So, what did we learn?
Perhaps the clearest message from the survey was that networking matters.
When asked what they have valued most about attending industry events, 86% selected networking and developing relationships. Sharing challenges and solutions with peers came next at 50%, followed by feeling part of the wider music industry community at 46%.
Learning about industry trends was also high on the list, with 43% choosing it.
In other words, while good speakers and useful content are important, there’s something particularly valuable about getting people from across the industry into the same room.
That makes sense. MIA members work across very different parts of the musical instrument industry, and an event can be a rare opportunity to meet people outside the usual day-to-day network, swap ideas, compare experiences and perhaps make a useful connection or two.
The survey also gave us a pretty good idea of some of the barriers.
Among those who hadn’t attended an MIA event recently, the biggest issues were travel/location and content not feeling relevant enough, both selected by 50% of respondents. Time away from the business and the cost of attending were also factors, each at 28%.
Interestingly, nobody selected a preference for online learning or the length of events as a reason for not attending.
That suggests that the challenge isn’t necessarily that people don’t want to attend events – it’s about making sure that, when they do commit the time and travel, there’s a compelling enough reason to be there.
So… what should we actually talk about?
There was plenty of appetite for practical, current topics.
The future of music retail came out on top, selected by 58% of respondents, followed by consumer trends at 45% and AI and digital transformation at 43%.
There was also interest in regulations and compliance (35%), international trade and business strategy (both 28%), and marketing/social media (25%).
The additional suggestions were interesting too, including online sales, industry collaboration, and topics particularly relevant to smaller businesses, such as repairs, R&D and intellectual property.
So the message seems to be: give us useful insight into what’s changing, what’s coming next and what other businesses are doing about it.
And who do you want to hear from?
The answer wasn’t simply “people from our industry”.
The most popular option was actually experts from other industries, selected by 59% of respondents. That was closely followed by industry leaders from within musical instruments at 51%.
Government and policy representatives and retail innovators were also popular, both at 41%.
There was clearly an appetite for bringing in people with different perspectives – whether that’s someone doing something innovative in another sector, an entrepreneur with an interesting business story, a retail innovator or someone who can shed light on changes coming from government or regulation.
What might the event itself look like?
This was perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the survey, because there wasn’t one single format that everyone wanted.
We tested a few different ideas, including a social-focused gathering, a traditional conference, smaller specialist peer groups, an expo-style mini trade fair and an awards/formal dinner.
The traditional conference and specialist peer-group formats attracted particularly positive responses, while the social-focused and expo-style ideas also had plenty of support.
The awards/formal dinner was more polarising – some people liked the idea, while a sizeable proportion said it wasn’t for them.
And when we gave people the opportunity to describe their ideal event in their own words, there were some great suggestions.
A few people suggested combining a conference with a dinner or awards evening, while others liked the idea of a mini trade fair alongside speakers. There was interest in smaller, facilitated discussions, more focused peer groups and events that give members a genuine opportunity to meet prospective customers.
One respondent summed up the appeal of the smaller format particularly well, describing the opportunity to “go deeper into a more focused area”, network more meaningfully and problem-solve with peers.
Others simply said: a trade fair, a traditional conference, or a UK-specific version of NAMM NEXT.
So perhaps the answer isn’t one particular format at all — it could be about creating different types of events for different purposes.
When should we hold them?
This one was fairly clear!
Of the months offered, March was the most popular, followed by February, with October and November also attracting a reasonable amount of interest. December was considerably less popular (which makes sense)
As for days of the week, Thursday came out on top, followed by Wednesday and Tuesday.
And when it comes to time of day, there was a very strong preference for events during working hours, with late afternoon into evening also proving popular.
Breakfast events and evening-only events were much less popular.
How far are you prepared to travel?
Perhaps surprisingly, the answer was: quite a long way – for the right event.
44% of respondents said they would travel anywhere in the UK for the right event, while a further 33% would travel for 1–2 hours.
Only a small proportion wanted to stick to their local area.
London was the most widely accessible option, with 90% saying they would be prepared to travel there, followed by Birmingham at 74% and Manchester at 51%. Leeds was selected by 36%.
There were also some useful suggestions for other locations, including Bristol, Swindon, Southampton and Milton Keynes – with one respondent making the very sensible point that being close to a mainline train station matters.
And finally… how long is too long?
This one was probably the clearest result of all.
A half-day event was the most popular choice, selected by around 53% of respondents, with a full-day event also attracting significant support at around 39%.
Very few people wanted a short 1–2 hour networking event, and there was essentially no appetite for an overnight event.
So, perhaps the sweet spot is enough time to provide genuinely useful content and networking, without asking people to give up an entire day (or more) unless there’s a very good reason to do so.
So, what does all this tell us?
If we had to boil all the responses down into a few simple messages, we’d say:
Make it useful. Make it relevant. Make it worth the journey. And, above all, bring people together.
The results suggest that MIA members value events that give them something they can’t easily get sitting at their desks – whether that’s meeting other people in the industry, hearing a genuinely interesting perspective, getting practical advice, understanding what’s changing or having a good old-fashioned conversation with someone who understands the challenges of running a music business.
There’s clearly an appetite for a mixture of formats too. A conference, a smaller peer group, a trade-focused event or a social gathering could all have a place – provided there’s a clear reason to attend.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey. Your feedback gives us a much clearer picture of what you want from MIA events, and we’ll be taking all of this on board as we look at what our events programme could look like in the future.
