Penn Elcom’s exhibition calendar seems to grow each year and our January is already busy with events. There’s no time to lose as the 16th saw us unveil our stand at the USA’s ever-famous National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show in Anaheim, California.
One of the largest music product trade shows in the world, the first event is recorded as being all the way back in 1901. This is NAMM’s headline winter show (a summer counterpart is held in US music mecca Nashville, Tennessee) on the temperate West Coast with an estimated 115,000 attendees.
They were not disappointed as NAMM delivered performances and talks from a star-studded roster representing genres from rock to dance. The likes of Steve Vai and Herbie Hancock firmly cemented the show as a must-go. Getting the first look at product developments from the world’s biggest makers is the main draw for most visitors, of course. The very latest musical instruments, audio equipment, software and more were unveiled by over 7000 brands and Penn Elcom were among them.
Our stand was a great success with a busy stream of guests being shown around over the full duration. We asked Penn NA President Richard Stratford who has become a familiar face at the event to give us the rundown:
Could you give our readers a quick introduction to the event?
The NAMM show is the largest in North America, focussing on all products related to music. There are two shows per year, Winter NAMM in January and Summer NAMM in July with the winter event being the larger of the two shows. Penn has exhibited at the Winter NAMM since 1986.
Which products did your team showcase and did any especially stand out?
Penn focuses on showing its full range of case and cabinet hardware to the case builders and the pro audio speaker builders. The one product that received an especially great response at this year's show was our new clickable recess lid stay with an anti-slam mechanism. Customers loved the idea and it solved a long-time problem.
What was the feedback like from those who came to our stand?
This show is very international and it is great to see customers come to our booth from all over the world. South America is well represented and even Russia and Bulgaria this year - it shows we have created a global brand.
With our presence there growing larger each year, we’re sure 2021 will mark a blockbuster year for Penn Elcom!
