There are just over 250 different products in the “New Products Showcase” area of the International Fly Tackle Dealer trade show. I don’t know what you think about that, but I think it’s the strongest new product showing from manufacturers that I can remember.
That’s all part of a generally positive “vibe” from IFTD gets set to kick off in a few hours. Sure it’s hot and sticky in New Orleans in August, but the convention floor looks to be pretty bustling. We’ll give you some reports as we talk to people throughout the day.
Your new gear reports will hit Anglingtrade.com and Midcurrent.com soon. We’ll announce all the winners of the New Product showcase via E-blast, as soon as that happens Friday night.
The other thing that’s worth mentioning… for the last 10 years, the talk around the trade show was all about “What should we do?” or “How are we going to do this?”
This year, for the first time in many, I’m already hearing a lot of “This is what we’re doing,” and “This is what we’ve done.”
For example, I’m hearing more about a revamped “Discover Fly Fishing.” I heard from Orvis about their PR campaign to draw attention to fly fishing through its 101 program… yesterday, I got a report from AFFTA about all the things its Government Affairs and Affiliates Committee is doing… and it’s all impressive.
We’ll do some more digging on the details, and let you know what we find. Stay tuned for the update.
