or not . But April , we saw as a bridge between pre-COVID and post-COVID to get us back to January ‘ 24 , which we thought would be clearly post-COVID . But again , crystal balls are really good when looking at hindsight , but in the middle of it , it ’ s a lot of fog . But I would predict January ‘ 24 will be what everyone is used to , what we saw in January 2020 .
CMT : I ’ m sure around now , there ’ s probably tons of work to do . But that probably means there is something to get excited about pretty much every day , right ?
Lammond : Yeah , probably cancelling in 2021 , having to cancel a show , which had not been done since World War II . Those are the tough decisions in a way . And you know , these are decisions made and under big duress . But once you make them , then it ’ s just a matter of ‘ Okay , let ’ s get to work control by sleeves and figure out how to do a virtual show .’ I believe in music . So , it ’ s once a day when we all learned I think during this very challenging period is that make decisions , accept it and move on and get to work . You know , I think we all learned that , you know , making cup decisions . Yeah , we prayed . We made it . Go look back . It was you know , turn to page move forward .
CMT : Would you have any tips for first time exhibitors or attendees at NAMM ?
Lammond : Oh , gosh , yeah . I mean , my first show was 1983 , NAMM show , January of 1983 . So , I was talking to myself back in 1983 , I would have said , or would say , plan your time very carefully . And that means be prepared , look at the schedule , decide which education sessions you want to be a part of — they ’ re all posted now . And really take the time to schedule out . And then when you ’ ve determined how much time you ’ ve got for the tradeshow floor , and then look at the map and say , ‘ Okay , I want to see these companies and these companies ,’ and call or email them and schedule an appointment , really think through how you want to be strategic about who you want to see . And so , the best advice is really carefully plan because when you were there last June , that show was less than half the size of the show that it normally is , yet , it was still a lot to see . And if you don ’ t plan , you kind of just go from one thing to the next . And next thing you know , it ’ s midnight , and you really haven ’ t hit all the things you wanted to see . So , by planning it , really carefully think through how you want to when you leave and get back on the airplane to fly home , you want to have no regrets . You want to have seen what you want to have seen . Met up with who you wanted to meet with , and had some fun along the way . You want to get on that airplane on the way home with no regrets .
CMT : Last year , I heard lots of people saying the smaller show and absence of some of the bigger names in the industry freed up more time for attendees to check out smaller companies they maybe hadn ’ t heard of before . Is that something you noticed as well ?
Lammond : I think that ’ s the marketplace at work , right ? I mean , where traditional brands that are just iconic , they tend to take up a lot of oxygen in there , in such a big way . And when they ’ re not there , or not in such a big way , it ’ s like a forest , where the big trees have kind of opened up . And next thing you know , you ’ ve got all this growth coming up . And I think , actually — I was a forestry major , I don ’ t know if anyone knows that — but I learned that those are really important moments in a forest ’ s life , that new growth is given a chance to flourish and grow . And that ’ s what ’ s happening right now in the industry because of some of the brands that are like the major trees in the forest ; they ’ re letting more sunlight through . And there ’ s a flourishing of new brands , new companies , new entrepreneurial thinking . And by the way , these cycles occur naturally , and they occur in our industry , naturally ; they occurred in the ‘ 80s , and they ’ re occurring again now , where the sunlight is passing through the big trees and nourishing this new growth . And that ’ s what you ’ re going to see at The NAMM Show in April .
CMT : Are there any particular highlights this year that you ’ re looking forward to ?
Lammond : I think coming out of the pandemic , we saw how many people when they had the time because of lockdowns and had a little bit of money , wanted to pick up an instrument , whether it was a ukulele , or a guitar , or an electronic keyboard . So , we will launch in April at the show program called Million More . And its full name is Million More Music Makers . We ’ re going to be training music educators of a growing part of The NAMM Show . Thousands of music teachers come to The NAMM Show every year now to look at what products they want to have in the classroom . We have a two-day training for traditional music teachers to teach classroom guitar and ukulele so that they can be the gateway to another generation of people who want to play music . So , we ’ re going to do a mass training and certification of music teachers . These are traditional music teachers , sometimes they ’ re band and choral , sometimes they ’ re instrumental music , but for them to learn basics to teach enough to teach a guitar , a group guitar class , we believe that this will create millions more of the entry level , guitar player , ukulele player , keyboard player . So , this new program will be launched in April . I hope it becomes just one of the pillars of The NAMM Show . Because I do believe we all have a responsibility to help grow the
26 CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE