Carol Wilbur at RPMDA 2013

With the show’s fast–paced schedule, every exhibitor and visitor had little time to spare – the exhibit hall was only open a few hours a day and informative breakout sessions sometimes bumped up back–to–back–to–back.  But the busiest showgoer of them all was likely first–year association president Carol Wilbur, who is an assistant manager at Pender’s Music’s Dallas location.  MMR spoke to Wilbur about the 2013 installment of the show.

MMR: How has the show gone for you so far?
Carol Wilbur: The whole thing has gone even more smoothly than we could have hoped.  Every session was well–received, we had great turnout, and we offered an additional “bonus track” featuring lesson studio set–ups and recitals. They were very well–attended and even brought in a few dealers who might not have been here otherwise. They called up and registered and said that they’d heard about them and wanted to expand their own.

MMR: Was there a particular theme to the show that you saw emerge on its own?
Carol Wilbur: All of our members are concerned about what they need to be doing now to place themselves for whatever is coming in terms of new apps, digital delivery and all of that. So we offered several sessions as a direct requests from last year’s Future View panel, which was probably the hit of the show. That brought the fact to everyone’s attention – we all need to face this so–called elephant in the room.

MMR: It seemed like this was really the year where we all stopped speculating and got realistic about things.
Carol Wilbur: Realistic, but optimistic.  It’s not as bad as everyone thinks. It’s just the fear of the unknown – you might always magnify that in your mind and it’s just important to realize that it’s just another in the course of many business obstacles that you come to over the years.