’s Expo.

“It took a lot of vision for us to start out in 1953, and our leaders throughout history have helped us grow to where we are today,” Gleason said. “We owe it to them, ourselves and our future to continue practicing good vision and spend time thinking about the future to create a vision for who we want to be and where we want to go.”

A forum like the Expo provides the perfect opportunity for like-minded individuals to get together and do big things.

“We know we have a lot of challenges as an industry. If smart people get together and talk about creating a vision to do smart, big things for the future then good things are going to happen. That’s what we’re going to continue doing this week,” Gleason noted.

Brisk Networking Gets Results

Introduced in 2021 — when the Expo was last in Columbus, coincidentally — the NASGW’s “speed dating” series continues this year. This concept gives first-time exhibitors an opportunity to showcase their new products in front of NASGW buyers in a condensed format. This year, it will be held before the show opens, in the SCOPE Lounge 8:00–9:00 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.

The “speed dating” concept has been very popular with both exhibitors and buyers alike, according to Gleason.

“It’s a great opportunity for new exhibitors to share, in a few minutes, the virtues of their product and why distributors should come and pay attention to them. As a new vendor, it’s often difficult trying to get time with a limited amount of buyers. So this format gets a lot of them together and benefits both groups — as a distributor/buyer you can hear from new companies and if you’re an exhibitor, buyers are right in front of you.”

Gleason expects this to be a staple of NASGW Expos moving forward.

“It has been tremendously successful. It debuted 2 years ago, and last year it was over the top. We expect it to be even better than before this year,” he added.

New Partnerships

Gleason shared the NASGW is always looking for ways to better serve its membership.

“We’re continuing initiatives to find solutions for payment processing, logistics, insurance, banking and more — all things our members are telling us are more and more difficult to acquire,” he said.

One such partnership will be on full display this week. Old Glory Bank, chartered in Oklahoma, will be at the Expo as an event sponsor.

“We’ve talked about doing banking solutions for a long time, and in this case we were fortunate to find out about Old Glory Bank,” Gleason said. “We’re excited to have Old Glory Bank here at the show, I’ve had a lot of conversations with their CEO — they think like we think and they very much understand the challenges our members and others in the industry are dealing with on a regular basis. Hopefully we can help them help us.”

The NASGW Expo will be held Oct. 24–27. For more info, visit nasgwexpo.org.

Editor’s Note: We’ll publish a post-show recap in next week’s Dealer Advantage email.