Nashville Discovers the NAMM Show

So the NAMM show is coming up in July. This is February. I figure it's about time to start looking for a hotel room. Wouldn't you know it? Places where I've stayed for the show in previous years at rational prices have all jacked up their rates 50% for the show. The place where I stayed last year, which is 3/4 of a mile from the convention center, but I didn't get mugged walking home in the dark, is $67/night (about what I paid last year) before the show and after the show, but $97 for Friday and Saturday nights. Closer places are $140 and up. I could stay in the burbs but that would mean renting a car if I flew, or driving my own car (about a 10 hour trip).

What a racket! I'm not a buyer, dealer, or manufacturer, I attend the show to find stuff to write about during the year, so there's no direct payoff from attending. Unfortunately, my regular publisher won't cover my expenses, so I guess I'll have to get my NAMM fix from Craig's videos like everyone else this year. Craig, please cover audio products, not just keyboard, guitars, and software.

So the NAMM show is coming up in July. This is February. I figure it's about time to start looking for a hotel room. Wouldn't you know it? Places where I've stayed for the show in previous years at rational prices have all jacked up their rates 50% for the show. The place where I stayed last year, which is 3/4 of a mile from the convention center, but I didn't get mugged walking home in the dark, is $67/night (about what I paid last year) before the show and after the show, but $97 for Friday and Saturday nights. Closer places are $140 and up. I could stay in the burbs but that would mean renting a car if I flew, or driving my own car (about a 10 hour trip). What a racket! I'm not a buyer, dealer, or manufacturer, I attend the show to find stuff to write about during the year, so there's no direct payoff from attending. Unfortunately, my regular publisher won't cover my expenses, so I guess I'll have to get my NAMM fix from Craig's videos like everyone else this year. Craig, please cover audio products, not just keyboard, guitars, and software.

Hey Mike,

I've noticed that MANY hotel chains are very much in tune to surrounding events and charge their rates according to demand; they can get by with it since many of the vendors will be paying the tab on their employee accommodations.

What I have found is that your lesser, and sometimes nicer, advertised lodging areas are not nearly as in tune to what the commercial world is doing. Bed and Breakfast Inns and some resort condominiums, during peak seasons where conventions run rampant, are often less than some of the average hotel stays... many come equipped with all the amenities too. I've been pricing lodging lately for vacationing purposes. I don't know if this is the case in Nashville, but it's certainly worth a look/see. That tends to be the case in Missouri in a lot of our cities that host conventions and such... especially if you are willing to stay in a B&B on the outskirts of the city.

I'll ask the obvious questions: do you feel Summer NAMM is a vitally important trade show? Is it worth the out-of-pocket $1000 you'll end up spending on travel, hotel, meals and so on? Will you get $1000+ in return from having attended the show? Won't you be able to follow along with everything that's happening at the show by the minute with any of 20 different blogs, forums, onsite web coverage and so on?

I'll tell you something: I haven't gone to Summer NAMM in five years and haven't found I've missed much at all. And this year, with AES being in New York and the economy being what it is, I seriously doubt I'm going to that show either. Unless some massive incentive comes along that I can't foresee at the moment, I think my days of trade show attendance are numbered. And I mean all trade shows, including NAB and maybe even Winter NAMM eventually.

We'll see.

Well, probably not, but if you and I and a few thousand more people attend, it will become an important show.

It's hard to say. I can break even by writing a couple of reviews. Truth is, I probably could get the reviews to write whether I attended the show or not, but sometimes it helps if I suggest an article. I'm more likely to suggest reviewing something that I've had my hands on at a show.

You have some established clients that you work for at least somewhat regularly now, but I'm still looking for one or two. Attending the shows keeps me on their mind. People forget you really quickly in this business.

They never do it as well as I do. I'll admit, it's been a few years since I've written a 20,000 word show report but I still have the material and the experience. I don't get that from a two sentence report of what someone saw at a booth. Perhaps if I read 20 different blogs and forums I'd get a better picture, but it's really something I'd rather do myself.

Well, I'm going to NAB. I can still do that fairly economically. NAB (and CES as well) work with the hotels to keep the rates rational for show attendees. I wish NAMM (or Nashville) would do that. Maybe I'm being hasty about blaming NAMM for the rate jump in Nashville. Maybe there's something else going on there the same weekend that they're gouging for.

If I could go to Musikmesse for what it would cost me to go to Summer NAMM, I'd do that. I've never been, and it would be a new and exciting experience, but it's just too expensive to do on my own.

Sure, they all do it, but generally they don't start setting the premium rates this soon before the event. Generally I make my hotel reservation for the Winter NAMM show about four months in advance. I don't do the Hilton or Marriott, but the Travelodge is perfectly decent and this past show was only about $65. I found a $60 Knight's Inn in Nashville that's a bit more than a mile from the Convention Center, but I don't think it's a safe walk at night, and I don't like to depend on cabs (plus they add to the cost of the room).

For the NAB show (Las Vegas) they've been sending e-mail every couple of weeks telling us that the hotels have cut their rates for the show. The "show" hotels are still pretty expensive, but there are plenty of hotels that the show hasn't adopted (that means that you can't book them through the show's housing contractor) that are close, safe, and reasonably priced. Nashville isn't quite like that, though. Just about all of the downtown hotels are "show" hotels - there aren't that many.

That's fine for a vacation, but attending a trade show is different, at least for me. I'm at the show from opening to closing time, then often meet someone after the show for dinner or drinks (hopefully yielding work, or at least a free dinner). I really need to be fairly close, or else have a car. Add a $40 car rental on to a $65 room and I might as well stay downtown for $100.

When I had a job that took me out your way, every now and then all the hotel prices would just skyrocket for something that I knew nothing about. More than once we re-scheduled a meeting or design review because the Government only pays a certain amount for lodging (to get more requires a dispensation from the pope) and you'd have to stay in Topeka for a meeting in Shawnee.

Don't mind me, I'm just grumbling.

And that's definitely a good reason to get a little face time at a trade show, sure. Lest it seem otherwise, I'm not anti-trade show. In the '80s and most of the '90s, I considered them crucial. Less so these days, but if I could afford to go to all of these shows (both the money and time and effort), I would. Remember, I've had years where I went to MacWorld, CES, Winter NAMM, Musikmesse, NAB, NSCA, InfoComm, Summer NAMM, AES, and other regional shows as part of business.

For me, it feels like Summer NAMM is on the side of not being worth the money and time to attend this year, but it's everyone's individual call. I may not attend another show until next year's Winter NAMM. We'll see.

The hotel "show rates" in Frankfurt are absurd. A room that goes for 70 Euros during "normal" times gets jacked up to 200+ Euros during the show. And I'm NOT talking about a luxury hotel.

The one saving grace is you can get a hotel that's pretty far out because the public transportation is good. But you're looking at a minimum of 30 minutes, and more like 45 minutes, of transit time.

As to trade shows in general, I do Winter and Summer NAMM, AES, and Frankfurt; that's good enough for now. I should probably do CES and InfoComm at some point. But I have a somewhat different reason for going, which is to do the HC video coverage. Summer NAMM is a good "guitar" show, and given all the guitar fans here on HC, it's probably worth going.

Good point. I do love me some guitars!

The nice thing about summer NAMM is that it is small enough that it is manageable and you can really cover the whole show. The other nice thing is that the manfacturers can usually spend a bit more time with you.

The downside (from my point of view) is that enough people keep saying it's a "guitar show" that I think many non-guitar vendors don't realize the potential for exposure there - especially exposure to the very large guitar-related product/customer segment. After all, those guys need mics, software, interfaces, etc. (or need to continue being introduced to the concept, as that continues to be where a lot of things are headed). There's plenty of technology getting used in Nashville studios, right?

Last year was even worse, because of late venue changes, Summer NAMM ended up scheduled nearly on top of Infocomm, so some manufacturers who would have considered attending ended up declining. Hopefully since it's scheduled better this year, more of those manufacturers can participate.

Face time is still important, and seeing/hearing/touching the gear in person is too. You just can't get some of that from a press release.

I bet hotel rates weren't quite as jacked up last year because of the show getting booked late (when NAMM decided to make a change from the planned alternating Indy/Austin schedule).