non-profits resources to grow and succeed . The schedule for Believe in Music Week sessions and events will be published in the weeks to come at www . namm . org and on www . believeinmusic . tv .
A WORD WITH ZACH PHILLIPS , NAMM DIRECTOR OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
CMT : Thinking back to the NAMM team ’ s early meetings about Believe in Music Week , what were the main concerns / priorities / considerations being talked about ?
Zach Phillips : It may sound overly simplistic , but we kept coming back to , “ How do we serve our members ?” With that top of mind , there were a lot of directions the event could go . Ultimately , we decided to focus Believe in Music on three key areas . The marketplace is the first of those key areas because we wanted to make sure brands had a platform to introduce new products and services in January . The second area was education . With that , we wanted to make sure we provided our members in the industry with best practices and new ideas to navigate this “ new next .” And the third key area was Believe in Music TV . We wanted a means to celebrate and inspire the industry . That last area is something that is easier , in some ways , to do online . It is ideal to do it in a live show , but it ’ s somewhere where we saw some new opportunity with a video component .
Drilling down to a more tactical level , looking back on those conversations , we were really focused on user experience . In my opinion , nothing recreates a NAMM Show . Nothing recreates an in-person gathering . But we were focused on making Believe in Music intuitive to navigate and an event that ultimately inspired connections between people . Connections and networking are so important to the NAMM Show experience .
As a side note , we chose Swapcard , our online platform for Believe in Music , partly for its AI matchmaking tools . I think it will be key for connecting buyers and brands , as well as attendees . They have powerful matchmaking features . I ’ ve only seen a demo so far , but it ’ s impressive .
CMT : What were your main thoughts / concerns / priorities regarding how you wanted to approach education in this new kind of show ?
Phillips : When I look at The NAMM Show , and the same goes for Believe in Music as well , we ’ re ultimately offering a series of micro events within that single event for all the different professional communities within our membership . In a sense , a pro audio professional experiences a different show from a school music retailer , for example . So , with that in mind , we really believed that we needed to provide a robust education experience for every one of those communities in our membership . That can be challenging because there are quite a few professional communities there , but we wanted to be inclusive of all of those professional communities , just as we are at The NAMM Show .
In terms of other priorities , we also wanted to ensure that the content and production are worthy of our members in the industry . It ’ s never lost on me that we ’ re programming for the music products , sound , and entertainment tech industries , which is a discerning audience . Going online also presents new opportunities for education . I think about a music retailer who is presenting a store design session , for example . I just think of the visual opportunities that video presents . Or a recording studio or a recording engineer presenting a TEC Tracks session who might offer a studio walkthrough . I ’ m excited about that .
CMT : The education offerings will not just be webinar-style livestreams . There will be a variety of sessions varying in length , style , live vs . recorded , etc . Can you tell us more about that ?
Phillips : The plan is to have a mix of prerecorded and live content , but of course video content will be a huge part of it . We ’ re going in that direction for a number of reasons , a big one of which is just to ensure variety and depth . Also , as I was saying earlier , it ’ s about making sure the production is worthy of our members in the industry .
So , we ’ re planning on incorporating some live Q & A into the pre-recorded sessions and a few of the sessions will be webinar-style , but generally our mantra has been , “ YouTube , not webinar .” Whenever possible , that ’ s what we ’ re aiming for . There are times when it ’ s good to have a webinar-style session , but we took a hard look at how people were experiencing education at other virtual events and we decided to alter the format slightly based on what we noticed . Often , they were opting for shorter micro sessions .
For those attending Believe in Music , they can expect a lot of short sessions ranging from 10 to 20 minutes as opposed to Zoom webinars running an hour or more . I also think that format will promote exploration of the entire education program and the larger Believe in Music event in general . We want our members have plenty of time to check out new products , hold meetings , and network .
I should add that all the sessions will also be available on-demand afterwards so that members can watch them at their leisure . Also , we plan on having the platform open through the end of February . Past that , some of that content will continue to live on NAMM U Online , though how much is still to be determined .
CMT : Thinking about the educational components , can you weigh the pros and cons of this virtual show ?
Phillips : I ’ ll qualify what I ’ m about to say with this – we want to get this right the first time ; however , it ’ s still the first time and we ’ re going to learn a lot and continue to improve virtual components of our events in the future . I ’ d imagine this will become part of the live show as well and there will be hybrid events in the future …
So , there ’ s a lot to be said about an in-person gathering . Here ’ s where virtual is exciting , though : there ’ s pretty much zero effort involved in getting to the event . There is no travelling and no hotel . That may not seem like a big deal , but I ’ m excited about having an opportunity to provide education for all the people who have never been to The NAMM Show . What ’ s exciting is , for instance , the idea that a retail sales person who can ’ t go to the show can now experience all these sessions . That is an incredible benefit .
In the case of Believe in Music , it ’ s free . You can invite every single person on your staff and you ’ re freed from the shackles of time and space , in a sense . I often hear from exhibitors who want to attend the educational sessions but they ’ re busy exhibiting . They can now check out as many sessions as they want at their leisure . It ’ s always incredibly easy to come back to a session at a virtual event .
Michael Raine is the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Music Trade .
CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE 23