Great job Frank! Thanks for the pics and the comments. I don't blame you for going for some advertisers. Everyone has to make a living.

Frank:

It was great pleasure to meet you, regrettfully only very shortly under the circumstances of some black magic thrown in at the very moment by Steve Cohen....

I would have very much loved to have your perception of things and perhaps offer a few of my own in the mix.....

Brick said re being 'snubbed' at the Geneva stand, something that also happened to me last year:

Brick: you may wish to know that the person who did this to me last year, took the oppportunity this time around to 'apologize' to me re the incident.

The same person now also acknowledged the correctness of my perception of things and the circumstances which may have led to it.

The individual now works for a different company.....

Warm thanks to all I had the pleasure to meet, say 'hello' and chat a bit about things.

Including many of my own respected competition.

Norbert

Thanks Norbert, it's always nice to be able to put a face to a name. Sorry I didn't have much time to chat.

It was a fun show for me, although I'm a bit tired. Got in about 2:00 a.m. this morning.

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, spent too much time trying to connect with the manufacturers marketing people.

My thanks to the members who helped me make those connections.

I'll try to write a little more later, got some catching up to do. Unfortunately, my email program ate a bunch of emails, I'm not sure how I'm going to figure those out.

I was happy to see one of the manufacturers is working on a new version of their web site, and has done a lot of things right.

It looks like they actually took the time to think about what their customers (the public and their dealers) would want.

The UI is nicely done (user interface), it has a lot of usefull features, and they are using audio/video the way it should be used.

I don't want to say who it is because I'm not sure if they want anyone to know until they launch, but I'll certainly let everyone know when it's live (other manufacturers could take a lesson). I believe it's going live in Feb.

To those of you at the show who wanted to talk more about advertising and/or utilizing my SEO services, please make sure you send me a reminder email.

More later.

Hi Frank.

Great pictures. To bad we didn't take one when we met.

Are you going to do the advertising idea I suggested?

Also, I saw Stevie Wonder too....but he didn't see me!

Did you get any more stuff for the Piano World Contest we talked about? (More on this to come!)

I think next year I'll bring someone with me who can take pictures and collect stuff for me :-)

I just sent you a PM about the contest stuff.

Frank,

Thanks for maintaining what you thought was a confidentiallity on the outstanding website. However, it isn't necessary.

The competitors will be envious when they see the new website. It will be launched by Samick in the next 30-60 days at www.smcmusic.com.

Ok, since I missed seeing almost all of you guys (and other piano guys, like Larry Fine, Franz Mohr (who I don't think was there - anyone know if he's still around?), and others) at the conference (and the couple I did see that said they're on the forums, except for Don Mannino, I wouldn't remember by now), what's the chance that you guys will be at the Cal State convention next month near San Fran? Or should I start thinking about making plans to go to the PTG national convention in June in KC?

Hi Frank:

I also returned home at 2 AM from Los Angeles and am playing catch-up today. It was good hanging with you and Steve Cohen at the SMC booth and meeting both of you in the flesh; too bad we didn't think of taking a picture of the three of us for PW. I enjoyed your other pics.

Since the National Piano Traveler's Association has their get-togther on Wednesday night before the show opens, perhaps next year we could organize a PW party on another night at one of the hotels there. All we would need is a hospitality suite or meeting room, one of the suppliers to furnish a grand piano (we couldn't have a party without one of those), and refreshments. Maybe we could find some sponsors to help cover costs, or like the NPTA, charge a nominal fee to defray the expenses of the party. All the forum members that are involved at the show would want to attend, as well as dealers and no doubt some industry folks that monitor the forums. Even the non-industry forumites that live in the area would be interested in participating. It could grow into a pretty good-sized gathering.

In response to the inquiries about attending the NAMM show, it is "closed" to the public and the only way to gain admission is to have an official name badge from NAMM that needs to be ordered from a dealer/member or supplier. Teachers, technicians, and even friends/customers often can get their local dealer to order a badge for them, which needs to be done several weeks in advance. As an FYI to anyone that wants to attend at the last minute, even if they have a badge issued to someone else, the security at the show is getting tighter and they require a photo ID to match the name on the badge before they let anyone in the door.

I have attended nearly every NAMM show since 1967 and the public always finds ways to gain admission. In all fairness to the manufacturers and dealers that spend much money to attend the show, they are there to conduct business with each other for a short period of time, and consumers at the show can be a distraction from that process. Perhaps one day the music industry could put on an event like the automotive dealers do in major cities and invite the public.

Anyway, I hope the NAMM show was beneficial for you and look forward to seeing you next year!

Yes - seeing all that blue sky affected me the same way.

Thanks for the info & pictures Frank!

BTW, after you've read this thread, you might want to drop in on the...

1st Annual After NAMM Contest thread...
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/16810.html

Frank,

I'm still very curious about this post quoted from Page 1 of this thread -- I'm more curious about this one than everything else about NAMM that's discuss here.

Please tell us more about your encounter with the poster and his booth.

A former moderator should not troll. :p

They are generally sold to one of the larger California dealerships. Special doscounts are given.

Hi Ax,

While you wait for Frank to respond....
I too was approached by Mr. Wilson. He came into the Samick booth (where I was working as a consultant), looking for me. We had a discussion that I would describe as confrontational but not overtly so.

I'll start a new thread about this encounter as soon as I catch up with business.

Steve,

Please don't. Seriously.

David

Folks, you're getting off topic here.

I didn't want this thread hijacked (and I do have a little pull around here :-)

This thread is for pictures and reviews of the NAMM show.

If it will help quiet the curious among you...

I wouldn't know the Piano Superstore if I fell over it (apparently I did).

I was chatting with Shawn in the PTG booth about Piano World and advertising. He said there was a booth just up the aisle from them that was promoting pianomoving.com (or thepianomovers.com, or something like that).

So I went up to chat with them. They were nice to me and said they were already familiar with PW. I'm not surprised anymore when people in the business tell me that. He did mention there had been a rather negative thread on the forums about his business (didn't say what business), and that didn't surprise me either, it happens.

I pitched them on advertising on PW and left, end of story. BTW, I've never read any of the threads about piano superstore, and as most of you know, I try to stay out of the middle of things unless there is a need for me to step in.

Now...
CAN WE GET BACK TO REVIEWING THE NAMM SHOW? !!

Oh, all right.

Other than the M&H B, were there any new and exciting piano models introduced?

What about the piano I saw in your pics that resembled an upright in the shape of a grand???

SORRY, man I hate these progressives...

:)
Figured out for yourself that it's a vertical with a grand shaped display against the back?

Steve,

Two things I saw with the new Samick site that might need some attention: I DID like the idea of separately-designed microsites for each brand. It continues a different branding "feel" for each piano, even down to the way the site looks and works.

Having said that, on the Pramberger site [ahem] at a quick first glance it's not clear to the user what's going on with that page. Giving it the quick 2-second glance and doing what a "typical" user would try to do, the eyes go right to the center of the image and the navigation bar at the top becomes "invisible." I try to click on the two lines of type to see the two different lines of pianos, and.... nada.

The fix would be to either make those big type elements in the center clickable (that's the easy fix) or change the whole graphic to pull the navigation elements from above, down into the lefthand side of the page somehow. (more difficult - requires a redesign of the page. I'd go with clickable elements in what they have now, first.)

The second one is the Sohmer site. I'd lose the splash page since it does nothing AND they'll lose up to 50% of their traffic at that point by folks who just click back to Google/Yahoo! and on to the next link on the list.


Can you tell what I do for a Day Job?

CozyWriter,

If you are refering to the sites at the current samick link, I don't think you're seeing the new sites yet.

A lot of what I saw was in mock-up and/or test-site mode (correct me if I'm wrong Steve, wouldn't be the first time).

well at least they won't HAVE to do a lot of work on the other sites

Hi Frank - It looks like you've had a good time there. Hopefully some of the leads will prove to be fruitful after all.

I look forward to trying the new M&H B at the tour.

John

Th new site will launch in the next couple of months.

And Cozy is right. The current site leaves a lot to be desired.

Wait 'til you see the new one! It's really nice.

Frank:

You are correct in advising Cozy that the current website is the one we (SMC) has been using for a long time. The new site is completely different and will be interactive, as you saw at the booth on Saturday. I am sure that there will be some hoopla and we will let the PW readers know when it is launched.

well if you need a knowledgable UI savvy focus group......

I'm at home on my bum for another month, trying not to go batty watching Oprah and Super Surgery.

Thank you for sharing this NAMM[/b] incident with us.