DALLAS—After an exhaustive search, the Dallas Safari Club (DSC) will be moving its massive DSC Convention & Sporting Expo to the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) starting in 2025, through 2029, until construction is complete on the newly rebuilt Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. For 40 years, Dallas has been the location of this event—the first major hunting and conservation show in North America.
The show, which will continue in Dallas in 2024 (January 11-14), expects to attract 40,000 attendees and approximately 900 exhibitors from 72 different countries using 700,000-square-feet of exhibit hall space.
DSC’s search included a comprehensive review of 32 locations in Texas and across the U.S., evaluating convention center facilities, hotels, amenities and international airport access, as well as regional outdoor lifestyle demographics.
“We began plotting out locations across the country by referencing Trade Show Executive’s June 2022 issue of the world’s top convention centers in 2022,” Khris Harris, CEM, Convention Events Manager at DSC, said. “By utilizing the facts, figures, analysis, charts and valuable data found in the publication, DSC’s cross-country discovery took shape. Our team of a few DSC staff and select board members were able to work behind the scenes and soon headed out on site visits at a blistering pace, working bids and proposals with different CVBs, convention centers and hotels from across the country.”
It was “a relief,” Harris said, to finally reveal and deliver the presentation to staff and the DSC Board of Directors. “The Atlanta CVB and GWCC staff welcomed DSC with the same Southern charm and hospitality that has long been a hallmark of our convention and something we very much pride ourselves upon. The DSC search team quickly became comfortable and confident in Atlanta’s commitment to working with DSC to deliver their style of Southern charm in welcoming our dedicated exhibitor partners and passionate attendees.”
A defined characteristic of the longstanding show, this welcoming culture is something both attendees and exhibitors have come to expect. “The DSC Convention & Sporting Expo is known by our exhibitor partners and attendees to have a warm welcome to all that are in attendance,” Harris said. “Much of this comes from the incredible ‘DSC 100’ volunteers who work alongside DSC staff and our vendors. From the moment an exhibitor pulls into the marshaling yard or begins setting up their booth in the exhibit hall, they are greeted with helping hands and sincere appreciation and gratitude for being such an important part of the show. We want our exhibitor partners to feel like they are home again.”
A staple of the vision of the show is thinking experience first. Organizers say they pride themselves on making sure that no matter where an attendee ventures around our event, a volunteer, vendor or staff member is there to greet them with a smile and welcome them with open arms.
Reach Khris Harris at khris@biggame.org or (972) 980-9800, ext. 302
