Does anyone care about NAMM any more? 2023 Thread

[jeremyb]

Is it just me or has it not been as hyped this year?

[hamo]

Certainly doesn't feel like it, however we've often had a forum member reporting back from there, so we've been a bit spoilt.

[JustMatt]

It is first and foremost an industry fair. I know a lot of our dealers go to NAMM every year to see whats new.

[Conway]

A lot of the big companies didn’t bother going this year. After a couple of years of Covid and doing things online, I think everyone realises the days of needing a big industry trade fair to promote new products is pretty much gone.

[jeremyb]

A lot of the big companies didn’t bother going this year. After a couple of years of Covid and doing things online, I think everyone realises the days of needing a big industry trade fair to promote new products is pretty much gone.

This did cross my mind, I know in the watch industry the big fairs became redundant with the manufacturers doing online events over covid.

[Conway]

From the video clips, the convention centre looked half empty.

[murky]

It’s not even in Vegas…..

[FuzzMonkey]

It's not just you JB.

[slash-ed]

A lot of the big brands didn't exhibit this year (we didn't, Fender, Gibson, PRS). Obviously it's a huge cost saving to not attend, but in my (very personal) opinion, if an event like NAMM gets abandoned, we'll miss out on so many of the intangibles of in-person interaction like relationship building, networking, content etc that just doesn't happen the same way without a massive in-person event.

My hope is that we'll see a swing back towards seeing the value of human interaction, whether that's for NAMM or working from home or whatever. The world needs to find a middle ground that doesn't completely abandon the learnings and flexibilities of the last few years, but also doesn't turn us into weird isolated hermits who only know how to talk to a rectangle.

imhoymmvbbqetc

[sizzlingbadger]

I thought it was interesting how Paul Reed Smith did the vlog rounds in the past few months, got his face out to a big crowd for very little cost.

[WellyBlues]

I thought it was interesting how Paul Reed Smith did the vlog rounds in the past few months, got his face out to a big crowd for very little cost.

But with AI and deepfakes maybe we'll need to see the whites of their eyes to know whether it's real or not. This whole AI thing might be a driver for more face to face interactions. But probably not.

/speculation

[Vince]

But with AI and deepfakes maybe we'll need to see the whites of their eyes to know whether it's real or not. This whole AI thing might be a driver for more face to face interactions. But probably not.

/speculation

I hadn't thought of that.