NAMM - on the way out?

[ponch]

and i also take it you can try the equipment aswell ?

 

sorry for all the question im just curious

[Phil O'Keefe]

spot on. It is for music industry people to network on being more sucessful, and for retail people to come see what is new & put their hands on it & talk to the designers about it. The looky loo factor is actually a detriment to what it is supposed to be about, hence the tighter & tighter restrictions on being able to to get in each year. Some of the booths had such long ass lines for friggin autographs, many of the companies maning their booths were completely cut off from anyone coming in.

 

You bring up some excellent points.

 

The ability for dealers and press to meet with the engineers, software coders, heads of the company and designers of the gear we use allows us insight and the ability to ask questions and get clarification "direct from the source" in a way that is not as easily done during the rest of the year via phone, email, etc. The "hands on" aspect can often tell you things that you can't always "get" from a flier or press kit. Of course, there's a downside to that too, in that you can't really make any kind of final judgment of some of the finer points of sound quality on a noisy trade show floor.

 

I've always avoided the "autograph" lines, and any booth that has an active one is something I usually try to detour around or avoid; although I may try to come back to it later when they don't have an autograph session active.

 

Even so, I've met or bumped into more than a few people of note at NAMM. I'm sure the reason companies bring them in is for the promotion - the launch of a signature model or just to draw traffic to their booth... but the end result is somewhat counter-productive IMHO, due to the way such events limit overall booth traffic.

 

But I'm sure smarter people than me have studied and calculated the cost / benefits and the effect of each approach on booth interest and traffic, and there are still autograph sessions and "famous player" demos and appearances, so I'm probably wrong. Of course, I HAVE sat and watched demos (Craig Anderton's shouldn't be missed), and enjoyed listening to improv and pre-scheduled jams with some pretty heavy cats, and that's definitely a cool part of the "NAMM experience", but it does contribute significantly to traffic congestion and limits mobility through the halls.

 

As far as "looky loos" go, I think most companies want to make the best use of their time and significant investment at the shows. If you were a builder like ZVex or Malekko, would you rather spend your "booth time" talking to distributors and music retailers and press reps, or talking to the guy who snuck in using some elses ID and badge and is just there as a curious amateur musician? Yes, you'd want to catch the attention of the "serious" and better "known" musicians, and get their interest so they'll "buzz" about you and your products, but NAMM is intended less for that than it is to get the interest of music retailers.

 

And based on what I saw in some of the booths again this year, retailers still have an interest in autographs, rock star performances and booth bunnies.

 

VR is not quite able to substitute for all of that quite yet.

[Jon Hiller]

 

in some ways no but a lot easier on the feet/ears to browse web pages rather than walk from booth to booth drowning in a deafening cacophony of noise

 

 

This is true, for sure. It's even true of the much smaller Nashville Summer show. And that show is for the most part all on the same level except for a couple showrooms and some booths on the second level. I have never been to the Winter show, but a couple good friends of mine have, and they say that if you try to walk the entire show you will be dead tired and will have hurting feet.....

[tonymcbony]

As much as people want to replace meeting in person with computer conferencing, you just can't replace face-to-face connections. It's just like a press kit; I bet the journo's will read those bits of info given to them rather than be bothered to look at the website.

Lose the tactile, lose the buy-in imo

[Jisatsu]

 

News from NAMM is like christmas to me! I really need to get there one time before I get married and have 10 kids..

 

 

Why would you have ten kids?

[Phil O'Keefe]

This is true, for sure. It's even true of the much smaller Nashville Summer show. And that show is for the most part all on the same level except for a couple showrooms and some booths on the second level. I have never been to the Winter show, but a couple good friends of mine have, and they say that if you try to walk the entire show you will be dead tired and will have hurting feet.....

 

I traditionally will end up walking the vast majority of the entire show (main level Halls A-D, "Hall E" / Basement floor, and the larger, separate "booths" / rooms on the second and third floors, as well as the Yamaha exhibit in the Marriott Hotel across the street) at least twice; I've done it as many as three or four times (once per day) over the course of a single four day NAMM show. It's too easy to miss stuff with just a single "pass" through. This time I was more sporadic and not as methodical; I covered most of the exhibit areas, but probably only once, without a ton of repetition. I was sick since right after Christmas, and it lasted for weeks; I've still been slowly getting back to "normal", so I took it relatively easy this year.

 

NAMM is not recommended for those who don't like walking a lot.

[seifukusha]

the more new satuff i see, the more i want to buy used stuff. just seems wasteful a bit!

[Brian Marshall]

We had a reason other than economics for not attending this year. Tom, who was #2 in command here moved back to MS a few months ago.

 

He was really the only dude other than me who could really explain all of our pedals to people without giving out bad information.

 

He is also an integral part of some new products we have been working on. Him moving back home slowed this stuff down a lot. Essentially we'd not have any new cool stuff to show of, which basically would have made the show pointless.

 

Exhibiting at the show is expensive. We spent almost 15K last year when everything was said and done. For a small company there are a lot of things left up to chance. for instance the first year we exhibited our booth was essentially in the drums section, and behind band instruments and sheet music. We were completely out of the way for anyone looking for what we sold.... and we had to listen to 50 drummers all day long.

 

Last year our booth was in a much better location, and we did pretty well... but it still took a few months to recoup expenses.

 

As a business owner, knowing the risks, and knowing the cost up front, I have to ask myself "is this a wise way to spend this money?" There are a lot of things I could do with $15K that could have just as much benefit or more.

 

Exhibiting also takes a lot of preparation. Last year we pretty much did nothing but get ready for the show for 3 weeks before we left.

 

That is three weeks not filling orders. Last year, buy the time we got back from the show we had a 5 month back log on orders. Buyers at trade shows do not expect to wait this long, and when we finally were able to fill those orders some of those companies told us something along the lines of "oh sorry, we've already passed our budget."

[Phil O'Keefe]

and i also take it you can try the equipment aswell ? sorry for all the question im just curious

 

Sometimes a company will have a non-working prototype or mockup available for "display only", and other times they'll have one or two working prototypes that they will demo to you, or allow you to demo on a limited basis. Other times things are marked "do not touch" and are strictly for display, and of course, many products that are already available and shipping are also on display... if you have a reason to, and ask the right people first before just grabbing things at will, you can indeed try things out at NAMM. And people do all the time - that's one of the reasons why that, despite having "Sound Control" people who patrol the halls with SPL meters (I'm not joking), the sound levels at a typical NAMM show can be pretty significant.

[TritoneTerror]

This isn't just NAMM; trade shows in all areas have been declining due to the easy access of information provided by the internet.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I missed seeing you Brian. Hope everything works out OK for you.

[analogmike]

Phil,

 

Thanks for the great post (#10).

 

I like to go to walk around and see things and people, but I can't stand sitting at a booth pimping. If we get a booth we'll have couches there and girls handing out drinks, maybe a sign and some info or pedals or someone doing demos but no sales geeks.

 

One thing I hate about NAMM is when someone "famous" is at a booth or walking around and it becomes a zoo. Like rubbernecking on the highway. We are supposed to be industry professionals yet some of us act like little girls.

 

Anyway I wish I could have gone, but travel, business, and family kept me away this year, hope I can make it next year as I always have a good time and it's great to get out of the freezing Northeast in January

[Phil O'Keefe]

If we get a booth we'll have couches there and girls handing out drinks, maybe a sign and some info or pedals or someone doing demos

 

If you get a booth, I am SO "there". :phil:

 

It would be great to get a chance to meet you in person Mike. Frankly, I'd be more interested in that than in meeting Kirk Hammett or someone like that.

[joeyowen]

It would be great to get a chance to meet you in person Mike. Frankly, I'd be more interested in that than in meeting Kirk Hammett or someone like that.

 

i know you meant well there phil, but Kirk Hammett... really :poke:

im sure thaaat made his day

:lol:

[analogmike]

If we get a booth we'll have couches there and girls handing out drinks, maybe a sign and some info or pedals or someone doing demos If you get a booth, I am SO "there". :phil:

 

You should come out to one of the AMP SHOWS. I like those as we have a couch and comfy chairs, and my margarita machine in the kitchen. My interviews after 1pm start to get a little slurrrred.

 

Also NO NOISE POLICE!!! :phil:

[erksin]

 

Exhibiting at the show is expensive. As a business owner, knowing the risks, and knowing the cost up front, I have to ask myself "is this a wise way to spend this money?" There are a lot of things I could do with $15K that could have just as much benefit or more. Exhibiting also takes a lot of preparation. Last year we pretty much did nothing but get ready for the show for 3 weeks before we left. That is three weeks not filling orders. Last year, buy the time we got back from the show we had a 5 month back log on orders. Buyers at trade shows do not expect to wait this long, and when we finally were able to fill those orders some of those companies told us something along the lines of "oh sorry, we've already passed our budget."

 

 

This. No matter how much we crunch numbers, its just not a good way for us to be spending our money. We've done just fine without attending NAMM. It would be nice to be able to meet friends and partners in person though.

[Ultradust]

What I noticed this year is that Sunday in particular was a proper dead day. Usually a plethora of kids with (or without) chops seem to make their runs about for jamming and the like all weekend, but this time was nothing like I've seen in past years.

[can't remember]

I haven't gone in over 20+ years, but I remember going two days in a row

'cause the person I got my passes from couldn't dish 'em off.

 

Now the interest to attend seems higher 'cause those I know that

could get passes, one way or another, can no longer get them.

 

Now, I would love to go on a "public day" AND I'd be willing to pay

$20 to enter AND I'd probably spend some $$$ buying new stuff.

 

Opening a day or two to the public seems like a no-brainer. With the gate

$$$ they could probably lower the booth rental and get those small-but-cool

companies in there

[joeyowen]

I haven't gone in over 20+ years, but I remember going two days in a row 'cause the person I got my passes from couldn't dish 'em off. Now the interest to attend seems higher 'cause those I know that could get passes, one way or another, can no longer get them. Now, I would love to go on a "public day" AND I'd be willing to pay $20 to enter AND I'd probably spend some $$$ buying new stuff. Opening a day or two to the public seems like a no-brainer. With the gate $$$ they could probably lower the booth rental and get those small-but-cool companies in there

 

makes sense!

say if had one day that was industry only and others that were public and industry together

 

more money comin in then

[analogmike]

They don't allow selling, you can't walk out with a guitar or pedal unless you are a registered dealer. Helps keep thefts down I guess, and to keep the show more of a BUSINESS show (place orders at the show, get them shipped later on).