Nashville Is Great, and 4 Other Lessons from Conclave

a subject that certainly warrants a more in-depth article in the future, but one quick takeaway is that employees often neglect to ask the key question when a customer brings in a piece of jewelry for appraisal, which is: What is the purpose of the appraisal?

The appraiser needs to know what the piece is being appraised for—estate, probate, divorce, immediate resale, etc.—in order to do a proper evaluation, but employees often fail to collect this information.

One jeweler in attendance shared a practice that other attendees seemed interested in adopting. He said he developed a form that contains check boxes for a couple of the most common reasons for getting an appraisal, like insurance, and then has an “Other” box with a few lines under it. Employees can check “other” and then write out the “why” of the appraisal.

4. There are misconceptions about photo rights and Instagram.

One of the last sessions I attended was Sara Yood’s on copyright, trademark and patent law. Yood is the senior counsel at the Jewelers Vigilance Committee. I’ll also be writing more extensively about this session later but wanted to share one lesson right now.

Toward the end of the presentation, Yood covered the right of publicity, which is the right of an individual to control the commercial use (meaning in advertising, marketing, etc., not in the news) of her or his name, image and likeness.

What this means is that you can’t use an image of a celebrity wearing your jewelry without her or his permission. What’s more, if the image was taken by a photo agency, like Getty, then you have to license the photo from that agency.

A jewelry designer in the audience asked: Don’t people give up that right when they post their image on Instagram?

No, said Yood, an individual is not releasing her or his rights when they share a picture on the social media site. You cannot take an image and use it without permission just because it was on Instagram.

5. I will return to Nashville.

Conclave marked my first trip to Music City. I lived not too far—in Atlanta—from 2000 to 2007, but I don’t remember there being quite the buzz about Nashville then as there is now.

On Tuesday night, a group of companies sponsored a concert at 3rd and Lindsley featuring The Time Jumpers, a country music supergroup with a rotating cast that currently includes Vince Gill.

I’m not a country music or a Vince Gill fan, but live music is one of my passions and seeing such a talented group of musicians together was a treat. The Time Jumpers were fantastic. For anybody who wants to check them out, go to 3rd and Lindsley on a Monday night. 

Afterward, I headed out to Broadway (Nashville’s equivalent of Bourbon Street in New Orleans or, perhaps a better comparison, Beale Street in Memphis) with a colleague to hear a little more, and we didn’t even know where to start. There was good live music pouring out of every bar, and it was just a Tuesday night.

Earlier in the week, I took a walk and passed a few cute shops, the famous Ryman Auditorium, which was home to the Grand Ole Opry until the mid-‘70s, and a spot where they were giving trolley tours of Nashville. I am putting all of these on my to-do list for a return trip.

Have a great weekend, y’all.