Recent

Excelcia Music Publishing and Wingert-Jones Publications Announce ‘Ready Sets’ for Concert Band

August 5, 2025

Get Ready to Rock The 2026 NAMM Show: NAMM Celebrates 125 Years with Five-Days of Music, Innovation and Industry Legacy

August 4, 2025

Jessica Tropea Joins Neutrik Americas as Customer Solutions Engineer

August 4, 2025

It’s Back to School Season: Is Your Store Ready?

August 5, 2025

Neil Potter Promoted to Director of National Sales at Allen & Heath USA

August 1, 2025

Sonique Drums Unveils Poly Pro Slim Snare Wire Straps

August 1, 2025

NAMM Announces New Leadership Teams For Women of NAMM and NAMM Young Professionals

July 30, 2025

Jeff Mulvihill Appointed Combo Drum and Concert Percussion Brand Manager for KHS America

July 29, 2025
Thursday, August 7, 2025
  • Contact
MMR Magazine
  • Subscribe Now!
    • Subscribe Now!
  • Advertise
  • Email Press Releases!
  • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
  • Newsroom
    • News
    • MMR Global
    • Supplier Scene
    • Upfront
    • People
  • Awards
    • Dealers’ Choice Awards Ballot 2024
    • Don Johnson Award Winners Archive
  • Directory
  • Get Support!
No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe Now!
    • Subscribe Now!
  • Advertise
  • Email Press Releases!
  • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
  • Newsroom
    • News
    • MMR Global
    • Supplier Scene
    • Upfront
    • People
  • Awards
    • Dealers’ Choice Awards Ballot 2024
    • Don Johnson Award Winners Archive
  • Directory
  • Get Support!
No Result
View All Result
MMR Magazine
No Result
View All Result

Face-to-Face

Christian Wissmuller by Christian Wissmuller
January 26, 2017
in Editorial
0
938
SHARES
2.3k
VIEWS
Share on Facebook
ADVERTISEMENT
“Email, conference calls, and Skype are all great, but there’s nothing like running into someone on a show floor for a little conversation about what’s really going on behind the scenes,” wrote Forbes’ Bobby Owsinski late last January in his article, “NAMM Shows Why Trade Shows Are Obsolete, And Why We Still Need Them.”
His piece covered the familiar-to-most pros and cons of these types of gatherings in today’s hyper-connected, digital world. The sheer volume of “stuff” available and the ready access to anyone with a reliable Internet connection can be overwhelmingly appealing – even insistently so. The awareness that so much data and knowledge is there for consumption is like having a friendly and excitable dog constantly urging you to take him for a walk. As the title suggests, Owsinski nonetheless asserts that despite the changing landscape for the dissemination and gathering of information and the ever-evolving manners in which people purchase, learn, watch, listen, and consume, conventions – however “quaint” and “dated” their origins – retain value.
While it’s just one of the enduring selling-points of these industry gatherings to Owskinski, for me the main appeal and by far the greatest reason to both exhibit and attend the NAMM Shows (yes, I’m including Summer NAMM) is the face-to-face interaction. Sure, plenty of business transactions will take place (hopefully, anyway), but writing orders and committing to gear purchases is far less of a significant component nowadays even than it was at my own first NAMM Show back in 2002 (so, wait: that makes this my… 16th Winter NAMM Show. Yikes!). For me – and for many friends and colleagues I’ve spoken with on the topic – the main draw of the Anaheim convention each year is the people.
If you’re reading this issue of MMR you’re very possibly someone I email or speak on the phone or Skype with on a somewhat regular basis, but actually being able to bump into, shake hands with, and chat (however briefly), in real time and not via a screen, has an irreplaceable value. This is an industry populated with passionate, intelligent, creative… weirdos, and it’s not often that we have the opportunity to convene with so many like-minded individuals and geek out – in person – over the newest developments in gear, instrument design, and industry happenings.
When I first walk in the Convention Center to help set up MMR’s booth, first see some of the new guitars, cymbals, keyboards, and stands, and – most importantly – first speak to a colleague I haven’t occupied the same physical space as since the last NAMM Show, I’m every bit as excited as I was in ’02 and just as eager to see what this year’s installment of the annual get-together will bring.
I realize I am mostly preaching to the converted here. Many of you are reading this column for the first time while at the NAMM Show, en route to it, or having just recently returned from it. But I also know that there are those who make the call that because of time, money, logistics, or due to the belief that most information collected or business conducted could just as easily be done online/at home/at the office, attending conventions isn’t worth it in this day and age.
In many ways, one can do nearly every essential act by “taking the online dog for a walk,” but while the pull of this digital leash is alluring, it’s important to not remain tethered. There is no substitute for the real thing.
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

100 Years Of The Condenser Microphone

Next Post

McPherson Guitars Perfecting the Art of ‘State of the Art’

Related Posts

Current Issue

Bridging the Sound – Audio Interfaces and the Modern Musician’s Toolkit

April 25, 2025
Current Issue

Twang, Nostalgia, the Americana Boom – and Why Now is the Time to Take Advantage

March 25, 2025
Editorial

Enough with ‘It’s Back!’

March 25, 2025
Editorial

Is Your Store an ‘Experience Destination’?

January 9, 2025
Editorial

A New Year – and Potentially Plenty of Change – Awaits

March 25, 2025
Editorial

FOMO Can be Good for You!

December 17, 2024
Next Post

McPherson Guitars Perfecting the Art of ‘State of the Art’

Please login to join discussion
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

New Spring King Junior Reverb Pedal from Danelectro

May 11, 2025
A picture tells a thousand words - a historic Gresch gathering at Carnegie Hall.

Gretsch at Carnegie Hall: Capturing a Moment in Time

August 2, 2013

Get Ready to Rock The 2026 NAMM Show: NAMM Celebrates 125 Years with Five-Days of Music, Innovation and Industry Legacy

August 4, 2025

Graph Tech Guitar Labs Launches Barrel Knobs for Ratio Machine Heads

January 6, 2025

Excelcia Music Publishing and Wingert-Jones Publications Announce ‘Ready Sets’ for Concert Band

Get Ready to Rock The 2026 NAMM Show: NAMM Celebrates 125 Years with Five-Days of Music, Innovation and Industry Legacy

Jessica Tropea Joins Neutrik Americas as Customer Solutions Engineer

It’s Back to School Season: Is Your Store Ready?

Excelcia Music Publishing and Wingert-Jones Publications Announce ‘Ready Sets’ for Concert Band

August 5, 2025

Get Ready to Rock The 2026 NAMM Show: NAMM Celebrates 125 Years with Five-Days of Music, Innovation and Industry Legacy

August 4, 2025

Jessica Tropea Joins Neutrik Americas as Customer Solutions Engineer

August 4, 2025

It’s Back to School Season: Is Your Store Ready?

August 5, 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
The Latest News and Gear in Your Inbox - Sign Up Today!
  • August 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • July 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • June 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • May 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • April 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
© 2005 - 2025 artistpro, LLC
7012 City Center Way, Suite 207
Fairview, Tennessee 37062
(800) 682-8114

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe Now!
    • Subscribe Now!
  • Advertise
  • Email Press Releases!
  • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
  • Newsroom
    • News
    • MMR Global
    • Supplier Scene
    • Upfront
    • People
  • Awards
    • Dealers’ Choice Awards Ballot 2024
    • Don Johnson Award Winners Archive
  • Directory
  • Get Support!

© 2005 – 2024 artistpro, LLC 7012 City Center Way, Suite 207 Fairview, Tennessee 37062 (800) 682-8114

This is Modal Title

Click Me
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?