WOMA Booth A Big Hit at the 2012 Shot Show!

All I can say is WOW!  The Women’s Outdoor Media Association BOD members Deb Ferns and Melita Ellington did an outstanding job with our booth at the Shot Show.  We have been having a very successful week with meeting and greeting many of the folks that stopped by to chat and inquire about the WOMA mission of focusing on increasing media coverage of women who are active in traditional outdoor sports, especially shooting, hunting, fishing and archery.  It has also been a great week for attracting new sponsors for the WOMA!  If you are still at the show, drop by and see us!  We are on the 3rd floor, just across from the Press Room, a great location.

Free Marketing For You and Your Company!

Would you like a free marketing opportunity at the SHOT Show January 17 to 20^th, in Las Vegas?

The Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) is the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries.   There are over 2,200 exhibits and more than 40,000 attendees at this annual event.

One of the many benefits of your membership in the WOMA is to have your brochures and/or flyers at the WOMA booth, this year located at L344 near the Press Room. Maximize the value of your WOMA membership by letting us know if you want WOMA to be part of your marketing strategy! And remember this is free!

Let us know as soon as possible if you would like to have a threefold brochure or flyer at the WOMA booth by contacting Marsha@TheWOMA.com or Deb@TheWOMA.com.

HEARTBEAT of the WOMA for December 2011

There have been several new members joining the WOMA over these last few months, and to each of you I say “HOWDY!”

I’m hoping to meet our new members along with member alum at the upcoming SHOT Show, held in Las Vegas starting Monday, January 16^th (kicks off with Media Day at the Range). Then, Tuesday, January 17^th through Friday, January 20^th, we’ll be at the Sands Expo Center in booth L344.  The WOMA booth is right outside of the NSSF Press Room in the big hallway, and we are looking forward to a lot of traffic throughout the tradeshow. Help is needed to keep it staffed all four days so if you are willing to volunteer some hours please contact the WOMA Vice-President, Melita Ellington (Melita@theWOMA.com).

Here are some extra notes about SHOT Show :

• If you are attending SHOT Show and are planning to utilize the WOMA for a media badge pertaining to the Media Range Day, your online information needs to be submitted to NSSF by December 15^th at www.shotshow.org/en/Media/Registration.

• Media Range Day is completed by Monday at 4:00 pm, so starting at 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm at the WOMA booth at the Sands Expo/Venetian 3^rd Floor Lobby, we are hosting a light reception for our members. (Since we are in the general lobby area and not the firearms exhibit halls, it is open until 9:00 pm.) Please RSVP to me at Deb@theWOMA.com if you plan to attend that event.

• This year the WOMA booth will have racks to hold member flyers or brochures, even small/thin catalogs. Members must email Melita@theWOMA.com to reserve one of the racks shelves and provide her with a sample of what you intend to drop off at the booth. If you are planning to ship your flyers, please send them to Deb Ferns at 7850 N. Silverbell, Suite 114-315, Tucson, AZ  85743.

• The number of industry sponsors joining the WOMA is growing!  OTIS Technology and ATI are already Platinum Sponsors, and just this week we welcomed Bay Flats Lodge as a Platinum Sponsor and Crossbreed Holsters as a Gold Sponsor. Our SHOT Show booth will host banner/boards for our sponsors, so if you know of any additional industry sponsors potentials please contact our sponsorship coordinator, Mia@theWOMA.com

I’m not sure what happened to 2011…it went by in a flash, except for when I followed this dump truck for what seemed forever across New Mexico on my way to a pheasant hunt in Texas.  It finally dawned on me that God sent me a message in the way of a slow moving truck; let go of old baggage and start the new year knowing how blessed I’ve been in 2011 and how much I’m looking forward to 2012.  I hope that each of you has a blessed holiday season as well!

Deb Ferns
Chair

HEARTBEAT of the WOMA for November 2011

I’m so proud!  I’m actually getting my monthly “Heartbeat of the WOMA” blog out before the last day of November; it’s like a miracle. In tune with the theme of November I’m going with notes of Thanks Giving for the people and events that entered my life this month. There isn’t any doubt in my mind that it was God’s blessings on me for the way this month turned out.  For instance…

THANKS to Ducks Unlimited (DU) and Bay Flats Lodge for inviting me, along with other women in outdoor media, on a “Blast and Cast” trip. This event made a lifetime impression on me and it was only 48 hours long. FYI – I’ve already written an article for the WOMA about my experiences in the duck blind and fishing, but what I didn’t write about is the blessings I received in terms of new gal pals!

To give you some brief history, the WOMA was created in 2008 to concentrate on media of any type that related to women in the outdoor venues of shooting sports, hunting, fishing and archery. Like any new kid on the block, the WOMA struggled in the beginning for recognition and to figure out where we belonged in the outdoor media world. When we started the WOMA, there were already two large outdoor media groups in existence, the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) and the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA).  To be blunt, I wasn’t sure if POMA or OWAA wanted much to do with the WOMA, so we weren’t working on building a relationship with each other.  I’m thankful that is now a thing of the past!

Last spring, I was invited by an OWAA board member to join their group, and I have very much enjoyed getting to know the OWAA executive director, Robin Giner, and other members of the OWAA team. Then at the recent DU trip, I had the opportunity to share a hunt and meals with the executive director of the Professional Outdoor Media Association, Laurie Lee Dovey and POMA board member, Lisa Metheny.  Long story made short, our WOMA president, Marsha Petrie Sue, became a member of POMA within 24 hours of my leaving the DU event.

Kudos goes to Laurie Lee for sending over a benefit that is immediately available to all WOMA blogger members: a no-cost listing in the online directory at www.outdoorbloggerdirectory.com.  And another big Kudos because within a few days of leaving the DU camp, Laurie Lee became a member of the WOMA!   I feel blessed to have new outdoor friends and I don’t think a woman can ever have too many (right?)  I’m already trying to work out a date with Lisa, (on the left in the second photo), so she can take me turkey hunting. I’m not sure how that will go, since I found out I’m not allowed to talk and I can’t do my normal yoga in a blind movements.  All that said if Lisa’s game to make me into a turkey hunter than so am I!

THANKS go to Julianna Crowder, a fellow WOMA member, who also operates aGirlandaGun.com, and Sheldon Carruth of TexasMultiGun.com. Julianna knew that our Babes with Bullets firearms program (I’m the camp director) was looking for a place in Texas to host an event and she had women already recruited for us. We struggled to find a range with the bays and equipment we needed, along with a reasonable day rate. We had just about given up hope when Julianna stepped up with a commitment from Sheldon to cover a significant amount of our range fees through their Texas Multi-gun club and he also provided equipment, like target stands. To Julianna and Sheldon, you both “walked the talk” of getting more women involved in firearms training -thank you!

THANKS to my awesome Babes with Bullets instructors, most of them are also WOMA members, for making the last 2011 camp in Tucson a huge success! I’m sorry that each and every one of you can’t be with me on December 10th as I meet up with the BBC here in Tucson. The BBC is coming to tape a docudrama pilot on Babes with Bullets and you can bet I’ll get some information about the WOMA in there too!

Next month I’ll be reporting on the new board of directors for the WOMA, along with updates on SHOT Show quickly approaching in January. The WOMA has secured a booth, L344, and it has a great location near the NSSF Press Room. My prayer for you in this next month is that you each go and make a newfriend in the outdoors and most importantly remember to hold Thanks Giving in your heart through the holidays.

Deb Ferns
Chair

ATTENTION MEDIA PROFESSIONALS

LAS VEGAS, Nev.—With the support of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the seventh annual SHOT Show Media Day at the RangeTM will be on Monday, January 16, at the Boulder City Pistol & Rifle Range, Boulder City, Nevada.

You may register for this event by visiting http://shotshow.org/Media/Registration/. When you have completed your SHOT Show® media registration and elect to attend Media Day at the Range, you will receive a second email registration confirmation for Media Day. You must print and have with you to enter the event on January 16.

Due to an expected large turnout, and to allow for a safe and informative day, Media Day registration will close at 1,200 attendees and no later than December 15. Please be sure you pass this information on to all individuals from your publication or broadcast property who may want to attend so they can register. Unlike in past years, there will be no on-site registration on the day of event.

Be sure you visit www.media-day.com and take note of the entire list of exhibitors, including first-time exhibitors at this year’s event: Caracal, Sig Sauer, Benelli, Browning, Remington and many more. Exhibitors will continue to be added through December 1, so check back often.

Guest procedures are changing a bit this year due to the size of the event. If your guest is coming as media AND expects to shoot, etc., they MUST register on the SHOT Show site and receive the Media Day confirmation as noted above. If they are coming as a guest, which means they may not be able to test any of the firearms, they will have to register at the door as a guest and pay a $20 fee.

The reason we are placing this stipulation in affect this year is due to the fact that last year the #1 comment/complaint we received from the media survey conducted was the long lines to test fire product and often times there were guests shooting and asking questions of the exhibitors. This combined with the expense of ammunition and the expectation that we will have nearly 1,200 attendees at Media Day, has required us to suggest to the exhibitors to only allow media to shoot if there are lines at their exhibit.

A full schedule of events along with the bus schedule and hotel pick-up areas will be posted on the www.media-day.com website in December.

Media Day is open only to registered SHOT Show media and exhibitors. For additional information, contact Cory Cannon with Triple Curl at ccannon@triplecurl.com or Cathy Williams with CMG Marketing & Events at cathy@cmgmarketingandevents.com .

Heartbeat of the WOMA – July 2011

My goal was to have a Heartbeat blog by the beginning of each month. I only missed that deadline by 29 days here in July (sad, so sad.) I’m not going to beat around the bush; bottom line is summer is very busy for my meeting planning business (my paying job) and we were slammed with huge camps for Babes with Bullets ™ through May, June and July. In fact our July three day camp, recently held in Chicago, was one of the largest ever with 32 women participating and varying in ages from 18 to 71. Besides being a well attended camp we also had a “pro gun” article from the Chicago Tribune (link is below in case you have an interest) which generated over 2,000 emails with requests for more camps in the Midwest. So despite Mayor Daley’s adamant “anti gun” stance it seems the women in that area want to learn how to shoot! God bless America that they have the right to do so and only because the Supreme Court basically told Mayor Daley he’s been wrong for decades on his personal interpretation of the 2nd Amendment.

Moving off the subject of our camps and back onto business for the WOMA I urge you to read the minutes each month from the board of directors’ meeting. We address issues presented to the board by the members and that’s where the discussion is held and a vote taken on how to proceed with the member request. For instance several new members wanted to know how they could become more involved in various WOMA teams. Again, read the minutes of the meeting to find out what projects are being worked for the teams of:

• Web – contact Cindy@theWOMA.com

• Moderating/Editing – contact Editor@theWOMA.com (this goes to Heide Kaser, Cindy Noyes and Deb Ferns)

• Membership – contact Melita@theWOMA.com

• Public Relations/Marketing/Sponsorship – contact Marsha@theWOMA.com

Reach out to the committee person noted, who is basically the team lead, and let them know how you would like to participate. For instance a new member, Cami Eisenzimmer, offered to take on Facebook and Twitter for the WOMA and update it weekly with a theme for each week no less.   New member Amy Carducci also volunteered to help us with the website.  Considering that the entire board is volunteers having someone like Cami and Amy step forward is huge and I love Cami’s quote of “I don’t want to rock the (WOMA) boat, just add a little wind to the sails.” FYI – in my mind Cami isn’t adding just a little wind through her involvement in the Woma’s social media; instead I think she’s like a breath of fresh air!

Moving on to other areas where we would like to see more members involved is tradeshows and assisting with sponsorships. The PR team wears many hats and marketing the WOMA at various tradeshows across the country is just one of the hats. In August in the Midwest is the ATA tradeshow, in November in Reno is the National Association of Sporting Good Wholesalers conference, and then in January is the huge SHOT Show in Las Vegas and in spring the huge NRA annual convention, this year held in St. Louis. Then in the summer we’re invited to participate in the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) which is held in Alaska next year. We have been invited to participate in each of these events with a complimentary table in the registration area along with a listing in the tradeshow program. We would love (LOVE) to be present at these large national events but again it takes members stepping forward to staff the table, hand out brochures, talk about what the mission statement is for the WOMA and on occasion doing an interview about the WOMA to local media. While at most tradeshows we can work out for you to have free “shared” housing, the member picks up their own expenses to attend in terms of airfare, rental car, and food.

If you have an interest in becoming more involved in the WOMA, possibly in the tradeshow area, please let me know. It’s easy to reach me at Deb@theWOMA.com and those of you who email me know that I’m pretty darn good about getting back to you fairly quickly. Last but not least for the month of July we had two new members join us; Doctor Dawn Obrecht and Morgan Craft. Every month I’m impressed by the members who are joining and this month with Dawn and Morgan that trend continues! Hope you are all having a great summer and that we have the opportunity to meet at either a fall retreat (still a work in progress) or at a future tradeshow. Take care…

Deb

Chicago Tribune Link: Babes with Bullets and other women who believe the Constitution …

Heartbeat of the WOMA

A big thank-you to those WOMA members who helped at our booth at the recent SHOT Show held in Las Vegas for four long days. (The “backbone” of the booth was Melita Ellington, WOMA VP and Membership Team Leader, so a special THANK-YOU to her!) The response to The WOMA was beyond good; it was phenomenal to the point that it will take us awhile to catch up with dozens and dozens of new membership applications. Read more

Heartbeat of The WOMA

I’m making a list, I’m checking it twice . . . and I’m going to share that list to make sure our members are up to speed on the flurry of activity involving The Women’s Outdoor Media Association! Here goes . . . Read more

How Lucky? Beeman R7 Lucky!

The 2010 SHOT Show afforded me many opportunities: time with some of my favorite gal pals, vacation time with hubby Brian, and a chance to experience some of the newest and most technologically advanced products offered by today’s firearms industry. At the 2010 Bass Pro’s Media Day at the Range, I was the lucky winner of PyramidAir’s generous donation of an Evanix AR6 Huntmaster, a beautiful walnut stock, 5-shot .22 caliber air rifle.

Read more

The Bone Collector Blind from Ameristep

Ameristep has teamed up with Michael Waddell to give us the Ameristep Bone Collector Blind, one of the best hunting blinds on the market.

We picked one up this fall, and it was a fantastic purchase. We had high winds and rain, and this blind lived up to its reputation for durability. It comes with stakes and tie-down ropes, which we were really glad about. Otherwise our blind would have been in the middle of the cornfield. It didn’t leak or blow over, we had enough room for two people and I could stand straight up inside with no problem at all. (I’m 5 feet, 8 inches tall.)

Read more

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