Frederick Girard, of Sennheiser Canada, agreed the show is critical to Canadian music businesses. “Well it is very important because it’s the only show in Canada that covers the music industry and professional audio,” he says. “So in our book it’s the biggest show.”
The show was highlighted by guest appearances, most notably Rudolf Schenker, guitarist for The Scorpions.
Like NAMM, lectures about important industry issues were also a key component. One session concerned hiring practices; namely getting the right person for the job the first time around. And some rules for the interviewing process are obvious. But Bob Matheson, Toronto store manager of Mountain Equipment Co-op, says it’s crucial to the possible success or failure of a company. “If you get the right person, a lot of the rest goes smoothly,” he says. “If you get the wrong person, you’ve got a lot of work to do.”
But generally, the trade show was based on doing business. Steve Parr of Taylor Guitars said his company has seen tremendous growth over the last few years in the Canadian marketplace. “I see this as helping us get a good foothold up here,” Parr says. “Prior to me taking the territory over, the gentleman who handled this region was also handling a region down in the United States. I’m the dedicated sales manager for all of Canada. So when before I might have been able to do two or three trips up here in a year, I’m doing 10 to 12 trips a year and I cover the area from Victoria B.C., to Prince Edward Island.
“The dealers know I’m doing it for more than just frequent flier miles,” he added. “I can sell them guitars over the phone, but this is a way of showing dealer support. The dealers know we’re behind them and they get a little bit more behind that product. When [the dealer] is enthusiastic about it, the product is going to move and he’s going to order more from me. It’s a vicious, evil cycle that works.”
Perhaps the MIAC show is even more vital to a company like DR Handmade Strings. According to DR’s Anthony Corona, the business doesn’t work with a distributor, so face-to-face networking is very important. Corona says the sales volume for Canada increased 50 percent after the company’s first appearance at the MIAC Trade Show three years ago. “We’ve found that Canadian dealers seem to prefer that we go to them directly. They like the interaction with the manufacturers themselves,” he said. “Questions get answered and they can also do special orders for items not normally in our catalog. In our case, we can put together a custom set of guitar or bass strings for them. It gives them that little bit of extra service.”
But perhaps Ron Larcombe knows best how the MIAC Trade Show affects the Canadian music industry. After nine years as MIAC president and chairman of the board, Larcombe is moving on. “This is our show, this is it,” he says. “The show was fairly strong back in the heydays of the early ‘80s and like everything else, had a near-death experience in the early ‘90s. But we’ve rebuilt it very differently in the last five years. One of the greatest compliments we had was a couple of years ago when someone said, ‘No offense, but now it’s a real show and there’s real energy.’
“The biggest challenge for us is for people who are in this business to care and treat it like their business and it’s everything. They’ve got to come here and they’ve got to see their partners. They’ve got to do it.”
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