Episode 547 - Rob McCanna || For The Record, What Is The Future Of DSC?

Summary

Blood Origins Podcast Summary

Episode: 547 - Rob McKenna || For The Record, What Is The Future Of DSC?
Release Date: March 25, 2025
Host: Blood Origins Inc.
Guest: Rob McKenna, CEO of Dallas Safari Club (DSC)

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1. Introduction

In Episode 547 of the Blood Origins podcast, host Rob McKenna sits down with Rob McKenna, the newly appointed CEO of the Dallas Safari Club (DSC). The conversation delves into the recent controversies surrounding DSC's relocation from Dallas to Atlanta, the challenges faced during the Atlanta show, and the strategic plans Rob McKenna has in place to steer the organization back on course.

2. Dallas Safari Club's Relocation and Controversies

Rob McKenna opens the discussion by addressing the heated rumors and controversy that have engulfed the Dallas Safari Club following its move to Atlanta. The relocation has sparked widespread debate within hunting forums and among DSC members, primarily due to unanswered questions about the move's necessity and its impact on the club's future.

“There's been a lot of controversy and rumor mill around Dallas Safari Club. They move from Dallas to Atlanta... And so we've not heard from Rob, we've not heard of the promised communication that came out of Rob.” ([05:08])

3. Challenges Faced in Atlanta

The Atlanta convention faced numerous setbacks, leading to a significant drop in attendance and dissatisfaction among exhibitors. One of the most notable challenges was an unexpected snowstorm that crippled the event logistics.

"Atlanta got hit with a snowstorm at the peak of our show... The busiest airport in the world had come on the Atlanta TV station and said, we are closing down the airport." ([17:00])

Additionally, DSC's marketing efforts in Atlanta were criticized for missing the target audience, resulting in low foot traffic and poor exhibitor engagement.

“We spent a lot of money buying into the convention area of Atlanta... Guess what we were doing? We're advertising to transient people that weren't local, that weren't gonna come to the event because they were coming into another event.” ([32:15])

4. Steps Being Taken to Rectify the Situation

Rob McKenna shares his comprehensive approach to addressing the fallout from the Atlanta show. Recognizing the shortcomings in communication and event management, he has initiated several measures:

• Exhibitor Feedback: Establishing an exhibitor advisory committee comprising 50 exhibitors to gather detailed feedback and insights.

“I let them unload on me and tell me everything they thought that was bad... so we listened and dropped an exhibitor roundtable meeting.” ([39:41])

• Marketing Overhaul: Partnering with The More Group, a renowned nonprofit-focused marketing firm, to revamp DSC's marketing strategies and better target the right audience.

“They manage 80 of the top 100 nonprofits in the world... They are going to totally change and tell the story of what Dallas Safari Club is.” ([33:28])

• Venue Improvements: Negotiating a new hall layout in Atlanta to reduce walking distances and improve exhibitor and attendee experience.

“We put together a detailed plan... Now we're negotiating a new hall that if you were there or anybody was there... get onto the show floor directly.” ([42:19])

5. Future of Conventions: Plans for 2026 and Beyond

Looking forward, Rob McKenna outlines DSC's strategic plan to stabilize and grow the organization:

• 2026 and 2027 Atlanta Shows: Despite the previous setbacks, DSC plans to host conventions in Atlanta for the next two years, implementing all the learned lessons to ensure success.

“We're back in Atlanta for 26 and 27... We're going to have a smaller show and I think actually it's going to be the perfect storm in a good way.” ([49:22])

• Return to Texas: By 2028, DSC intends to return to Houston, Texas, solidifying its presence and providing exhibitors with a stable and familiar environment.

“2028, 2029, and 2030, we are in Houston, Texas... We have contracts in place.” ([56:39])

6. Supporting Exhibitors

Understanding that exhibitors are the backbone of DSC's conventions, Rob McKenna has introduced several initiatives to support them:

• Exhibitor Credits: Revamping the exhibitor credit system to reward loyalty and participation, allowing for better booth placement and enhanced visibility.

“Exhibitor credits are just a way to measure that... allow you to choose things and just make the show better for you.” ([53:02])

• Financial Assistance: Lowering booth costs by passing on discounts from venue negotiations and introducing food and drink vouchers to reduce operational expenses for exhibitors.

“We're going to lower our booth cost... we're going to offer daily food and drink vouchers.” ([54:34])

• Flexible Participation: Allowing exhibitors to opt out of the Atlanta shows for 2026 or 2027 without penalties, ensuring their business decisions are respected.

“I'm giving you the ability to opt out of one of those years as a business decision and have no penalties imposed on you.” ([50:21])

7. Addressing Financial Concerns and Rumors

Amidst the turbulence, rumors have surfaced questioning DSC's financial stability. Rob McKenna addresses these concerns head-on:

“We are very, very financially sound right now... Nobody wrote me a $4 million check.” ([72:06])

He clarifies that DSC's financial health is robust, with strong reserves built from successful shows in 2023 and 2024. Additionally, he dispels rumors about potential financial bailouts from wealthy members, emphasizing transparency in DSC's nonprofit operations.

“Our accountant gave an update, and we are very, very financially sound right now... Nobody did it with malice.” ([72:06])

8. Conclusion

As the podcast concludes, Rob McKenna reiterates his commitment to transparency, collaboration, and the overarching mission of DSC to intertwine hunting with conservation effectively. He urges the hunting community to unite, emphasizing that collective effort is essential for the sustainability of both hunting and conservation initiatives.

“Let's get together and let's support each other and let's not add to the fire... We all need to be together.” ([75:36])

Robby, the host, commends Rob McKenna for his candidness and proactive approach, expressing optimism for DSC's future endeavors.

“Appreciate you answering all those, you know, some tough questions.” ([75:43])

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Notable Quotes:

• Rob McKenna:
  “Hunting is more than just killing animals.” ([03:13])

  “We are our own worst enemies in this entire outdoors industry.” ([26:12])

• Rob McKenna:
  “As a nonprofit, we don't have those type of funds.” ([19:12])

• Rob McKenna:
  “We have nothing done with malice. Nobody did it with malice.” ([71:40])

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This episode provides an in-depth look into the Dallas Safari Club's recent challenges and the strategic measures being implemented to overcome them. Rob McKenna's transparent dialogue offers clarity to members and exhibitors alike, ensuring confidence in DSC's path forward.

Transcript

[Robby]

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[Rob McKenna]

It never has been. It takes dedication, motivation, a lot of patience and quality gear. If you manage a food plot, put up stands, or need just one more game camera, we can help. @midwayusa.com we opened our doors in 1977 and continue to put customers first by offering super fast same day shipping for just about everything. For the outdoors, go to midway USA.com Rob McKenna is the new CEO of Dallas Safari Club and there has been a lot of controversy and rumor mill around Dallas Safari Club. They move from Dallas to Atlanta. How bad the Atlanta show was what, 50 days ago? 60 days ago? And what are they going to do next? Are they going to stay in Atlanta? Are they going to find a home in Texas? Are they going to come back? What are they going to do for the exhibitors? Or how did they end up in this boat in this scenario? There's been obviously rumor mills and hunting forums and all sorts of things that are just spiraling out of control. And they've been spiraling out of control because we've not heard from Rob, we've not heard of the promised communication that came out of Rob. And so I heard that last week Dallas had finalized what their next moves were going to be, whether they were staying in Atlanta or not, were they coming to Texas or not? What are they going to do to help exhibitors? How are they going to get customers and clients to the show, wherever that show may be. And so I reached out to Rob and said, I'd like you to come on our podcast to answer all of these questions, put her into the rumor mill. Just straightforward, honest, authentic answers of how did we get here, what's happening next? What does the future look like for Dallas Safari Club? And just put to essentially put to bed everything. And so that's what this podcast is. This podcast is a Q and A from me to Rob with a couple of rabbit holes that we dive down. But hopefully it answers all of the questions that have been leveled at me about the show. I hope it answers all of the rumors that are moving around out there. So enjoy. So there's a reason why I started Blood Origins, and that reason is simple, is that I wanted to convey the truth about hunting.

[Robby]

It brings awareness to non hunters that.

[Rob McKenna]

It'S more than just killing animals.

[Robby]

How do I start it? Brittany? My name. Does my hair look okay?

[Rob McKenna]

My name is Mike Axelrod. Start again. Yeah, I hated it too. Braxton, you said something in the car to me. You said that you were living on borrowed time. There's a perception around who hunters are, what we're supposed to be. And a feminist that works for a non profit that is a hunter that has only eaten wild game for the last 20 years is likely not the thing that people think about when it comes to a hunter. All right, so typically I do a terrible job of introducing people on my podcast, but today I'm going to do a really good job of introducing you. And I'll start off by back and saying thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to you about this. So, Rob McKenna, new CEO of DSC. Welcome to the Blood Origins podcast.

[Robby]

Thank you for having me, Robby. I'm glad to be here.

[Rob McKenna]

First time on the Blood Origins podcast because you're obviously the brand new CEO of dsc, but I've had your prior, the prior CEO, Corey, was on our podcast many, many, many times. So you'll probably be on this podcast many, many, many times in the future.

[Robby]

I hope that today's appearance warrants me coming back many, many, many times.

[Rob McKenna]

Well, and then, you know, in the future we get to talk about good stuff, nice stuff, the stuff that, you know, you want to implement as the CEO of Dallas Safari Club, which is conservation work, advocacy work, all of that kind of work. I can imagine. How long have you been on the job now, Rob?

[Robby]

Well, I think if we count in days, I think we're probably at like, I would say 78 days as of right now. So officially started January 1st, but that was a holiday. So I was driving to Dallas, but officially started the 2nd of January.

[Rob McKenna]

I can only imagine that in those 78 days you have not had much time to do the job of DSC in terms of mission. You've really had to focus everything that is going to be this conversation, which is convention.

[Robby]

Yes. And when I came on board, when I accepted the position, my transition from Walther Arms led me to stay on with Walther Arms through the end of the year. And of course as a CEO coming in, I had a very detailed 90 day plan that I had put in place for my first 90 days in the position. That all changed when I hit the ground in Atlanta and started the process with what was Convention 2025. And since that time, everything that's happened since then has really consumed those first 90 days. So there hasn't been a lot of time to get into exactly as you said, the, the inner workings of what I planned to do. It's all been almost a triage situation since that, since those, since the start.

[Rob McKenna]

Yep. Yep. So what we want to do today, what I want to do today is obviously there's a lot of people out there with lots of questions, there's people out there with lots of rumors. There's. I have questions that have made me scratch my head a little bit and say that doesn't quite make sense. And so I, I reached out to you and I said, rob, when you have decisions made for DSC's future, I'd appreciate the opportunity to come on our podcast and be willing to answer hard questions tied to everything convention related. Look, guys, I'm a hunter, right? And when I go hunting, I like to figure out how to get my trophies back home as expeditiously as possible. Well, you don't have to look much further than Safari Specialty Importers. We know that trophy importation can be quite a headache. That's why Safari Specialty Importers strives to make it as easy and hassle free as possible. They have access to a bonded warehouse, you won't be charged storage fees, and you get a dedicated team that's readily available and will update you at every step in the process. They'll even go one step further. Safari Specialty Importers is working with us at Blood Origins and they are going to donate $100 from every shipment that they work with to conservation projects that include anti poaching, community and wildlife conservation. At the end of the day, choose to spend your money with a team that's dedicated to you and is dedicated to helping show how hunting is a great conservation model. Hassle free logistics, fuel and conservation go with Safari Specialty Importers. Are you one of those shooters or hunters that have not yet plunged into the world of putting a silencer on your rifle? The only question I have for you is why not? Okay, okay, okay. Look, you're probably saying, but Robby, it takes like 10 months to get your silencer cleared. You're living in 2022, my friend. Today, applying and receiving for a silencer is down to literally weeks. Ordering one is easier than ever as silence essential makes it simple to apply. You go to their website, you buy a silencer and everything is handled by them from then on. In as little as a few weeks, your silencer will show up at your door. You don't even have to get off the couch. It is literally that simple. Just go to silenceessential.com today. Go get your silencer. Bushnell has been a longtime supporter of Blood Origins. And in keeping with the spirit of our collaboration, we've come up with an amazing idea. Bushnell is eager to help you get set up for conservation success. That's right. They want to help you. The conservation and research community is dominated by good people doing good things and investing significant time and effort for the benefit of habitat and the species. So what do you need to do? Pretty simple. Send us your conservation story and or your conservation wish. Could be managing whitetails. Could be understanding your environment or species or something else related to conservation. What would you be able to do if you had a great trail camera setup? We will select the best story every other month and send you a camera bundle. Cell camera, normal SD camera, SD cards, as well as optics. Everything you need to get set up for success. I can't wait to see what you submit. You can email [e-mail] DM US. Message us whatever you want. We are not hard to find. Good luck.

[Robby]

Yeah. And to be honest with you, it's overdue. Robbie, the rumor mill, as you said, has been running rampant since Atlanta. My communication, I've made some fatal flaws in my communication. I came out, I think I sent out a CEO update on January 21st stating that I would get back to everybody with where we were going for convention for the next five years by early February. My miscalculation was when I started that process, I thought it was going to be a little bit easier to get things in play and change, and it really wasn't. It was a monumental task that we undertook to try to start changing some things. And in that timeframe, I guess the other fatal flaw that I made as a communicator was I'm a person that wants to give people the right answers and the full answers. And as things kept changing in the process and trying to make those changes, I didn't want to go out with something that I tell somebody and then a day later that information has changed and I had to update that data. So instead of going out that way, I chose to stay quiet until I had things put to bed. That has led to, I think, even deeper frustration and that rumor mill even getting more fired up and more fuel being poured on it. To make things even worse for us. So this opportunity today to set some things straight and tell people now that I have a better understanding of where we're going and what we're doing and have some finalized plans is long overdue and needed.

[Rob McKenna]

Okay. I would agree with everything you just said. When I saw that email go out on the 21st, I was like, okay, he's living up to his promise. Communication. We've. We've sucked at communication. I want to be better at communicating. And then we heard nothing from you. Right. And I, again, the rumor was like, okay, you said you were going to communicate. You're not communicating.

[Robby]

Right.

[Rob McKenna]

But that makes sense what you said. So the best, I would say the. I'm going to give you some personal reflections through these questions. And these are personal reflections that people have come to me with. And the first one, I think the one that I've heard the most is can we, will we ever get an honest reflection of what happened in Atlanta?

[Robby]

Well, I can do my best at that because I think me being the new guy coming in and having not been involved with anything that got us to Atlanta, but coming and hitting the ground and finding out with Atlanta was and how it turned out. This is going to sound cliche, but let me just say it was a perfect storm. And I'm not talking about the weather. When I say a perfect storm, I say there was a lot of events that led up to Atlanta that made it happen the way it played out. And all those things had to happen in succession and they all had to link together to cause which what I would say from a, from an exhibitor standpoint was a disaster.

[Rob McKenna]

So, so you, you, you will say, honestly, as the CEO of Dallas Safari Club, from an exhibitor's perspective, it was a terrible convention.

[Robby]

Yes, that. And here's why I will say that. And let's talk about some of those the perfect storm things that came up. So the first thing in the timeline has to be the change from moving from 40 plus years in Dallas to Atlanta. And as I said, that was something I inherited, but there was something that happened there with moving out of Dallas and going to Atlanta.

[Rob McKenna]

So right then and there, I don't know, I'm curious. I know a lot of people would have what. Again, I'm going to stutter here on a couple of questions because I don't know how to couch it. What forced ESC's hand to move from, to move away from Dallas? Because as I understood it, K. Bailey Hutchinson was going to get demolished. And that hasn't happened.

[Robby]

So here's how I understand it and some of this is I'm going to give you an answer of the stuff that was pre me and the stuff since I've been here and the things I found out. So before I came on board, here's what I understand. The K. Bailey Hutchinson people has been the home of Dallas Safari Club forever. People love it, the Omni, everything about it, Everything is great. There was communication from them to not just Dallas Safari Club, but other major corporations, Mary Kay Cosmetics, people that have had long relationship with, with that or with that facility, that their conventions were going to be disrupted due to demolition, remodeling, whatever you want to say. So all those people that had long standing relationships understood why this was going to happen, the timeline it was going to start happening. And they said, hey, you got to go find a new home for 26, excuse me, for 25 through 29. Because we are not going to be the facility that we said we were going to be. So here's what happened on the Dallas Safari side and with others. Now I will say what I've understood, what I've learned. Dallas Safari Club, the board that was in place at the time, the. My predecessor, nobody did anything wrong, but they didn't act fast enough. And a lot of these other organizations that were in the Dallas area that had been using that facility acted a lot faster and went and booked up a lot of the stuff that was still in Texas. So San Antonio, Houston, all those places, the good dates or the first quarter dates got gobbled up. So what did Dallas Safari Club do? Okay, so now we've. We've drug our feet a little bit. We've missed the, missed the opportunity to get somewhere in Texas. We gotta go find a new home. So what I understand is they went out and blanketed 26 different locations across the country looking for facilities that could not only provide the right space, but the right type of hotels, transportation, all the things that were needed to have a show that the Dallas Safari Club membership and attendees were used to having.

[Rob McKenna]

And it was a space consideration was a big one.

[Robby]

Right.

[Rob McKenna]

You've got a certain footprint that you, you know, wanted to keep the exhibitors at.

[Robby]

Yes, we had grown to be so large. We had. I wasn't we yet. But Dallas Ferry Club had grown to be so large that they needed 500,000 square feet plus. And anything less than that was not going to allow them to have the same amount of people that they've had over the last 20 years in the Dallas area. So they didn't want to cut exhibitors out. They wanted to stay with the partners that had been loyal to them forever. So they had to find a place that was the right size to hold the right size show. Okay, so bottom line, it came down to, from what I hear, it was three locations. And one was Detroit, which they decided against because of the cold weather and everything that went with Detroit. One was Orlando, which got rid of the cold weather, but not the friendliest environment for the shows that we typed to have. And the last one was Atlanta. And Atlanta sort of checked all the boxes from a size great hotels, a city that was willing to work with us in trying to change their image and do a lot of things. And basically it was great facilities. So the decision was made to go to Atlanta. The negotiations were done. A five year contract was signed with a lot of incentives and staying there for five years and everything like that. And then here, here's where it gets real tricky. So after that contract was signed and put into place, after the decision had been made, K, what I understand is Kay Bailey came back and said, hey, our demolition and our remodels and stuff are not going to happen as fast as we had told you were. We have dates available now for 2020.

[Rob McKenna]

When did Kate Bailey approach DSE with that?

[Robby]

Like, hey, FYI, I don't know the exact dates, Robbie. What I understand is it was within weeks after signing the agreements with Atlanta.

[Rob McKenna]

And let's just pause there for a second because I think I don't quite understand. It's not like something you can just sign and like this comes along four weeks later and go, oh, sorry, oopsie. We don't want to. We don't want it anymore. It's a. It's a legal. Talk to me about that because a lot of people are like, I'm out. It's like, yeah, we're out. We're going back to K. Yeah, well.

[Robby]

So I've learned a lot about this since I've come on board. Because that's what we've been doing is, is learning about documents you sign and conventions. There is so many moving parts with this. When you sign these documents, it's with the state of Georgia, it's with convention centers, it's with hotels, it's with transportation. You don't understand the depth that you go into all these agreements. And with these agreements, when you sign them to get out of them, there's a thing called liquidated damages. Once you sign these and they're in place to get out of them, there's a real cost. And just to let you know, after Atlanta, so I started looking at, well, let's just get out of here and find a way to get back. It was millions of dollars, Robbie. So I'm talking almost $4 million to get out of a contract in Atlanta. So as soon as those contracts were signed and Kay Bailey came back to us, in essence, if we would have said we wanted out at that point, there would have been liquidated damages with never having had a show, never doing anything that would have been paid to Georgia, the hotels and everything, and $4 million level just to come back to K. Bailey. And as a nonprofit, we don't have those type of funds.

[Rob McKenna]

So is Kay Bailey, though, is it not being demolished at all?

[Robby]

So a little bit of things have started. They have done a few things, but some things have become clear. So now let's go back and talk to what became very clear to me two weeks ago. Two weeks ago I'm sitting and watching TV here, now that I live in, in the Frisco area just north of Dallas, and a big ad for K. Bailey comes on. But it's about the World cup that is finally coming to Dallas in August of 2026, which is a huge win. I mean, let's face it, soccer is ginormous and this is a big win for the city of Dallas. But in that commercial, they announced that the K. Bailey Hutchinson Convention center is going to be the media headquarters for all of the World Cup. So let's connect some dots here. This didn't happen overnight. K. Bailey knew this bid process for the World Cup. They've been working on this for years. They knew it was eventually going to get awarded. And so now I'm connecting the dots. They came to us and said they were going to start their process for remodeling, but they had not heard back from the World Cups yet. Things go on, things move forward. World cup comes back awarded to Dallas. Kay Bailey is going to be there. And the media headquarters, they cannot start their demolition and stuff now because this would be catastrophic to the city of Dallas, the state of Texas. And things have been pushed off and pushed off and pushed off to. Now we understand why that process was. They were waiting for final either approval or disapproval of the World Cup. Now they've got it. Things have become clear why this all happened to us. So that is the best explanation I can give you of why things progressed and why we had to get out of Dallas, why Kay Bailey did the things they did, why they went back and sold space to people that weren't longtime partners. Because in the meantime, when they didn't start demolition and reconstruction, they had a facility. If they needed to sell dates to make revenue up until they get to that point. Point, it's business.

[Rob McKenna]

So let me ask this question and hypothetically, if you decided, if you said I must, it would have been stupid to even ask the question of Kay Bailey. Hey, Kay Bailey, is our dates available in 2026? You still wouldn't have been able to do it because you'd have to break the contract in Atlanta. Correct me if I'm wrong here. Right. But then after 2026, after the world Cup's done, is K. Bailey still demolishing?

[Robby]

That is, everything has been posted on their websites and everything that the city of Dallas has planned. As soon as that is over and even beforehand, they're going to start processes to start making that reconstruction and the demolition that was all planned. Yes.

[Rob McKenna]

So this is. When did this whole like, hey, we need to pick Atlanta happen? 18 months ago.

[Robby]

I. I'm going to miss the timeline on this for you, but. Because it was. It predated me, but I would say no, it would probably be. So let's do a backlog here. So it was probably early 2024, as you pick convention centers. Like we said, this doesn't happen overnight. And this is part of the change of. Why not just get out of Atlanta and change things outside of the cost? You've got to go find.

[Rob McKenna]

Because they would have, they would have announced it. They would have announced it at DSC 2024 that they're going to Atlanta. So the decision was made before DSC 2024. The other thing that happened, as I understand it, is you had a bit of a board change at the same time, right?

[Robby]

Yes.

[Rob McKenna]

And significant. Not just like the normal three people rotating off.

[Robby]

Correct. And as the new guy coming in, I like to be educated just enough to know what happened. But this doesn't involve me. And I don't know any of those people. I don't know what all transpired. I know there was feelings hurt, there was people got sideways, people left, there was infighting, contracts were broke. A lot of bad things have been said. That is what it is. That's with any organization. And that all happened. But we now have a board in place. I'm here. That's all I can deal with. In fact, we just had elections last Thursday to put three new people on the board. We are moving forward with what we have. I was brought in for a purpose, to add some stability to this. And that's all. That's really all I'm going to get into with that, because I don't know any of those people. I don't know my predecessor. I hear everybody loved him and everything was great. And he made a decision.

[Rob McKenna]

Amazing guy.

[Robby]

He made a decision to go to another organization, which, hey, I'm kind of happy for it because I end up here. But I hope he's very successful and all the people that were involved here is my point. And I'm going to get on a diatribe there. I get very upset. I've been in the shooting sports industry for 35 years. And now onto the conservation side. We are our own worst enemies in this entire outdoors industry. And there is so much infighting and people fighting with each other all the time. I just don't understand it. We should all be working together because our enemies are definitely working together. And we've got to stop all this petty infighting and worrying about other people, run our organizations and do no harm to each other while supporting the outdoors, conservation, advocacy, education, everything we can, period. And there's my diet right off to the side. So sorry for diverging a little bit.

[Rob McKenna]

No, no, that's fine. And you know, one of the other things that happened, and you've mentioned it twice, three times, actually, is that a new CEO came on board.

[Robby]

Yes.

[Rob McKenna]

Which is you. Okay, so there was a lot of things that happened in a short amount of time. I do want to just get back to the question that started this all. 2024 in Dallas was not amazing. Was not great. Was not great for exhibitors. You agree?

[Robby]

Well, excuse me, I'll correct you there. You said 2024 in Dallas was not great. Oh, 2024 in Dallas.

[Rob McKenna]

Sorry. 2025 in Atlanta. Man, I don't know.

[Robby]

So let's start with that. What you said, though, 2024 in Dallas was great. It was fantastic.

[Rob McKenna]

Was amazing.

[Robby]

It was a record show. People coming through the gates exceeded 30,000 people. Those aren't exhibitors. Those aren't industry people.

[Rob McKenna]

Clients. Those are clients.

[Robby]

Those are consumers on the show floor looking to buy something. So let's say, what was Atlanta? How is it a disaster? So we go from 30,000 plus to just under 7,000 people came through the door in Atlanta. Now, there's reasons for that. But the other part of that timeline I talked about in this perfect storm is when that decision to go to Atlanta was made, and which I understand kind of in a vacuum, but it was kind of in a vacuum because of what you mentioned. About the board being disrupted and the bad feelings and people leaving and people coming in. The decisions were made to get us there. So what that did was that alienated a lot of the old guard, I will say, of Dallas Safari Club members, they were like, well, this is stupid. How did this happen? The communication process was bad. We're not going to. So let's take that old guard. So now you've started with. You've created a new location and your old guard and a lot of people that had their feelings hurt and left the organization are now saying, we're not going to Atlanta.

[Rob McKenna]

Screw it.

[Robby]

Period. So that's automatically going to bring down your attendance. Now, when I said perfect storm, I will say, and I'm never going to use this for an excuse. We had a weather event in the south, and if people have never lived in the South, I grew up close to Erie, Pennsylvania, where 8ft of snow will not shut us down. We'll keep going. We'll keep having school. We'll do whatever. The threat of snow. When I moved to North Carolina for 20 years, the threat of snow can cause schools and buildings to close down for days. I didn't say snow. I said the threat of snow. That's the South. Atlanta got hit with a snowstorm at the peak of our show. Now, when did it start? So let's talk about this. It was a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It was Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday show. Atlanta Airport's the busiest airport in the world. Okay? It started snowing on Friday morning of our event, about 6am I'm looking out the windows and it's snowing. By 10am the busiest airport in the world had come on the Atlanta TV station and said, we are closing down the airport. No flights in, no flights out. Okay? They did not reopen or flights in or out until Saturday at noon. So we had people that were registered for the show trying to get there, could not get in. Thousands of people. We had people from other organizations. I'll use. I have friends at Daniel Defense, which is in South Carolina. It borders the state we're in. They were driving. They could not get there. So we're not using it as an excuse. But as part of the perfect storm, people do have to understand. The city of Atlanta was closed. We had hotels where Omni employees were working for Hilton because they had no people. People were staying for 3, 4 shifts at a time trying to keep our show open. The largest boat show in the United States was going on at the same time. They closed. They didn't even open their doors.

[Rob McKenna]

On Friday.

[Robby]

On Friday, they didn't have anybody in the same venue that we had. So not an excuse. Part of the perfect storm. So I just want everybody to realize we're not leaning back. I'm not leaning back on the weather. Because let's say the other side of this, the other piece of the perfect storm the Dallas Safari Club screwed up was our entire marketing campaign. We missed the boat period. Okay. Bought into a lot of ideas from the convention center and these large amounts of people, spent a ton of money. Totally missed the mark. Did not hit our target audience. I had heard from so many people that lived in the area over there, that lived within an hour of Atlanta.

[Rob McKenna]

Didn't even know that it was.

[Robby]

Didn't know we were there. Didn't promote it as a hunting show. Put the DSC logo up on the East Coast. It showed, shows an elephant with dsc. What does that do? It doesn't do anything. Here's the biggest thing, and I will say it's probably the most fatal error we made. Spent a lot of money buying into the convention area of Atlanta. So great conventionary Mercedes stadiums there, they have all these venues, they have people coming in all throughout the year. So we bought into the thing, they kept showing these numbers, oh, we're going to have a half million people at this event that come to this. We're going to have a million people at this football game. We're going to have all these people. We had huge advertisements all around that convention area. Guess what we were doing? We're advertising to transient people that weren't local, that weren't gonna come to the event because they were coming into another event. They saw those advertisements, meant nothing to them and went away. That is all changing. That has officially changed.

[Rob McKenna]

Yeah. So let's ask, let me ask the question, what are you gonna do differently now for 2026?

[Robby]

So a lot of things, to be honest with you. I mean, and it's all.

[Rob McKenna]

Let's just talk specifically to the marketing.

[Robby]

So one of the biggest pieces, as I said, I've got a 35 year history in the outdoor industry. Love a lot of people. I've been exposed to a lot of marketing firms, organizations, people that do a lot of things for my life and people that do it really great. The one thing I will say is the outdoor industry is a very small industry when you really look at it. And everybody tends to do things kind of in the same way. They use the same messaging, they use the same type of things. And you get a lot of the same across everything luckily enough I had a conversation, I had a connection with an incredible group that say that specializes in nonprofits and they're called the more group. If anybody wants to look into them. I'll just give you a little data on them. They are huge with nonprofits and they manage 80. Don't I hope I'm right with this. 84 of the top 100 nonprofits in the world. They manage all their business for them. They manage the top 10 biggest nonprofits completely and manage their business for them. They should not be talking to Dallas Safari Club. But I had an in and we've engaged them and we just got this started actually this week to where we are going out with PR and they are going to totally change and tell the story of what Dallas Safari Club is. And a focus is going to be on our summer expo and what is Atlanta next year. So PR Summer Expo Convention in Atlanta, 2026. Game changer for us. Now on top of that, we are working with the people in Atlanta, staying with them. We're looking at the Turner Organization, huge hunting community connections, doing things like that, engaging with partner organizations that are kind of different. We're a conservation organization. We've got a membership program put together with NRA. Never have done that before. 2A supporters and conservation have never sort of got together. That's the partnerships we need. How do we tie the hunting community with the 2A people? You sort of need 2A people. If you're going to be a hunter, you got to have a gun, right? And it's like minded organizations, other conservation organizations. Anybody listens to this, reach out to me. I want to partner with you. I'll support you, you support us. Let's find out the way to make all of us better and drive our organizations for the betterment of conservation. And two A support and just the outdoors.

[Rob McKenna]

Rob, obviously the sentiment coming out of the first Atlantis show was not good. People were upset. People said this sucked. This was not what we anticipated. This is not what we were promised. Um, and that was what, 60 days ago, maybe now even less. Right? 50, 60 days ago. Um, what, what did you do? Like you heard these people, we don't want to be here.

[Robby]

So, so let me, let me backtrack one thing. So the one thing I do want to say about the Atlanta show, yes, it sucked from an exhibitor standpoint, there wasn't a lot of business done on the floor. This I do want to clarify for everybody because this, this tells something. Also. I've been going to outdoor shows for 35 years. Nobody that was at that event, that walked onto that show floor or attended any of the events, the banquets for the three nights that we were there can say that they were not spectacular. So I do want to get across.

[Rob McKenna]

I would agree with this.

[Robby]

I do want to get across the show floor in Atlanta if people would have been there to see. It was the best outdoor hunting show I have ever seen. From exhibitors, quality of exhibits, number of exhibits, seminars, the space, the space that you had, it was amazing. And so when we say that it was a disaster. Yes. From a disaster of making money and exhibitors, having people on the show floor, disaster. From what it was. The venues, the people it attracted, from a political standpoint, the nighttime venues, the awards, everything like that. It was a wonderful show.

[Rob McKenna]

Yeah, yeah. Rob, you did the. Listen.

[Robby]

Yes.

[Rob McKenna]

And as I understand, you guys did listen and go, okay, we've heard people loud and clearly. Let's look and see if we can get out of this.

[Robby]

So let's again start with where it did. I'm the new guy on the scene. I'm walking around an empty show floor, and I am getting bombarded by people saying how bad it was while the show was going on. I'm a guy that likes to lead with his chin. So I wrote up a letter, and we went to some of the top exhibitors that have been with us forever. At the end of that show, I had a exhibitor roundtable meeting, and I brought them all in. I let them unload on me and tell me everything they thought that was bad, from the location to walking too far, to everything costing too much, to we gotta get back to Texas, Everything like that. So listen to that. But then I thought, okay, that was raw emotion. When we got back and started working on things and trying to look how we listen to people, I started an exhibitor advisory committee of about 50 exhibitors that we had multiple meetings with to tell us things. And even before that, this is how I knew how bad it was. Because when things are bad, people like to give you information. We sent out a survey. Usually when you send out a survey, you don't get a lot of responses. We got over 400 responses, and they weren't.

[Rob McKenna]

What was that survey, Rob? I think I saw it. It was like a poll of different locations. It was two different times, different dates, different locations.

[Robby]

No, no, not that one. What I'm talking about is the polls. The first survey was about, tell us what was wrong with Atlanta, and we got all that back. The second survey that you're talking about, that Was asking about, tell us your top concerns and what came back from those things while listening to people. The number one thing that I took away from everything was get back to Texas as soon as you can. Number two, everything costs too much in Atlanta. We gotta find weights to get the cost down on things. They were so detailed. They said the parking situation for exhibitors was awful. There was too much walking to get from hotels to places and things like that. So we listened and we took and we ranked all these things. Then the next step of this is how do we address their concerns when people start talking about the venue, the location, the dates. That was another one that came back. Our dates for the future being so far away from other shows, other conservation shows, that this is going to cost us even more to come to your show and then have to stay in the States for a long time and come back. So dates was the big one.

[Rob McKenna]

Yeah. Next year SCI is end of February. I think it's happened before, like in 2023. I think SCI was way late and DSC was early and people literally flew in for dsc, flew home to South Africa and then flew back for Asia.

[Robby]

And that's, that's the situation we're looking at again as we left Atlanta. That's what we were looking at, a five week gap. And that cost people too much money. So anyhow, let's go back to what we did. So we started the process of negotiating with Atlanta and letting them know that basically, hey, guys, yes, there was a weather event, but this is not what we signed up for. And our people are, they're telling us they're not coming back and we're going to lose people. So we went back and said the first thing we got to address is the hall. We are in this walking distance and everything that goes about it and the size of it, it's got to come down because a show is going to be a different footprint for the next year. They were very reactive and came back to us. And we've negotiated a new hall that if you were there or anybody that was, was there. Now, when you walk through the lobby of the Hilton, you walk through a set of doors and basically enter the C hall and you're right on the show floor. So it is right there. Now let's talk about the, the bordering properties. Because the Omni and other things like that would be hard.

[Rob McKenna]

Yeah, the Omni would be further away. Right.

[Robby]

So the good news is shuttle services now instead. I mean, if you're a fitness person and want to walk it and hoof it the whole way over. You can still do it. If you don't, there will be shuttle services that can bring you directly to the door. You walk through a set of doors and walk onto the show floor. Get off the bus and walk onto the show floor. Parking for exhibitors. There's a parking lot right next to this exhibit hall. They won't have to use parking decks and go through the craziness of that. So. But, but I'm getting way ahead of myself here because now I'm talking about things we negotiating for. But let's just talk about the overall concern of getting back to Dallas or getting back to Texas.

[Rob McKenna]

Right? Get back to Texas. Get back to Texas.

[Robby]

So we talked about the financial impact of breaking contracts with that. You gotta find a new location to break a contract. You gotta find a new location. We did everything in our powers to find new locations in the Texas area. Even looking at multiple locations, having a three venue event with different themes, every city, every possibility that could fit in the window of the first quarter of the year. And we blanketed this and it became very apparent to us. The only year we could not get anything with an option was 2026, which is next year. So.

[Rob McKenna]

But wasn't the, didn't the poll have a San Antonio option Super early for 2027?

[Robby]

It did, yes. But it wasn't super early. Oh yes it was.

[Rob McKenna]

Originally they had no, sorry, I thought it was 2026. 2026 had like a January 1st through January 9th window.

[Robby]

And actually what happened with that one is we heard people. So exhibitors got back to us, said they did not want to two things. They did not like traveling over the new year and setup would take them traveling over the new year. So that was a problem. The other thing was they didn't want to start jumping locations year after year. They wanted to find a home and stay in a home that had some.

[Rob McKenna]

Consistency to it because San Antonio couldn't be multiple years back to back.

[Robby]

Right. And because of hotel issues, other things like that. There was a lot of different reasons, dates, hotel reasons, all those type of things. So the other thing was we, we did get options for 2027 and we got both San Antonio and Houston gave us options. Those options were for a three day show over the Easter holiday. So good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday. The exhibitor said there's just no way we can do that. It makes no sense. We don't want to.

[Rob McKenna]

Plus it was so late already because everyone's hunting already. All the South African guys are hunting already New Zealand's hunting, Argentina's hunting. They're all hunting already.

[Robby]

So listening to our exhibitors again, listening, we just said, hey, this isn't the right way to do it. So how do we make this, how do we make lemonade out of lemon, out of lemons here and let's do it right. So we talked a little bit about Atlanta for 2026. So let me announce, let's just say this, 26 and 27, we are back in Atlanta. Now the good news about that is when we left Atlanta in 2025, we were in Atlanta through 2029. So we have four more years in Atlanta. We were successfully in basically 60 days able to do a two year process and negotiate out of two years of our contract in Atlanta to get back to Texas for 28, 29 and 30 and all the years after that. So there's the good news. Let me state this again.

[Rob McKenna]

We were well some people will say bad news because we're in Atlanta for.

[Robby]

Two more years but we're going to work on that. So there's things that we have to do when we listen to people. You've also got to improve on what you had and there's some improvements coming for Atlanta. We talked about marketing, we've talked about the things we're going to do different. We're going to have incentives for the people that come back and support us. We're going to change the dates so it's closer to other shows. Those have not been finalized yet.

[Rob McKenna]

Let's just so 2026 dates in Atlanta, have they been finalized yet?

[Robby]

This is, this is the another reason why a communication has not come out from me because I don't want to put this in play yet. I am waiting for confirmation this week of the new dates that have been proposed to us. If they are finalized, we will have moved the show from that five week gap from the the next show that everybody wants to go to the FCI show and made it a 10 day window. So we will end 10 days before the FCI show if these dates are approved.

[Rob McKenna]

So you renegotiated in 2026 in Atlanta into a new hall and also a renegotiation of your, of your date windows to accommodate the exhibitors to say, hey, it's too much time between Dallas and sei. We want you closer. Can you get close to SEI and you've done this?

[Robby]

Yes, we have done that.

[Rob McKenna]

Is the show the same? I think is it the same like Thursday to Sunday? Could it be the same or what.

[Robby]

Could it look like with making the changes, we're going to shorten it up a little bit this year. It's going to be a Friday to Sunday. It'll be a three day show and changing some hours, adding some retail hours at night. It's one of the comments we heard from the exhibitors too. A lot of the people that work retail shows, they said, boy, you're missing an opportunity. People like to stay later on Friday nights and they like to stay on Saturdays, maybe get here later, but stay later on Saturdays. And so we're going to make some big changes to that type of stuff also.

[Rob McKenna]

Let's talk about. Do you want to talk, do you want to whilst we're on it, do you have dates for 2027 in Atlanta?

[Robby]

Yes, they will be back to our traditional dates of the second week of January and as planned and the way it was announced before. But we will still be in the new hall, we'll still have the new parking, we'll still have all the incentives and everything that we're going to talk about to send out to our exhibitors. And this is a big thing I want to talk about as we talk about incentives for Atlanta 26 and 27 because we heard the concerns and it's all business concerns. That's what it's all about is exhibitors need to.

[Rob McKenna]

Well, it has to be right? It has to be.

[Robby]

Yes. And part of this thing is how do we make this an incredible show. We talked marketing. Here's my prediction is I have a feeling that 20 based on, based on boost space that we've already seen re up for. Traditionally by this time of year, a lot of people have either reduced the size of their boost space that have committed to us or not committed at all at this point. And maybe they're waiting for the dates and the changes and that may change. But I do believe we're going to have a smaller show and I think actually it's going to be the, the perfect storm in a good way. I think we're going to have less people have a great show and a great new hall and great things and new marketplaces.

[Rob McKenna]

Less exhibitors.

[Robby]

Less exhibitors.

[Rob McKenna]

Not less people.

[Robby]

Less exhibitors.

[Rob McKenna]

Right, right.

[Robby]

And get back to that 20 and 30,000 consumers coming through the door to where we we have the perfect storm of less exhibitors selling things the same amount or more people coming in to buy things and everybody has an incredible busy show. That's the plan. So that's a real good thing that is going to happen for us. And I'm not going to say it should happen for us. I'm going to say it is going to happen for us because I know all the efforts that's going into it.

[Rob McKenna]

So talk to me about. I think. I think you will agree with me. I hope you do. The exhibitors are the most important thing here, 100%. Okay, so what are you doing for those exhibitors in Atlanta for 2026, 2027? Because they're hearing this now going, ah, forget that. We're not doing Atlanta.

[Robby]

We've.

[Rob McKenna]

It didn't work out the first year. I don't see how it's going to work out the second year. So we're not doing this. So from your perspective, what are you doing for the exhibitors to say, okay, we hear you. Here's what we want to do for you.

[Robby]

So the one thing I did not want to be is somebody, as we said, this a business decision, and people got to make decisions about their business. I've addressed the things that they told us about the hall size, the location, the dates, all those type of things. So we put those things in play. Now, how do we say to them, okay, we've heard things about the cost, so we're going to put together a detailed plan. I'm not going to get into a ton of the details here. We will send this out to the exhibitors themselves. The one thing I did not want to do is strong arm people. So, as you know, with any show, we have a wait list for people that have wanted to be in our show forever. And there's exhibitor credit points that give people rankings and stuff like that. And if you fall out for a year, you fall out and you lose your spot. I'm not going to let that happen. I've come to people and say, okay, understand you had a bad experience. We're going to be in Atlanta for 26, 27. I'm giving you the ability to opt out of one of those years as a business decision and have no penalties imposed on you. With your standing with us, your space when we get back to Texas and how you can come on board, everything is going to stay as it was going forward. Now, on the other side, how can we help people make the right decision, too? And I've brought back a lot of things. Our exhibitor credits gonna give a lot more exhibitor credits for people who commit to come back, to come to this great opportunity that's gonna be smaller and have a lot of people and sell a lot of things out. Brought back the exhibitor credits for their booth Space. So whatever they pay for a booth space, they get exhibit credits for that. That wasn't something that happened over the last few years. Any of them that make donations for our raffles and our, and our things like that, we're going to get two times exhibitor credit points. People that buy sponsorships where you have five times the credits. So and if they commit to two years, we'll give them 10,000 exhibitor credit points. So really letting them sew up their partnerships with us, but not holding them accountable for it, if they choose to do so and do the right thing for their business, it's going to benefit them. If they choose to make a different business decision, it doesn't hurt them.

[Rob McKenna]

Rob, this is a naive question from my perspective, what does an exhibitor credit get? An exhibitor.

[Robby]

So it gives them ranking. And that's what's been hard to, to explain. And this is something I had to learn coming in. I've been part of it my whole life and I always looked at when I was an exhibitor and going to places that there was important things about prime booth space and being able to choose that space and all those type of things that go along with it. And exhibitor credits are just a way to measure that. And it's about your years that you've been with the organization, about the size of your booth, about all the donations you give and everything like that to give you status, to put you in prime locations and allow you to choose things and just make the show better for you. And that's what those things were all about.

[Rob McKenna]

Okay. It doesn't give you like, I don't know, meal vouchers.

[Robby]

No, no, no. Okay, that's a great point. I'm glad you thought of that. So maybe we'll, maybe we'll enact something like that. No, but there is a financial side to this too. And the people that do come back, we are already looking, hearing their concerns on the financial side of lowering the cost of our booth space for the next two years. And we're going to eat that. We're not using it as a profit center. We're just, we're passing on what we're paying for the space. That's how it goes. We're going to lower our booth cost. You mentioned food vouchers. One of the big concerns I heard people on the floor, exhibitors on the floor, even consumers on the floor. A $20 beer shocked them.

[Rob McKenna]

Oh, it was $14 for like a 6 inch pizza from, from Papa John's. When if you doordashed it, you could get an $8 monster pizza.

[Robby]

So. So for making things easier with booth purchases, there will be daily food, food and drink vouchers that we are going to. We are going to put on our back to help defray some of those costs. Another big thing I heard was Atlanta's cost for freight of booths was ridiculous. We don't have a discount yet. We're negotiating what we can do with them. Even if they don't give us a discount through the organization and their unions and everything there, we are going to pass on a discount to people to bring those costs down. Other things I'm trying to do is a lot of exhibitors. We have our nightly banquets that they don't come. They're costly, and a seat at the tables is quite expensive. 250, $300 a seat to come for a dinner and the awards banquets and things like that. We're going to offer up some things for those nighttime events for our exhibitors that do a couple things. First of all, it gives them more time with the prime customers that are there by not just letting them spend time with them on the show floor, but also at a banquet that evening and having opportunities to sell their companies and do things and talk about their businesses and having some more intimate time with them. But what we want to do is saying, okay, with each booth space, we will offer a ridiculously discounted ticket, two tickets for each booth space that we haven't set a price yet, but here's what I'm thinking. If they're $300 tickets, they go to $50 a piece. Where if you're able to come and get a meal and drinks and being invited to a place for $50, you can't go out anywhere to eat for that type of money either. So. So we're going to try to do some things like that also.

[Rob McKenna]

Yeah, that's good. That's good to know. So we talked about Atlanta. What happens after 2027?

[Robby]

Well, let me put in big cold print here. The number one concern was get back to Texas, and we're doing that. So we. We have dates lined out that will be coming out here in the next few days once the 2026 dates are finalized. But 2028, 2029 and 2030, we are in Houston, Texas.

[Rob McKenna]

Okay. And all those dates are locked down. No conflicts. Are there any conflicts?

[Robby]

There's probably going to be something with some show that's out there. We did the best to manipulate, manipulate, I guess, to mitigate, excuse me, any of those conflicts. But we are going to have some conflicts in some of those years, but for the most part the biggest one that everybody looks at is SCI. And our dates for all those years, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 are within a 10 day window most times of the FCI show. I think the closest we get is a six day window from move in, move out. We may fall on a shot show, we may fall on a sheep show, which is unfortunate, but I had to listen to my customers and say that it's more important to get out of Atlanta and get back to Texas as soon as you could more than it is of looking at other show dates.

[Rob McKenna]

Okay. One of the things, I know we've talked about this a little bit and now you don't have the details yet for me to be able to, to, to sort of line out the plan. It sounds like you have, it sounds like you've heard the exhibitors, you've also said we're going to try and look after our exhibitors as best as we can. You know, I've heard exhibitors say, you know, DSC, you should lose money.

[Robby]

On.

[Rob McKenna]

The 20 20, on the 2026 show because we lost a shit ton of money in 2025. You're going to eat some costs. Obviously you have to keep your head above water. What do you think about that?

[Robby]

I think that that's the point of 2026, 2027 is it is about us just breaking even from a cost of a show. As I said, we're not looking to make money, but in the same, same breath with that. Our organization exists to fund initiatives for conservation, for advocacy, for education in the outdoor space. If we're not making some kind of profit, we're not accomplishing our mission. So I think that comes hand in hand that making money on, I guess the cost of the event is not something we're focused on, but we do have to focus on how do we cover our expenses and how are we able to still make commitments to the conservation world and keeping those things out. And, and I will, and I will say, and this will be very controversial because as I think everybody's seeing, I'm being very open, I'm trying to help and trying to do things. But yes, people did lose money. It's a show, it's a business. There's a lot of years they made an awful lot of money. And this in my prior life when I sold products, if you were a wholesaler and you owned a bunch of my product and I, and I announced a price decrease, they Always wanted me to make their inventory whole. If. If I announced the price increase and the value of their inventory went up, they never wanted to give me extra money. So I do want to get that out there and hope people that understand there is no guarantees in business. There are good shows, there's bad shows. And for the most part, they've had a great history with Dallas Safari Club outside of the one disaster that we had last year in Atlanta.

[Rob McKenna]

And you're trying everything in your power.

[Robby]

To rectify that is, if people can't see that, they're not watching the effort that's being put in. We're trying to do everything to. First of all, what you said earlier, it's 100% about the exhibitors. I understand that. And the best thing we can do is put customers on the floor that make them more money than they've ever had. And that's what our intention is. Every time we don't go into this saying it's gotta be about what Dallas Safari Club needs, because we gotta go into this saying, what do our exhibitors need? And how do we do everything to make that happen? But what the understanding is, there are no guarantees in business, the economy, anything can happen. And that's just something we've all dealt with as business people. That's something that has to be understood.

[Rob McKenna]

So just to hammer home the point, exhibitors are your number, your most important element. And to ensure that exhibitors are happy. There is things that you can control from a convention perspective as much as you can. But there's the other element which is bringing the people to the exhibitors, the clients and the customers. And that is something that you've recognized, and that's something you are changing with. What did you say? The more group, right?

[Robby]

And a lot of other things. It's not just solely the more group. That's a big piece of it, but a lot of other things. Like I said, the partnerships with, like, organizations targeting the right people and doing the right things we need in the right areas on the east coast and everything like that.

[Rob McKenna]

The. I don't know if we've looked at the dates. One of the conflicts that happened for the 2025 show was there was another show at the very same time in Dallas. Are they. Are they going to be the same conflicts of dates in the future with that show?

[Robby]

Only for 2027 at this point? Because we're back to our original dates. And the only thing I can't answer to that is, is if Kay Bailey is under construction at that time, that show Might not happen. That's one of the wild cards for them. But I can't talk to that one.

[Rob McKenna]

Yeah, yeah, talk to me about that. Let's just go. Let's flip back to Kay Bailey for, for a second. Kay Bailey's deconstruction and construction schedule. What are the. What are they saying right now?

[Robby]

About the same thing they've been saying to us since the beginning, I guess. And everybody that's in construction can say, well, they haven't started. They were supposed to start, so there's gotta be slippage. All I can say is we also know I've announced that we're going to be in Houston in 2030, in 2029 and 30. We have options with K. Bailey if it is the construction is done and back up and running, we have our original dates and we'll be back in that location.

[Rob McKenna]

Even 2029, if it's available.

[Robby]

I highly doubt, I highly doubt it's going to be, but we have those options and those are things. We just gotta see how it plays out. But as people told us, exhibitors told us they wanted to go get a home back in Texas. And that's why we have booked down the 28, 29 and 30 in Houston to, to give people some stability right now and say this is where we're at. If something changes, it's going to be on the back end of this and we will let you know way out in advance.

[Rob McKenna]

So 20, 30 and beyond, that's Cape 80 lockdown.

[Robby]

It is. We have contracts in place to. At this point. Yes, that is the plan. If they complete everything, that is where we will be and we will be back in Dallas just like we were for 40 plus years.

[Rob McKenna]

Rob, tell me about. I know that one of the mitigating measures that is being put in place this year in 2025 is the summer show. There is a summer show happening in Dallas. So one question I had specifically is you're having it at the Gaylord, right?

[Robby]

Yes, Gaylord Texan.

[Rob McKenna]

Why can't you put the convention in the Gaylord Texan?

[Robby]

Exactly the same reason that we talked about earlier. I thought we'd have some leverage there. And actually that was one of the things we tried to lean on since we had a relationship, to have a summer show there. When we started this process after Atlanta said, let's go to Gaylord and say, hey, let's tell them, give us a summer show, give us a January show, let's do two shows a year and let's really make this thing rock and roll. Two things. Space. Our summer expo and gala is not going to be as large as what we traditionally are for our convention. It's going to be a great show. Going to be an outstanding show, actually. I'm very excited about it with things I'm seeing. But the space available to us would not be conducive. So that's one problem. The other side is they have dates locked up with a lot of other clients where they had nothing that worked for our January, February, March timeframes. And then another thing is they are also going to go through a construction process of adding more rooms to the facility and things like that that just sort of took the dates and everything out of place. So we couldn't do that. Now they did give us an option for 2030 and we are keeping that on the table. That if we need to look at that as something gets later in date, that we would take that as opposed. But now that we have the Houston location, it doesn't look like we're going to need it.

[Rob McKenna]

You wouldn't consider going in 2030 just to get back to Dallas?

[Robby]

I don't think we would at this point because I think the Houston facility will be so much better for us and we'll have three years of history, that it'll be a great show and a great venue. And the whole object is not jumping around, but getting us back into K Bailey when it's available. And hopefully that's 2030 or 2031 and it happens on its own.

[Rob McKenna]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, Rob, you know, I. I came into this podcast with questions my own and from a lot of exhibitor friends that I have, exhibitors that are very worried. And I think this the grand sentiment out there, I think for the most part, and I may be speaking out of turn here, but in the world that we live in, in the world that we love, which is hunting, which is the benefits and consequences that come from hunting, the effects on conservation, the education that needs to happen, the advocacy that needs to happen around our cherished lifestyle, we cannot afford. We, the hunting community, we the people that love hunting, we cannot afford for DSC to disappear. We can't. We need everyone. We need as many people rowing the boat towards the horizon as we possibly can. We need SCI to be super successful. We need NWTF to be super successful. We need wild sheep. We need everybody. We need DSC to be super successful. And I think that I would hope, and it's unfortunate that, no, not everybody is in that mindset. And so I hope that this podcast has given People clarity. Right? That's what people want, is clarity. And you, you said it at the beginning. My. My comms have been terrible. You didn't say that. I'm just, you know, paraphrasing comes. Have been terrible because I just didn't want to say something that's going to change.

[Robby]

Yeah.

[Rob McKenna]

But maybe I'll. I'll end the podcast this way. Rob, now that everything is locked down, your dates are locked down for the most part. Okay. When this podcast hits the air, you all the dates may be locked down because this podcast is being recorded the week before it's being released. And you said you're going to hear this week about the dates where this podcast drops next week. So hopefully everything is locked down and now it's done.

[Robby]

Yeah.

[Rob McKenna]

You can't cry over spilt milk. That happened 18 months ago, 19 months ago, 20 months ago. That wasn't you. It wasn't half the board or three quarters of the board. Things have changed. But the reality of the situation is what it is. Right.

[Robby]

It's spot on, is now that this is put to bed, and like I said, the only thing that's up in the air right now is our 20 locking down. Our 26 dates, 27, 28, 29, 30 are put to bed. What my team is focused on right now is getting back to doing the work that they need to do for our summer expo and gala for making 2026 in Atlanta an incredible event. That's a game changer for the people that show up as exhibitors and for the consumers that show up, because it's going to be fantastic. And as you said, Atlanta was what Atlanta was, and there were a lot of mistakes made along the way, but they're over. And we have listened and done everything we possibly could to correct those mistakes, to take us in the right direction going forward. All I can ask is that everybody understands that there was nothing done with malice. Even the mistakes that were made. Nobody did it with malice. Nobody did it with saying, boy, let's move to Atlanta and screw our exhibitors and have a bad show. That makes no sense at all. Why would anybody think that? And why, to your point, do people want to keep adding fuel to the fire that that's what was done. That's not what was done. People were making the best of a situation, but that situation turned out bad. And now we are doing everything we can to set a new course, which we have, and to take things back to what people traditionally expect when they come to a DSC convention.

[Rob McKenna]

Rob, I want To. There's one thing that just popped into my brain. I apologize for keeping this question. Sure. To the very. To the very end. But I've heard it a couple of times. It's been in the rumor mill. And if you can't answer the question, I understand the question is. Or the rumor mill is, DSE is in financial difficulties, that you guys are broke. You guys. That it's not gonna. It's not gonna survive.

[Robby]

Well, that's a real easy one. There's. There's public filings that people can go out and look at that are parts of being a nonprofit organization. And at our annual general meeting, our accountant gave an update, and we are very, very financially sound right now. Now, would we have been if we had to do a $4 million buyout in Atlanta? Probably not as much. We could have, but that would have hurt us. So what I would say to people that are hearing that rumor is that they can go out and look at the filings. But I also want to backtrack to that. Everybody knows how good the 2024 show was. 2023 and 2024 shows were very, very good. And what those shows allowed Dallas Safari Club to do is replenish everything and its reserves and everything that's needed to run a nonprofit organization correctly. And having reserves and having everything in place. And because of the COVID situation, 23 and 24 allowed that to happen to set us up and put us in a very, very good financial position. So anybody thinks we're not. And the other rumor I want to expose, dispose of is. I know I've heard this one, and I know you didn't bring it up, but everybody is saying, you know, this 4 million dollar. This buyout, and just. You have wealthy members and board members. Somebody's going to just stroke a check and go take care of that. Let me dispel the rumors. Nobody wrote me a $4 million check. I do not have a $4 million check from any of our members, nor will they be doing that. And those are the things that I just wish people would. It's my. It's part my fault. The communication process broke down, and I allowed some rumors to go out there because I was waiting to have all. All the answers instead of just getting out in front of people. That will change. And I apologize again for that. That. That is a misstep by me wanting to give people the right answers instead of half answers. But, yeah, let's. I hope people listen to this, get two things out of it, three things out of it. We are all about changing course and making things right. Please don't add to the problem and create rumors just because you want to talk about things. Find out the right answers. Call me directly, work through people. I'll answer anybody's phone. I'll come talk to anybody. I mean, that's the transparency that is me to a fault. I do too much of that almost. I tell too much to people. But the last thing is for all the other organizations out there and anybody that's listening to this, let's get together and let's support each other and let's not add to the fire and reach out to me. Any other organization that's having a show, Dallas Safari Club, would love to buy a booth at your show, sponsor an event, show you that we are linked together. And that's all the outdoor industry, fishing, hunting, 2A. I'm here to say we all need to be together. And I'm, and I'm not the new guy that's coming in here to create controversy, grow rumors, and do that type of stuff. I'm here at you say we better get our shit together because our. The people that want us to fail, they've got their shit together and they're coming for us hard. And I'll leave it at that.

[Rob McKenna]

Yeah. Well said, Rob. Well said. Thank you for your time, my man. Appreciate you answering all those, you know, some tough questions.

[Robby]

Yep. And.

[Rob McKenna]

And I look forward to seeing you this summer at your. At your gala and then I look forward to hearing more from you as we leave this behind us and your communication goes up and up and up.

[Robby]

Way to call out my weakness at the end of this. I appreciate that. So I will definitely do that. And thank you for the time today and giving me the platform to try to clear things up. And like I said, anything that comes up. I hope we have more of these podcasts like you mentioned in the beginning, and I want to answer the hard questions and I don't want to hide behind things. So appreciate you giving me the opportunity to do that.

[Rob McKenna]

Well, that's it for today. I appreciate you listening. As always, leave a review, share it with your friends, and most importantly, do what's right to convey the truth around hunting.