Who's going to NAMM, Jan. 2020?

I've never been so i'm ignorant: how does it work do you get invited? Is there a ticket to purchase?
I've seen the YouTube videos of people talking loudly into microphones about the gear from this event, is there more gear than I'd see if I traveled to Sweetwater Sound or Memphis DrumShop?
Bermuda says it better but it’s a trade show and you’re either involved with a company, or you get invited by a company. I don’t think you can buy your way in. But you get to see all the new products being put out for the entire music industry, so you have four days to see everything and I don’t think you can see it all. A lot of it is companies debuting products to gauge interest and take orders. So if you debuted a product and no one was interested, you probably wouldn’t go into production. That’s the main reason for the convention. The social aspect/concerts are all centered around that.
 
I've never been so i'm ignorant: how does it work do you get invited? Is there a ticket to purchase?

I wrote a FAQ a while baq - www.bermudaschwartz.com/namm

The problem with much of the public coming in is that the majority thinks it's a big Guitar Center where you can just handle gear and make noise. The respectful people are fine, but the others create some real problems. Noise is a BIG problem in the drum and guitar halls, both from a hearing damage aspect, and it also hampers people's ability to participate in a conversation, such as with legitimate buyers who need to know about the products, or better still, place an order. That's what the show is really for. The extraneous people also take up the time of the exhibitors and space in their booths and in the aisles. It's not a good environment for conducting business. Once again, that's what the show is really for.

The exhibitors and buyers (store owners and distributors) sometimes think nothing about giving or selling badges to people that don't really belong at the show, and selling access is highly frowned upon by NAMM. It's extremely disrespectful to fellow exhibitors to bring in people that don't have business there, because they get in the way of people who do have business to conduct.

Sadly, as much as NAMM pretends to care and make access more difficult for outsiders, they don't try too hard. Why? Because with higher attendance numbers, they can keep enticing exhibitors to continue exhibiting year after year. Attendance has indeed grown every year for some time, though the number of buyers seems to be shrinking. Many exhibitors have had it with the non-enforced policies, and several have stopped participating. Pork Pie is a notable refugee, holding their own space not far from the convention center, which is pretty much invitation only to the buyers who are already in town. They've done VERY well by exiting NAMM.

Bermuda
 
I wrote a FAQ a while baq - www.bermudaschwartz.com/namm

The problem with much of the public coming in is that the majority thinks it's a big Guitar Center where you can just handle gear and make noise. The respectful people are fine, but the others create some real problems. Noise is a BIG problem in the drum and guitar halls, both from a hearing damage aspect, and it also hampers people's ability to participate in a conversation, such as with legitimate buyers who need to know about the products, or better still, place an order. That's what the show is really for. The extraneous people also take up the time of the exhibitors and space in their booths and in the aisles. It's not a good environment for conducting business. Once again, that's what the show is really for.

The exhibitors and buyers (store owners and distributors) sometimes think nothing about giving or selling badges to people that don't really belong at the show, and selling access is highly frowned upon by NAMM. It's extremely disrespectful to fellow exhibitors to bring in people that don't have business there, because they get in the way of people who do have business to conduct.

Sadly, as much as NAMM pretends to care and make access more difficult for outsiders, they don't try too hard. Why? Because with higher attendance numbers, they can keep enticing exhibitors to continue exhibiting year after year. Attendance has indeed grown every year for some time, though the number of buyers seems to be shrinking. Many exhibitors have had it with the non-enforced policies, and several have stopped participating. Pork Pie is a notable refugee, holding their own space not far from the convention center, which is pretty much invitation only to the buyers who are already in town. They've done VERY well by exiting NAMM.

Bermuda
Good info there. I heard that this year they were allowing regular people to register for badges after the free badge deadline had passed, but I don't know if that is true or not. Either way there's definitely a lot of people there who really shouldn't be, like all those children running around on the weekends. After a while you can tell who belongs there/has come for actual business (retail or as an artist) and who's just there to meet celebrities and touch all the new gear.
 
Did any manufacturer come up with new, lightweight hardware? If not, I’ll probably take the plunge and finally buy the Yamaha Crosstown hardware.....
 
I heard that this year they were allowing regular people to register for badges after the free badge deadline had passed

Not to my knowledge, and very few badges are handed out at no charge. Exhibitors get a certain number of badges based on the size of the space they rent for the show, and there may be other comped badges for certain qualified people such as media members. But you'd have to have the right credentials or manufacturer affiliation to get one, or buy one from someone who's selling the for personal profit, which is a real problem lately.

Bermuda
 
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