Trade Show
Masterclass Preview: What to Expect for #ATA2022
The Archery Industry Masterclass series returns for #ATA2022. Preview some of the offerings below.
Photo Credit: ATA
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Author: Taylor Walston
The Archery Industry Masterclass series is back for the 2022 ATA Trade Show! The Masterclass courses are 75-minute sessions that dive deep into important industry topics. They are led by industry experts and are open for questions at the end of the session. All of the Masterclass sessions will be held on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. The sessions take place the day before the Show opens so that exhibitors, retailers and attendees can enjoy the courses without having to miss any action on the Show floor. The sessions will take place from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. EST in rooms C101 and C104.
As with last year’s sessions, your Masterclass registration fee grants you access to every course in the series. The series is $100 for ATA members and $500 for nonmembers. You’ll be able to attend the live sessions at the Show, view recordings of the live sessions after the Show and access prerecorded content online before the Show.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of this year’s Masterclass sessions:
Yacek will return for another round of sessions for #ATA2022. Photo Credit: ATA
Hank Yacek, CEO of Point of Impact Group
Buying the Best Deal for Your Store
Yacek’s course will discuss the concept of “inventory carrying cost percentage” and why it’s important for stores to know theirs. He will cover what this term means, the components of the cost, and how to calculate it.
Diversification in the Archery Pro Shop
This course will cover different ways archery shops can expand their offerings and inventory. Yacek will cover e-commerce and how to expand your services and repurpose people’s interest in archery to include other activities, and he’ll suggest other inventory items you can carry.
“Expect actionable content: ideas and actions that you can implement the day you get back to the store that will help you run a more successful and profitable business,” Yacek said. “My personal hope is that the value I bring to your business will more than pay for the cost of attending.”
Yacek is a returning presenter; he presented Masterclass sessions during ATA 2021 Online. This year, his prep work has focused largely on getting back to fundamentals. “With the topsy-turvy year that was 2020, and much of 2021, it is time to get back to working ON our business, not just IN them,” he said.
He also offered some thoughts on how attendees can prepare for his courses. “Be ready to be honest with yourself about your business,” he said. “Be ready to think about it critically, admit where we are lacking, and KNOW YOUR BUSINESS METRICS. Things like margins, profits, inventory turn rates, labor costs, operational costs, etc. The more you know your individual business the more value the sessions will have.” He hopes that attendees implement what they learn in his courses and use it to grow their business and make it more profitable.
“The only thing certain about retail is ‘change’ — and those who do not embrace or, better yet, relish change will struggle in the fast-moving pace of retail today,” he said. “My sessions will all expect a retailer to have an open mind to change, and if not, some day you will have to change regardless of if you want to or not in order to survive in today’s landscape.”
https://youtu.be/HaxOftTOwh0
Paige Pearce, Professional Archer
When Tuning Gets Tough
Pearce will take attendees through the tuning process from start to finish, including explaining how target and hunting setups differ. She’ll cover starting points for centershot, tiller, cam timing, nock height, and more. She’ll also discuss the stabilizer setup process and how to select arrows. It can be difficult for an archer to tell where the problem with their bow is stemming from, whether it’s a flaw in their form or a tuning issue. Pearce will explain how to tell the difference between the two and correctly diagnose your problem with commonly used tactics. She’ll also cover alternative methods to address your tuning issues when the common tactics aren’t working.
Fixing Form Flaws for Better Bow Fitment
In this session, Pearce will go through the basic process of setting your draw length, loop length, peep height and more. She’ll also discuss how to recognize flaws in your form and make corrections, including adjusting your bow to fit your improved form.
Going Light: What You Need to Know About Lower Poundage Bows
In her prerecorded session, Pearce will examine what type of poundage is really needed for hunting and different target archery disciplines. She’ll point out what differences you should think about when you’re setting up a bow with lighter poundage or a shorter draw length, including hunting bows, target bows and arrow selection. To complete the discussion, she’ll discuss how to tune bows with a lighter draw weight.
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Guy Krueger, Training and Education Manager for USA Archery
The Evolution of Archery Coaching
In Krueger’s Masterclass session, he will discuss how archery coaching has evolved over the years and what it looks like today. He’ll discuss how archery shops can adapt to this change and explain the recent shift to evidence-based coaching, which is a more scientific approach.
In a recent Beyond the Bow podcast episode, Kurt Smith, ATA’s director of industry relations, talked with Krueger about this subject in a preview of his session. Smith brought up the fact that coaching hasn’t always been popular in archery, and that a lot of archers felt as though they were either good or they weren’t and didn’t pursue it further. “We have kind of changed the paradigm there and part of that is a big shift in the perspective of the sport,” Krueger said. “I think traditionally archery has been viewed as a hobby and now it has transitioned to being viewed as a sport by the participants, and in most sports the best competitors have coaches.”
Krueger will discuss how coaching can benefit both archers and bowhunters looking to progress their talents. “Whether they’re hunters or target archers, the best archers in the world are pushing those limits,” he said. “The level of what’s defined as elite in both of those fields is constantly going higher and higher and higher. So, for us to close that gap and be at that level, we’ve got to reevaluate how we approach coaching and the methods that we use. If you’re using the same tactics you used 30 years ago, you’re essentially obsolete.” Smith and Krueger both noted the importance of being willing to change your tactics. “We have to update computers all the time. It’s the same thing with what we teach and how we teach,” Krueger said. He suggested that coaches should find a balance between physical coaching, communicating the changes verbally and using technology to coach people virtually.
Krueger confirms that more coaching is taking place in archery shops, whether the shops are providing the coaching themselves or bringing an archery club into their shop. He notes that by holding coaching sessions at your shop, the participants will be more likely to buy product from your shop, which makes coaching an overall revenue booster. He also suggests hosting beginner, intermediate and advanced coaching. This will give the archer room to grow beyond the beginner level while staying with your shop for the entire journey. Having an instructor who is certified for USA Archery Level 2 or higher in your shop, he notes, allows you to host a USA Archery-certified club.
Sign Up Today
Sign up for the Archery Industry Masterclass series through this link on the MyATA Learning Center and gain valuable knowledge provided by industry experts. The skills you’ll learn in these courses will help you in your daily business ventures and could make a big impact in your shop. Having a platform to converse with other industry professionals is an invaluable opportunity that could greatly benefit your business. We hope to see you there!
Questions? Contact Kurt Smith, ATA’s director of industry relations, at (507) 233-8138 or kurtsmith@archerytrade.org.
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Taylor Walston