Hi guys,

I was just imagining how great this could be. How about organizing an annual GMC event... it could be held at a central european location with good connections for flights etc and there would be gigs from the teachers and master-classes etc...
It could be held over a weekend ... I think this is a great idea and even if its not viable to run now, maybe in the future it would be something to aim for ? It would give the members a sense of belonging and maybe open it up for non members as a kind of promotional angle for the site. It could be advertised in guitar magazines etc.

just an idea...
nick

also maybe you could invite various guitar related companies to sponsor it and have their guitar equipment on show

When GMC becomes a global music community, and it sure will imo, I'll be glad to come to such (formal) Event!

I think this is the most important point here. If we have some sponsors this project will works !!! So I wish this idea will be posible !!!!

We allready discussed something similar, but in order to really organize it properly Kris must do it at his hometown. I think it would be the best solution since he has best connections there. Of course I'm not talking about now, but in the future - I say why not? The site has already grown pretty much since the beginning, who says that it doesn't come out as a big Global Music Community one day. I'm looking forward to that!

Sounds awesome.

Not easy to organize but I'm sure it'll happen one day.

Yes, this has been a dream of ours for a while, but I think you brought a new twist with the Sponsorship idea - that could really help make it work by ensuring that instructors are helped with travel costs etc.

I for one would love to meet all of you guys and our awesome students in person!

That would be amazing. I really want to meet you guys in person! :-)

I think such an event would also be very beneficial for GMC. Many new possible students .
I know that if I were thinking about joining a guitar instruction website, I would go for the one that organizes things that big. It gives the website a lot more credibility.

Very true David - provided it was done well, and I'm sure GMC would do it very very well . A bit like the Carlsberg drinks ads on European TV - GMC, probably the best guitar site in the world does probably the best members' event .

I think also it could generate an awful lot of positive media attention for GMC worldwide.

Has anyone got experience in hosting and/or promoting similar events out of curiosity, since as Muris says maybe not easy to pull together and lots of things probably to consider? Closest I come are training courses and academic conferences.

That's an awesome idea, for sure not easy to be organized, but we could plan everything carefully and it doesn't have to happen next week, we could take all the time that we need to make it happen. Concerning possible sponsors, if we have something more concrete (date, place ect.) I could talk to Gibson, I am sure I could arrange something with them.

Amazing Idea! Count me in

That'd be a hit Marcus!!!

Mmm... Maybe we can search for a stand on the Musikmesse Frankfurt.

This would be awesome! Count me!

Sounds like an awesome idea to me

nice idea .hope some day we can organized .nothing so far ...

This is awesome idea and we discussed it earlier..It would be great to have it realized one day

+1 It is a nice idea!!

The idea is great, hopefully would be able to organize it sometimes

Yes this would be absolutely awesome...! This shouldn't be impossible.

Great Kris,glad you're with all of us on this.
Do you think it's time to slowly start with preparations right now?
I believe each of us can do at least something to make it happen one day,no matter when.

Absolutely agree with you Muris! :-)

Marcus Marcus Marcus!!

The Gibson guys are extremely cool, I have never worked with a better company (and never played better guitars ), so I am sure I could arrange something with them, I would just need some more detailed information to present them. But yeah, let's start collecting ideas and see what we can do then, would for sure be a cool event.

It would be great if we can participate in any big european music fairs, to have a stand with some computers connected for the visitors to see lessons on GMC, and possibly to have some instructors jamming there

I'll stickie this thread so it doesn't get lost - but I think we may want to start a specific thread (or several) to plan this.

Also meant to say that if necessary we might need a sub forum Kris?

The way I see it - it is not a matter of if we are going to do this, but when we are going to do it!

Not only would this be a blast - but it would be very beneficial to GMC (both community- and business-wise etc).

However - I recently "tried" to have a one week vacation, but it was impossible, I had to work all the time anyway. Preparing something like this is currently not doable.

If we give it a little time - I think the first step could be what Dejan suggested, to go through a music fair and thereby not having to administer it all by ourselves... And who knows maybe Marcus is onto something - having a sponsor (in other words trying to find common interests with a larger company) would definitely help for this kind of thing.

Keep the awesome ideas coming!

No need for rush here,absolutely not.

I would like to have a strategy on collecting sponsors.
Per example,iPod as great tool for playing backing tracks and jamming over.
Apple is large company and I hope GMC doesn't need
to advertise them a lot to get a deal.

Another cool stuff are plugins,like GuitarRig,Amplitube etc.
Most of young guitarist are using them instead of real amps and pedals.
I guess we can get few of them as sponsors as well.

As for guitar and amp companies,list is too huge.
Marcus has Gibson in plan tho.

So,we need one or few guys to eventually contact some of those companies in future.

All this is so exciting!

Some big music fair is a good direction for this idea to develop. There we can be visitors and work on the stand getting people to know the GMC and holding some organized clinics in T Shirt. It would definitely be a great promotion.

Music fair idea is best I think Can be a great promotion

I think this is a fabulous idea Nick!!

Now would we be talking about getting some kind of a booth at the fair? If so, we could take turns manning it in our TShirts and maybe organise a breakout event where we meet and greet and ealso explain to potential new members what GMC does - so a way of all meeting each other as well as looking for new members. We could give a special show price subscription as well!

The more we guys talk about it, the more it seems plausible! Very exiting!

yeah I remember when I worked for a famous london guitar school, they hired some scantily clad girls (very attractive!) and they hung around the stand approaching people and handing them flyers (it really worked believe me!) - we got to hang out with them afterwards .... ahhhhh those were the days....

Hahaha, nice idea
Well, I will talk to Gibson sometime next week and see if they are interested in something like that, and whoever has any deals or contacts to companies that might fit should do the same, like this we can get some feedback and make a list of sponsors that might be interested.

cool.... im endorsed by elixir strings and may have some exciting news from yamaha and carvin soon .... Plus I have quite a lot of connections with other companies that may be interested.

nick

So is Marcus L - maybe it would carry more weight if you approached Elixir together?

I agree, the more people involved, the better the promotion is.

Does anybody know on what type of music fair this idea would be plausible. What kind of shows and where are hold? I know only for Musikmesse Frankfurt..

good thinking andrew!

I also only know the Messe in Frankfurt, which would for sure be an option. And I also agree that if two endorsers approach Elixier chances should double, so good luck guys