NAMM2022 – Is it time to Get Back?

In the early days of the pandemic, solid information was hard to come by, and speculation was all over the board. As the cases and deaths mounted, and businesses closed their doors, it felt as if we were staring into an abyss; a dark place with no apparent bottom. But as Johns Hopkins University went live with their Covid-19 dashboard, suddenly the scope of the pandemic was made clear to even the most casual observer.

The results were revealing. It was clear that the virus was gaining momentum and this wasn’t going to be over soon; but how long would it go on? Six months, a year, two?

Well, here we sit more than 2 years in. We’ve learned to mask up, cluster with immediate family and stay in our “bubbles”, opt for take-out over sit-down dining. And in my case at least, grown accustomed to a world absent of trade-show attendance.

For many of us, trade shows have been a love/hate proposition for years. While we can’t deny the fun times and camaraderie, we’ve also experienced the grind of long hours, aching feet, and occasional bout of “NAMM-thrax”; not to mention the nights that went on too long and mornings that arrived much too early. Plus, to those who care about such things, trade shows were expensive to attend and insanely expensive to exhibit at.

Were trade shows a thing of the past that had been supplanted by the 24/7 nature of information propagated over the Internet? Maybe the pandemic was the death-knell that would end it all.

I wasn’t planning to attend NAMM this year. Not because I was cautious about the pandemic, but because frankly I just didn’t even think about it. I’d fallen out of practice. The same sentiment surrounded InfoComm and ISE, two other major trade shows that I’ve been attending for decades.

But then, I heard from a good friend with big plans.

I’ve known Gregg Stein for a dozen years but with all we’ve experienced together, it could just as easily be 30. We worked together at one time and in typical fashion for both of us, took on way more challenges than sane people would, only to push our own boundaries and reach new goals. So, when Gregg said he was hosting a booth at NAMM and asked if I would help out, I was jolted into the realization that indeed there will be a NAMM show in June, and I was going.

Is everything going to be OK??

Well, it’s certainly not going to be “business as usual” as we once knew it. But it feels like it’s going to be OK. Sure, we’ll have to make some adjustments, but aren’t we all educated enough by now to recognize and mitigate unneeded risks? Can we just suck it up and behave like grown-ups to prevent the spread of the virus? Yeah, I think we can.

So, I’m somewhere between thrilled and giddy about returning to Anaheim in June.

Gregg’s company Triple-G Ventures has a booth at #10107 and that booth is going to be jammed with new, killer products from a handful of cool startups. Triple-G helps brands in a hundred different ways, including helping them make a splash in front of people who make buying decisions; a feat that’s tough to pull off for legacy brands and startups alike.

While I can’t share more details at this point, I can say you won’t be disappointed. Each brand is launching products that are not only innovative, they’re very likely to be market hits.

In the 60 seconds it took to contemplate Gregg’s proposition it occurred to me. Where else would you see or hear about these brands? Which websites, magazines or other press outlets have the bandwidth to help these new companies bubble to the surface? How could these brands ever afford to compete against the giants in ad buys, social media ads, or word-of-mouth?

Yes, it costs a lot to exhibit at a trade show, and NAMM in June is certainly no exception. But as much as I felt the Internet might have rendered trade shows extinct, it hasn’t.

I’m thrilled to be back on the show floor welcoming musicians, techs, dealers, distributors and the press to the Triple-G booth. And I can’t wait to show everyone what this new group of entrepreneurs have created. I especially can’t wait to introduce our Grammy award-winning musical guest who will be showcasing some of these cool products. And yes, I can’t wait to reconnect with so many friends in the lobby bars and restaurants around the show.

Oh man, the music is back, the show is back, the vibe is back and it’s time for all of us to Get Back.

I’m looking forward to seeing you there!