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Is NAB relevant anymore?
Last year’s NAB left a bad taste in my mouth. Incredibly expensive accomodations and meals, and I didn’t come away with anything I couldn’t have discovered online.
I’d always enjoyed attending NAB in year’s past, but Las Vegas left me feeling like there was always a hand in my pocket and at the end of my two days there I just didn’t see the value proposition anymore.
I do miss seeing old friends, but not at the cost of $1000 plus for two and a half days (including air fare from Seattle). I can (almost) buy a new 30″ Dell display for that.
Anyone else not attending NAB this year that would have attended in year’s past?
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15 Replies
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Since Apple and Avid pulled out Hotels have been dropping their rates. You might want to check again. This year might be cheaper than last year. But yes, Vegas is expensive. But so is Seattle. 🙂
Michael Horton
lafcpug
https://www.lafcpug.org -
Yeah, Las Vegas Hotels rates are dropping faster then home prices in Los Angeles…
I have a suite at the Palms Place for $195 a night, for Saturday through Monday night…
They still have some good deals at the NAB website, on their housing website:
https://www.nabshow.com/2008/attendee/hotel.aspPersonally, I still think it’s worth it. I would much rather do business with someone face to face then through emails and a website.
moody glasgow
smoke artist / editor -
People who are in the broadcast gear market will still be there obviously, but the plethora of peripherally broadcast-related companies (that make multimedia and other gear and software) will be bowing out due to the sheer economics.
I spoke with some of my friends with another of the other Big A Name companies this week who told me that this year they are scaling back their presence at NAB — again — and that they are now talking about not coming back next year at all. We’ll see.
As I said somewhere else, I expect to see NAB end up like SIGGRAPH — which was once huge and many times its present size and scope — in the next three years, eventually ending up with just one large hall (two at the very most) within that time.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
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Thanks for the posts.
I used to go to Siggraph and NAB every year, then quit going to Siggraph when it got to be mostly students looking for jobs.
That said, I’ve not been to Siggraph in about 5 years, and will probably go to Siggraph over NAB this year. I’m pretty set on camera gear and other hardware. I do have some 3D and compositing app questions and Siggraph might be the better venue.
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I think it matters what your reason is for going, last year we had no reason to go because we weren’t purchasing anything. This year we are more than likely going since we are about to upgrade our studio. It’s nice to look at in person all the different cameras and test to see if they are worth what they boast about on their websites. Websites can be bloated with there own opinions and it’s hard to get a review on cameras that do more than DV and HDV.
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It is still worth walking the aisles to see old friends and catch new tech trends that have yet to make it into print or the web. Social networking brings me the BIZ news faster than than broadband. And you can get good deals if you are willing to buy “show specials”.
For the past few years my NAB plan has been to fly in to Vegas early in the morning for one full day of exhibit hall visits and fly back late that evening after one or two after closing time events. Airfare from most cities is pretty cheap for Las Vegas, a fraction of even a one night stay anywhere on the strip during a convention. I used to get the super cheap “Funjet” hotel/flight packages for gamblers from Southwest for the entire week before they wised up and blacked out the NAB days.
As for SIGGRAPH, I used to go every year and take lots of courses but I’ve scaled back there as well, doing the one day commando raid style visit every other year or so – west coast only. Know anyone who wants to buy my copy of the 1981 conference proceedings?
Bruce N. Goren
“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”
John Wooden, Basketball Coach -
[Bruce N. Goren] “It is still worth walking the aisles to see old friends and catch new tech trends that have yet to make it into print or the web. Social networking brings me the BIZ news faster than than broadband. And you can get good deals if you are willing to buy “show specials”.”
NAB *may* get some things before print but before broadband? Hardly. There are very few things that make it to NAB before being announced on the web — an exception is news like the Apple event. But nearly every other manufacturer on the floor has already announced their news before before getting there.
Social networking is *best* articulated as a web phenomenon, not as a tradeshow floor phenomenon.
Show specials? It has been years since anyone I know of had any real show specials. Some of the very small companies do but even they are a small minority of the total on the floor. Show specials used to be a BIG part of NAB about 7 years or so ago. But that trend stopped and the exceptions are rare.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
Join the COW’s LinkedIn Group
Now in the COW Magazine: Commercials. A look at the history, strategy, techniques and production workflows of successful commercials. All brought to you by some of the COW’s brightest members. Accept no substitutes!Would you like to be in Creative COW Magazine with your story or contribution? Contact me.
Do you have your complimentary subscription to Creative COW Magazine yet?
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[Ron Lindeboom] “Social networking is *best* articulated as a web phenomenon, not as a tradeshow floor phenomenon”
To be even more specific, the term “social networking” was INVENTED to describe what’s happening on the web — not just forums and blogs, but LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster and on and on.
Here’s Wikipedia: “A social network service uses software to build online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others.”
Great stuff there, including which social networks are most popular in different parts of the world, and software to create your own. (The COW is custom-built, one reason why it’s so successful.)
The Wikipedia article is also detailed on the history of social networks, and the range of their uses.
Note that there’s no need to add the word “online” to social networks. Again, this term was invented to decribe what’s happening online. No need to clarify any further.
[Ron Lindeboom] “Show specials? It has been years since anyone I know of had any real show specials.”
The reason why is simple — there are too few people who attend shows, including NAB, especially for companies with a global audience. Apple and Avid are great examples, but it’s true for pretty much everyone. I’ve worked for a number of NAB vendors, most recently Avid, before that Boris FX and others. Those prices were available all over the world, through every possible sales platform…and not just for NAB, by any means.
You can even find specials at retailers who carry many products, who often add ADDITIONAL specials by combining them across products from multiple vendors.
In other words, you get the best deals by NOT attending the show themselves.
[Ron Lindeboom] “an exception is news like the Apple event.”
That said, Apple is already on the road. They’ve saved a goody or two, but seriously, how long do you think you’ll have to wait for the news? It often hits the wires just before the even begins. Certainly true for both Apple and Avid.
Speaking of whom, Avid was another company that had the “magic curtain” rise on NAB. This year, they’ve made their major announcements — in our market, the new pricing and strategy for Media Composer — and they too are already on the road showing their new news.
Expect these trends to continue, and accelerate.
Timmy
Tim Wilson, Creative Cow
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I guess the main reason I go is to have fun. Yeah F-U-N. Vegas is still fun for me. I enjoy meeting people. I enjoy going to the sponsored parties. I love to pepper sales people with questions, to see if they can give me the correct answer.
One year, Avid sponsored the AICE party, and they filled the room with their people. It turned into a game to see how long a sales person could last before they “suddenly” saw some long lost friend on the other side of the room.
Yeah, you won’t find any exclusive deals, or get the scoop on some announcement. But, that’s not why I go, or anyone else I know’s goes. It really is about having FUN and meeting old friends and making new ones.moody glasgow
smoke artist / editor -
At last, someone has given a VALID reason — one that can and does pass the acid test. Figures it’d be a Scotsman.
;o)
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
The erstwhile Dutchman
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