Summer NAMM Education Sessions Focused on Member Success

Professional development and business enrichment opportunities will take center stage at Summer NAMM, July 13-15. Members who join the mid-year gathering at Nashville's Music City Center will have the opportunity to participate in more than 60 high-impact, future-focused educational sessions. Each day of Summer NAMM will feature a different series of topics covering the biggest ideas and game-changing tactics to enrich attendees' businesses and professional development, and to help prepare them for the future.

Before the show officially opens on Wednesday, July 12, members can enjoy an all-day intensive training at Retail Boot Camp. The sessions will feature best-in-class experts in two different tracks: Sales and Marketing, and Financial Management. In Sales and Marketing, internationally recognized business expert Jon Schallert will show participants how to turn a music store into a consumer destination for your community -- and abroad. In the Financial Management track, Alan Friedman and Daniel Jobe of Friedman, Kannenberg & Co. return to cover such topics as purchasing and managing inventory, employee compensation, financial statements, instrument rentals and more.

Registration is now open and free to NAMM members: https://www.namm.org/summer/2017/educational-sessions/nammu/retail-boot-camp

Each day of the show will kick off with a rousing NAMM U Breakfast Session. Beginning Thursday morning, the show will officially open with a presentation from futurist and "Retail Prophet" Doug Stephens in a session titled, "The Retail Store of the Future." Stephens will reveal his thoughts on what awaits retail and how the music products industry can begin to chart the future now. Friday's Breakfast Session will welcome customer experience expert Doug Fleener as he presents "The Connected Consumer: Customer Experience in an Online World," and shares best practices for creating a valued customer experience in-store and online. Saturday at the show will welcome member favorite "Best in Show." Presented by moderator and Music Inc. Publisher Frank Alkyer, the panel of independent retailers will discuss their top product picks from the show floor.

All Breakfast Sessions will start at 8:00 a.m. in a new location: Grand Ballroom C on Level 4. They will be followed by a variety of NAMM U sessions starting every 30 minutes at the NAMM Idea Center, booth 463. Hot Idea Center topics, such as video and content marketing, selling through third-party platforms, store design, lessons, promotions, destination marketing, and new social media tips and tricks, and more, will be presented in the industry's biggest peer-to-peer sharing environment.

Along with the exciting Idea Center sessions, TEC Tracks will return to Summer NAMM with three days of pro audio education from top hit-makers, audio gurus, and industry insiders, designed to enhance the audio professional's repertoire. Topics to be covered include vinyl mastering, controlling latency in the studio, control room improvements, and a special session, "The Art of the Craft," presented by the Nashville Grammy award-winning producer and songwriter Mark Bright, and a guest recording artist. Other notable names include Grammy winner Chuck Ainlay (producer and engineer) and Bill Gibson (producer, engineer and author) as they discuss who's doing what in the studios, how they got that sound and inside stories only known to the industry few. Recording studios The Bakery, and Welcome to 1979, a Nashville-based retro, analog-centric studio, alongside Mayfield Mastering, will talk how to master on vinyl for high-fidelity, and Slick Audio will talk pro and project studio options for interfaces and audio over Ethernet.

Looking ahead, A3E (Advanced Audio + Applications Exchange) brings the future of audio and music products to the fore, with a series of future-focused sessions on Saturday. Must-attend sessions include "Disruptive Technology for the Traditional Musician," "The Future of Production: A Masterclass in Contemporary Country," and many others, to advance industry know-how and to prepare for the future of music, and music making.

For established and aspiring pro audio professionals, Audinate, the creator of Dante, a media networking technology, will introduce a new advanced Level 3 Dante Certification course as part of this year's Summer NAMM. The new advanced track is geared toward attendees that are already using Dante, and are looking to create more advanced systems and learn best practices. Audinate will make available the Dante Certification courses Level 1 and 2. All three of these courses will be taught on Friday, July 14 and again on Saturday July 15. Additional information, including advanced registration, can be found by visiting www.audinate.com/summernamm17.

Saturday also welcomes the show's Music Industry Day (MID) attendees and offers a chance to learn from leaders in their space and network with like-minded peers. Presenters include the Nashville Songwriters Association International, guitar pros and editors from Guitar Player magazine, social media, PR and marketing experts, as well as accomplished songwriters covering a variety of need-to-know topics. These include "Musician Marketing: Insider Tips to Grow Your Brand," "Hit Songwriting: Making the Most of Cutting-Edge Trends," and the "2017 Songwriter Success Summit," which will cover everything from contracts to how to achieve commercial success without the help of a publisher.

All NAMM U, TEC Tracks and A3E sessions are open to Summer NAMM badge holders and, on Saturday, to Music Industry Day attendees. To view the complete list of sessions, please visit https://www.namm.org/summer/2017/educational-sessions.

To register to attend Music Industry Day, please register for tickets by visiting https://www.namm.org/summer/2017/music-industry-day/.

For additional information about Dante training, please visit www.audinate.com/summernamm17.

DOWNLOAD: To download the Word document of all Summer NAMM Professional Development sessions, please visit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n7bpzxcwljcpm79/SN17_Education_Schedule_FINAL.docx?dl=0.