kenny@kennycroes.com
Given Gibson's unfortunate history with Opcode, it is indeed worrisome that they've given so little thought or attention to Sonar at the show. I certainly hope this isn't a precursor to letting Cakewalk go the way of Opcode.

This is an unbelievable s--t--r--e--t--c--h.  Putting aside the NAMM booth, there is absolutely nothing in Gibson's behavior towards Sonar in the past year that would support your statement.  In fact, I'd say the opposite was true.

Perhaps not being there reflects the reality of software vs hardware. I can see the value of looking at and touching a guitar, synth, mixer etc. but software? Probably better to have demos. I would assume that most sales for software are on line now.

With Social Media... and the immediacy of modern Internet based marketing... the impact of trade-shows has been diminished.
 
Sweetwater's Gearfest is a well attended... well run event that IMO rivals NAMM.
There were excellent presentations in the lecture halls... (including Craig's)
But most of the booths were kinda dead (including Gibson, Fender, etc).

Actually... I didn't realize how much NAMM charged the vendors.
 
If they are charging $5000 for a little cubby then I'm assuming a proper area is going to be quite a bit more... and that would not include all the other expenses incurred.
 
So to have a proper presence having to spend 1/4 - 1/2 the yearly salary of a full time employee (who could be coding instead) just to get on the floor is pretty obnoxious for a smallish company to pay. When worked booths at such shows we'd drop maybe a few hundred bucks for the weekend AND we made it back and more because we were actually selling stuff from the booth (as well as promoting other events and the shop).
 
Even that wasn't totally worth it sometimes.
 
So who runs NAMM? This seems like someone(s) is gouging for extra profit instead of it being the industry just getting together to co-mingle, promote and learn (with some sort of pro organizer and the convention center making a reasonable profit for their part but not deterring actual industry entities from participating).
 
The vendors are the damned "pull". If they get excluded due to exorbitant fees then it deteriorates the quality of the event.
 
Then you are only left with the McDonald's and Pizza Huts of the industry and everyone already knows about them and what they serve up.

In response to the OP. This was the same experience I had at Summer 'NAMM 2015 in Nashville. Gibson totally overshadowed Cakewalk, IMHO. If you didn't know better, you'd think Sonar was used to demo the Gibson Audio monitors, yes. Sonar was merely incidental, not even a gemstone in the booth. This is sad to hear and deflating.

 
It'll be interesting to hear what Craig has to say on this subject, once he gets back.
 

FakeItTillUmakeIt
From my convention experience, I'd say that the Presonus footprint on the imgur link is about $5,000. Add flights and accomodations... I get it.

Image Line doesn't do NAMM anymore because of cost. Who goes anyway unless it is in your back yard.

I DO think this is unfortunate.  There is plenty of room in the Gibson area and I think it is important to do all they can to expand the reach of Sonar.  NAMM has always had a large consumer/prosumer audience... we all would get tickets and go... and as Sonar is such an amazing product these days, it would behoove the bakers to be there, lookin' good.
 
NAMM booths ARE very expensive.  I rented one long time ago and the whole thing sucked me dry.  However, Gibson already had the fairly large space and I wish Cake had gotten a bite of it.

After all the comments back and forth I have to wonder....   six months from now will it have mattered? 
 

Hi, just passing by.... The more I think about CW and Gibson... and reading this stuff...  
I'm thinking "WKRP" Tax write off.
 
TTFN