Trade praises MI Retail Conference & Expo

The inaugural MI Retail Conference & Expo in association with Musikmesse took place in London yesterday (June 29th) and has been declared a success by dealers, suppliers and the MIA.

Over 300 delegates, including around 200 dealers and representatives from 22 Event Partners gathered at The Brewery for a new type of trade event, aimed specifically at retailers.

Here’s a selection of the immediate feedback:

“Quite simply, it’s the best show we’ve ever done. Best for the quantity of 
quality contacts and the best decision we’ve made as a business this year. 
I’ll tell you how good it was – the only thing wrong for us is the 
difficulty of parking with our van. When that’s the only complaint you have,
you know it’s good.”
Neil Clayton, sales and marketing manager, Monacor.

"Congratulations for putting on an extremely professional, well organised trade event. The right people were invited and there was an excellent choice of trade dealers and key decision makers. The stand and space was perfect and the business from this one afternoon will flourish over the next six to twelve months."
Chris Statham, managing director, Mel Bay

“We opened plenty of new accounts and it was great to talk to dealers we never normally would.”
Tony Gravel, division manager, Tascam.

“It has been very successful and far busier than I thought it would be. I didn’t expect everyone to make the effort, but it’s great that they have.”
Steve Greenwood, marketing manager, Marshall Amplification.

“It’s a great location, a really good spread of people and I really like the 
small, intimate environment.”
Alex Mew, marketing manager, Barnes & Mullins.

“It was a good afternoon and we had plenty of new products on show. It is a forum that needed a voice and retailers need to meet up more like this. It’s a good location and the atmosphere was nice and relaxed.”
James Owens, sales director, Line 6.

“Having a checklist of dealers was really handy because you can tick off who you have and haven’t seen. There’s been a lot of enthusiasm from dealers and it’s been nice to meet some old friends too.”
Simon Turnbull, managing director, D’Addario UK.

“The launches of the Centres of Excellence and Summer School schemes went really well for us and it was great that we went over our target. The customer client base has been excellent. Plenty of people have come, which is very promising for the industry.”
Harvey Roberts, senior marketing manager, Audio-Technica.

"MI Pro put on successful, professional and well attended event for the retailers. These are challenging times and it was clear that the industry appreciated the opportunity to gather, learn and exchange views and ideas."
Paul McManus, MIA chief executive

“I’m very excited about this – it’s been very good and very interesting. For me, the best thing was the talk of growing the market. Being here with the other dealers means we can all learn something. Really great.”
Simon Pollard, Musicroom.

“Well done. We’ve been in need of something like this for years.”
Cliff Williams, Sharon Music.

Details of the 2011 MI Retail Conference & Expo will be announced shortly. A full report on this year’s event will be published in the August issue of MI Pro.

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