I’ve gotten a number of emails and calls about Summer NAMM, which can mostly be boiled down to two variations: “Are they really going forward with the Show?” and “Pfft… That thing’s going to get cancelled.” What are your reactions?
Well, it’s early April as we’re talking now – almost, to the day, when we had to cancel Summer NAMM last year. That was viewed as very premature by some, that we were being “Chicken Little,” but in turned out that we underestimated how bad it was going to be, and it proved to be a wise decision. I think we’re in a different position a year later, which is that some are having the perception that it’ll never get better, and it’ll never open up, and I think we’re just as wrong now as some of us might have been last year, just thinking everything’s going to open up quickly. I think that’s human nature: whatever you’re in at the moment, you think it’s always going to be that way. And the fact of the matter is, things are opening up broadly – and I mean broadly – around the country and increasingly around the world.
I’m imagining that three, four months from now, things will be – knock on wood; I hate to throw this out into the karmic ether – markedly improved. However, for those who are still understandably concerned, what protocols and safety measures are going to be in place in Nashville this July?
First and foremost, pandemics come and pandemics go – that’s just the way they work. This, too, shall pass. Really what we’re coping with is when, right? Our industry knows how important it is to have concerts again, and live music, and festivals ,and houses of worship playing music again. And our industry is invested in this thing opening up, in the world opening up. We are our entire future.
I think our entire industry is dependent on the world opening up, and who better than ourselves to lead that way? In other words, we gather to show that we have the courage to plan and safely do this.
I’ll get to your second point: how do you do this safely? There’s all kinds of good scientific and medical advice coming from the federal, the state, and local level on how to gather safely, and we will make sure everything is adhered to, that we have to do, and I’d like to go two clicks further than that. Whatever it is they say do, I want to do that plus two more things. And that’s going to [involve] working with the city of Nashville of course. They are very invested in people coming to their community safely and, of course, leaving safely.
Basically, the show will look different. If you picture Music City Center, there are four halls, A through D. We’re taking halls B and C, so that A and D and either side of us can be open. We’re going to spread out everything much more. There’ll be one booth and there’ll be a space, then another booth and a space, with much wider aisles. There probably won’t be any food or beverages on the show floor, itself. You’ll have to go out into the community. We’re going to follow all of the suggested protocols: masks, hand sanitizers, plus the building is GBAC-certified, which is a new certification for buildings about their air flows, their air filtration, and the cleanliness of their common areas and bathrooms.
Setting expectations is going to be a really important thing for us, as an industry and as organizers, to let everyone who’s going to come know that it’s going to look different and we’re going to do things differently to ensure the safety of our members.
Because nearly everything – even things that really shouldn’t be – is politicized these days, how do you anticipate or preemptively diffuse any potential conflicts – say between someone happy to wear a mask on the show floor and another who’s resistant?
The biggest issue that I think we’re all dealing with in this country, and increasingly around the world, is lack of respect. It comes down to respecting someone’s position on this really important subject. This happened, you know? This will be written about for centuries. This global pandemic did occur. It wasn’t that someone just made this up. This will be studied, just like the 1918 flu that had tremendous impact on the world. And I’ll say that the impact of this pandemic will be known and felt for decades to come. Deciding to travel or to attend an event like Summer NAMM is a deeply, deeply personal choice. We’ve all known people that have either suffered or died through COVID – me, as well, personally. We’ve lost many industry people. I know there’s some that won’t travel this summer, and that’s why we’ll be developing these digital tools and making sure that there’s a place for those people, too, because we respect their decision.
I also respect someone who says, “I’ve been traveling the whole time, so this is no biggie for me.” I respect the store owners who have had to open up. I respect the front-line people who didn’t have the option of sheltering in place at an office. If you’re a music store, you had to open your store or you didn’t stay in business, you know? Even within the people I’m talking to on a daily basis, there’s a wide range of positions on this.
For those who feel that Summer NAMM is going to be an important part of their coming out of this pandemic, an important part of their strategy, we’re just basically trying to set the safest platform and the most return on investment platform we possibly can, so that it’s worth coming. It’s about leadership and it’s about respect – I think those are the two key words. Our industry is very much based on camaraderie and I can’t imagine someone not understanding why someone with underlying conditions or someone who has someone at home with underlying conditions would say, “It’s not right for me yet.” I’d say, “Good, absolutely correct, right answer for you.” Someone else may say, “I’m 23, I do a whole bunch of risky things in my life anyway, I’m going.” I’d say, “Well, that’s, for you, the perfect decision, too.” Part of the problem in all this, is how politicized it’s gotten. We’re pretty pragmatic people. We’re musicians – that’s how we look at all challenges: we just organize it, we load in, we do the gig, we load out, and we leave. It’s that simple.
If something comes along and all of a sudden there’s a serious fourth or a fifth wave, I’m not going to do Summer NAMM and put people in risk. We’ll always make good decisions based on the best information available at the minute. That’s just what adults do, right? And so, are we going forward with Summer NAMM? Yes, we are because I think we can do it. If new information comes in that changes my opinion, I’ll change my opinion and we’ll go from there. You can’t try and denigrate anyone on either side of this. There are those who are very fearful and there are those who are very cavalier, and that’s why it comes back to respect.
You mentioned ROI. For people who are in that consideration phase, do you have any information to help guide their decisions as to whether to attend or exhibit at the 2021 gathering in Nashville?
For the first industry gathering in a year and a half, we tried to do everything we could to make it a valuable trip. In addition to the usual NAMM offerings like NAMM U, Tec Tracks, and the Top 100 Dealer Awards, we have added many new reasons for dealers to come. For example, having NASMD host their conference in Nashville means that for many of us, two trips become one. AIMM is producing their ‘Summer Summit’ with some of the best independent dealer members in the country. There’s a Worship Magazine gathering on Wednesday, bringing in key influencers and buyers for this important market segment. The touring industry, including the Event Safety Alliance, is having a meeting and educational sessions while we’re there, and we’re hoping to have a guest speaker from the CDC to address the issues around safely reopening concerts, festivals, and schools. So that’s like three or four trips that are going to be combined into one for many industry participants on the key influencer side, buyer side, and the exhibitor side.
We’ve also heard from a lot of exhibitors who said, “I want to come to Summer NAMM, but don’t necessarily want to build a big booth. What I do want to do is meet with all my customers.” In response to these important members’ needs we’ve created new programs called the “Networking Pass” and ‘Networking Package.” For a small supporters fee, they can accomplish everything they would like with show floor access, private meeting space with refreshments, ability to bring in samples, and access to our new Zoom Zone and secured lock-up area.
If I had to sum up the proposition for coming to Nashville in July, I’d say there are many exhibitors who are bringing exciting new products to Nashville and in addition to that, it seems to me that a big part of Summer NAMM this year is going to be simply manufacturers, distributors, and retailers sitting together to plan, strategize, and plan for a successful second half of the year: a very practical, down and dirty opportunity to gather all the industry decision makers together in one place, planning for the reopening of the world, and getting things done. That, to me, is a solid return on investment.
