2020 RPMDA
been successful
and people have
enjoyed.
CMT: What are
some of the key
pieces of advice
you’ll have for
putting on a suc-
cessful workshop?
Win/Win (& Win): Making
Workshops “Work” for
Everyone — Publishers,
Retailers & Attendees
With Elliott Wessel of
Schmitt Music
CMT: Do you find it’s often the case
that at least one of those three parties
you mention – publishers, retailers, and
attendees – isn’t served well by an in-store
workshop?
Wessel: Well, I think the publishers, espe-
cially, are always re-evaluating how many
workshops they’re doing, who they’re send-
ing out, the format, and how it’s working. It
is an expense for everyone to put this on and
I think more often than not, you’re doing it
because you always do it and not with a clear
goal in mind. You know, is this a sales event?
Is it a public relations event? Or is it a social
event? So, one of the things I talk about
right away is making sure that you, the pub-
lisher, and the attendees all have a clear idea
of the purpose of the event. Then you know
how to measure its success.
This kind of stems from an event that
we do every year; this year will be the 83 rd
annual Schmitt Music Expo. It started in
1937 and about four years ago we changed it
from a two-day convention format with reg-
istration to a free in-store event where you
can come and go as you please. Part of the
presentation is sharing what has worked in
that change of format and things that have
26 CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE
Wessel: One thing
I could share right
now is that in
today’s climate,
your presenters aren’t going to complain.
It’s not like it used to be where you had real
divas coming in and making demands. That
is just not the climate anymore. So, I think
if you’re hosting a presenter, you need to
make sure you’re asking the right questions
and observing their reactions and their
behaviour, because there could be long-term
consequences to not paying attention.
They’re not going to complain about
the piano or the hotel. Instead, about six
months later, you’ll hear from somebody
at the company. In today’s climate, your
presenters aren’t going to come to you with
complaints. You have to sort of anticipate
and observe if there’s a problem.
CMT: For it to work for attendees, I’d
think that they need to feel they got
value out of it, too, and it wasn’t just a
big sales pitch?
Wessel: Right, and I think more often
than not, in our business especially, you get
teachers who say, “I am not going to any
more ‘buy my book’ things; I want to actu-
ally learn about teaching.” So, I think as a
retailer, you have to decide where you are on
that spectrum. My response is always, “You
have your teachers’ association conventions
and you have all these other outlets to get
education on teaching and pedagogy. This is
a store and we sell things and here’s the new
music. That is kind of what we do.”
So, I think it just depends on your
makeup as a retailer. You know, if you have
an education centre in your store, is that a
primary focus for you? Are you putting to-
gether an educational event? Or is it a “buy
my book” session?
But I think more to your point, for
the publishers, they really have to find the
balance with the presentation. How much
of it is “buy my book” and how much of it
is “here’s some teaching tips that would be
helpful for you?”
CMT: What are the main complaints you
see from publishers about workshops?
Wessel: I think the publishers like to see big
attendance numbers, and I think it’s import-
ant to not focus on that so much. For me,
as a sales person, I like to judge by the num-
bers. If I have 20 or 30 people but they’re
buying a lot, then that is fantastic and better
than getting 50 who didn’t buy anything,
but the publishers don’t always see it that
way. So, again, that would be my main tip is
to make sure everybody is on the same page
about the measurement of success.
CMT: Any final tips on putting on a
successful workshop?
Wessel: Yeah, always have free stuff.
Everybody loves free stuff [laughs]. I put a
lot of effort into having not just free stuff,
but good free stuff. It is well worth the
investment. Any time you have an event, if
somebody walks away with something free
that they’re excited about, like, “Hey, I got
this thing!”, that is a win for everybody.
Another thing I’ve talked to a lot of
people about and gotten mixed responses on
is that, for a long time in our industry, the
homerun events were the really big events.
Our own, the Schmitt Music Expo, used
to be one of the biggest events and we used
to get 500 teachers at this thing. But now,
I think you have to look at, is it better to
have one big event once a year, or four
events that are smaller throughout the year?
Do you want 100 people to come to an
event, or 25 people that come to an event
four times a year? Really crunch those
numbers and see which is more beneficial.
Maybe having a big event these days isn’t
the way to go.