Day Three of 2009 Summer NAMM

NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry, kicked off its third and final day of 2009 Summer NAMM with more networking opportunities, new products and educational offerings.

Spirits were high on the final day of Summer NAMM, especially at this morning’s NAMM U Breakfast Session, where the Mt. Zion Baptist Church Gospel Choir had the entire audience clapping and singing along. Their lively performance was followed by popular “The Best in Show” session, where an entirely new panel of industry insiders shared their favorite finds from the show floor. Music, Inc. Publisher Frank Alkyer led the discussion, which featured panelists Mike Guillot, Mississippi Music; 
Todd Skaw, Guitars Etc; 
Myrna Sislen, Middle C Music
; George Hines, George's Music
; Jim Rupp, Columbus Pro Percussion; and John Grabowski, Sweetwater Sound.

“As always, this was one of my favorite sessions—it was awesome,” said Sheila Burnham of The Music Center from Live Oak, Fla. “I think I’ve attended more sessions this year than ever before. It’s one of the main reasons I came this year. The sessions always give us fresh ideas and pump us up. We all need motivation, especially now.”

An unprecedented three-time winner in this morning’s Best in Show was Breezsong, whose Jam/Hub had dealers buzzing around their booth. “This show has been terrific—we’re so glad we came,” said Steve Skillings, president of Breezsong. “We were worried that it may not be a good show, but we’ve had people coming by, a lot of excitement, a lot of action. In a down economy, there’s opportunity. While others are pulling out, you need to jump in and make hay while the sun shines. We’re kind of glad some of the big companies made a mistake in not coming, because it was good for us.”  

As a thank you to the manufacturers who took part in Summer NAMM this year, despite the poor economy, NAMM passed out 750 free lunch coupons to the exhibitors on the floor. Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?

In addition to all the great business getting done on the show floor, today was also Music Educator Day, as Summer NAMM provided the opportunity for music educators in the region to come together, share ideas, discuss the importance of music advocacy and attend special NAMM University sessions created especially for them. This also gave participants the chance to get familiar with NAMM Member companies and see the plethora of musical products available to them.

As 2009 Summer NAMM came to a close, reviews were generally positive, as it proved to exceed people’s expectations.

“The show was actually much better than we thought it would be,” said Pat Park Ernie Ball, Music Man of Orange, Calif. “Traffic was good, we wrote some orders, did some business. We almost didn’t come out this year but at the last moment we decided to and we’re very happy that we did.”

"We had a great show,” said Michael Upton of Kala Ukeleles in Petaluma, Calif. “I didn’t know what it would be like coming in, but we were really pleased with all the traffic and the attention at our booth.”

“We thought it was important to be here to respond to our customer’s needs and provide what they’re looking for,” said Ron Manus of Alfred Music Publishing from Van Nuyes, Calif. “For us it was an awesome show. We got a lot of great orders this weekend so that was a really nice surprise.”

To view video coverage and learn more about 2009 Summer NAMM, please visit www.namm.org.

The next association’s next trade show will be the 2010 NAMM Show, also known as winter NAMM, January 14-17 in Anaheim, Calif.