DJzone DJ Magazine

NAMM closed its 2005 Summer Session Sunday at the Indianapolis Convention Center, reporting an overall 13 percent decrease in registrants from the 2004 summer show, with a total of 20,082 registrants for the three-day event. International registration increased by 11 percent.

"This year, we saw hundreds of new dealers who did not attend Nashville or Anaheim, but unfortunately we lost some of the regular attendees from previous years," said Joe Lamond, president and CEO, NAMM. "Those who attended showed a greater interest in professional development, with packed NAMM U sessions and exciting discussion of business issues, as they prepared themselves for the fall and holiday selling season."

Lamond continued, "Although our early registration numbers were up over the same time period in 2004, in the final weeks before the show, we did not see the traditional number of dealers register. The NAMM staff learned a lot from this experience and we will use that knowledge as we continue to listen to our Members and respond with actions that serve their business needs."

Show exhibitors were generally satisfied with the show, many commenting about the convenience of the new city, its proximity to hotels and the upgraded convention facilities.

"The show went better than we expected," said John Garlette, director of strategic events, Casio Inc. "We received a good return on our investment here and felt our overall Indy experience was very positive."

"We were hoping to walk away with $30,000 in sales-on Saturday alone, we walked away with a half million dollars in orders, " said Blake Schribner, CEO of Fremont, Calif.-based Fusion Masterwork, which introduced a new collection of custom guitars.

"We were glad to have been here," said Paul Jernigan, vice president, marketing services, Fender. "Fender is committed to supporting the industry and the independent dealer-and we did solid business here."

Dealer attendees also enjoyed the new location and had this to say:

"For Skip's Music and all of the AIMM dealers, the 2005 Summer Session was a great show," said Skip Maggiora, president, Skip's Music. "This show gave us quality time to meet with our suppliers and helped us achieve our goals of developing key strategic partnerships."

"We have more time with the reps here at Summer Session; we actually saw some of them twice," said William Englemen of Johnstonbaugh's Music Centers in Gibsonia, PA. "I want to come to Summer Session next year."

The 2006 NAMM Show will take place January 19-22 in Anaheim, CA, and the 2006 Summer Session is scheduled for July 14-16 in Austin, TX.

NAMM
www.namm.com