PROSPERITY FOR YOUR
PRINT DEPARTMENT
& BEYOND!
Fresh Ideas & Insights
from the 2018 RPMDA Convention
BY ANDREW KING
Radisson Blu Mall
of America
Minneapolis, MN
April 25-28, 2018
www.printmusic.org
20 • CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE
42 nd Annual
RPMDA
Convention
Members of the Retail Print Mu-
sic Dealers Association (RPMDA)
are uniting in Minneapolis, MN
from April 25-28 for their 42 nd
annual convention.
Notably, this year will mark
a shift in the exhibition format
to encourage more communi-
cation and networking; howev-
er, what’s not changing is the
educational programming that
brings retailers and suppliers
together to share proven ideas
and spur prosperity in print
departments and throughout
the entire store.
As in recent years, this
year’s education schedule is
divided into three tracks: track
one being for print music
specialists with less than three
years of experience; track two
for print music managers and
buyers; and track three for
business owners and man-
agers. There are also general
sessions taking up timely and
wide-reaching issues like advo-
cacy for music education, what
comprises a 21 st century print
department, and a “Best Ideas”
session that will revisit some of
the most valuable information
shared throughout the event.
“For me, the RPMDA Con-
vention has always been about
the quality of the program, and
dare I say we have an awesome
program in place for 2018,”
comments Don Langlie of
Poppler’s Music Store in West
Grand Forks, ND and current
RPMDA president. “Copyright,
social media, and music
advocacy remain prominent
and consistent topics for the
RPMDA. Due to the required
depth of understanding as
well as the continuous change
associated with these topics, it’s
important that they be revisited
each year.”
The goal of the new
exhibit format is to sharpen the
event’s already keen focus on
open dialogue and the sharing
of ideas. “We no longer have a
cavernous space set aside for
large displays of music material,”
Langlie explains about the
shift. “Instead, we’ll have small
groups of retailers rotating
through exhibitor stations
where discussions regarding
products, promotions, new
issues, and so on can be held
and other ideas shared.”
The benefit is that exhib-
itors will be able to put in face
time with most, if not all, of the
retailers in attendance instead
of standing at a booth and
hoping for traffic. “We’re excited
to see the increased communi-
cation this format will provide,”
Langlie tacks on.
After all, that open flow of
communication and market-
place of ideas is arguably the
event’s biggest draw, and it’s
the product of the strong sense
of community for which the