Avid says No to NAB 2008

[Angus Mackay]

Hi Paul,

I far from being an Avid fanboy, and I’m certainly no appologist. But they have recently sold one of the biggest Unity systems in the world (apparently!!) into Beeb Scotlands much heralded new base at Pacific Quay in Glasgow.

Broadly though, I agree with you. I don’t believe customers will be willing to wear the restictive nature of avid product for much longer; certainly not in the numbers that they have been. They’re very vulnerable to a robust, professional and open PC based editor – If Autodesk hadn’t lacked the bottle and/or foresight to persevere with Edit*, they’d probably be far worse of than they are. In fact they might have been toast already.

Having said that, it’s a mugs game writing of Avid

laters

Angus

[Dmods]

I’m totally a person who believes rethinking and constantly evaluating your return on investment is a critical piece to running a successful business. And I totally understand “skipping” IBC and some of the smaller international exhibitions. However, we are talking about one of the largest trade shows on earth where product visibility is a key ingredient to “buzz” when you consider the internationl audience of NAB. And don’t forget that this includes the international press.

The demise of trade shows (especially NAB) has been predicted for over a decade, and yet we are closing in on the pre 911 attendance numbers. The fact of the matter is, NAB is the umbrella that has upwards of 10 mini-conferences and an exhibition. If anything the NAB show is more relevant as the show is not just about broadcasters anymore. And while Avid may save a few hundred thousand not having the floor booth, they will most likely still spend plenty on the other involvement.

While I found my visit to Avid’s booth last year very unimpressive (did like the script sync), in the past, when a new product was introduced, this was my best chance to look at the hardware and ask questions and compare other products on the floor. “We can do four streams…” Run over to Apple, “It depends…” Anyway, I spend the entire week and so often I come across questions I need answered due to new products (affecting workflows, etc.) and want to discuss how my current system will integrate – and this can occur over the entire four days as you consider budgets, partnerships, etc.
What’s more efficient – waiting for a June local visit from Avid and then an October visit from another vendor to see if things will work together or one stop shopping?

While Avid will be at NAB. What will this look like? Will it be hard to get into sessions, parties, or will I have to be an ACSR? My point is, questions that need answering aren’t going to go away – new products or not. And I truely hope Avid’s strategy to have a presence at NAB is as inclusive as having a floor exhibit and not such a challenge that I have to hope I get “tickets” to some event so I can hear a marketing speech and not get my questions answered.

[Ron Lindeboom]

While I agree in principle with much of what you are saying and agree with you and guys like Walter Biscardi that other tradeshows are far less important than NAB, I don’t think that the future will be hostage to the buzz created on a showfloor in Las Vegas.

I always tell Kathlyn, Tim and others close to the COW that as big as the COW is, it is but a pittance of the users who use this technology. The same is true for NAB, Comdex, and even PC World, Macworld, or any other tradeshow/expo that is at the forefront of its industry.

Oh, tradeshows and magazines that report on them would like you to believe that they are critical to your success as a manufacturer/developer/publisher — but the truth is, the word will get around without them and some of the smartest and most informed people I know haven’t been to a tradeshow in years. Does that make them ignorant because they haven’t been informed by the show’s titillating presentations? Hardly. Being informed is far easier today in the days of the internet.

As far as “predicting the demise of tradeshows” goes, I think it’s pretty safe to say that it’s a safe bet. Most are already gone, the few that remain are running aground and only the industry front-runner in any category has a semblance of health about it.

But as the manufacturer who started this thread stated, they are looking hard at their returns from their expense. As the other shows fall away, NAB keeps jacking up its prices to the companies to be there. They probably think that they can as they are the only game in town. But the fact is, manufacturers are wising up — and they are — that the world is different than it was decades ago when the tradeshow model came along.

Information is far easier to get than it was in the past. I asked a MAJOR supplier in this industry that many of you know and have probably talked to, when was the last time he surprised anyone with his information on the show floor at NAB. He thought for a second and said that it was at least five years ago.

People go to NAB because it’s fun and it makes some things more convenient. They do not go because it’s necessary.

That is the knowledge that will keep eroding NAB and other shows and you can say it isn’t happening but it most certainly is…

[Ron Lindeboom]

I just looked at my map and sure enough, just like I thought, Europe is much bigger than just those islands on the left of it.

The BBC is in a unique position in that it is subsidized to a level that PBS and others can only dream of. They have research and other support resources that are inherent in the company that other major broadcasters — even the largest commercial broadcasters here in America — would likely kill to have.

But again, Europe is a pretty big place.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom
creativecow.net
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[Dmods]

Great point regarding necessity. And I definitely understand the serious costs to attend and exhibit – especially when it is a constantly inflated price – and takes most exhibitors longer in their fiscal year to recover the costs. Real value or not, 100,000+ attendees perceive some value. And perception has a way of becoming a frightful reality. You may be right about the full demise of trade shows, my point is I’ve heard people predict the demise for over a decade – and they had help with 911 and a bad economy, yet they still go on. A main cause is the inclusion of mini-conferences under the umbrella of NAB that keeps people interested. So maybe the need for exhibition is less, but the point of a larger conference seems to be still relevant.

[Randall Raymond]

‘Conspicuous absence’ keeps a lot of big players from dropping out of trade shows. They don’t want to provide grist for the rumor mill, so they hang on. I would not doubt that the decision to do NAB has been argued each of the last few years in Avid’s conference rooms. This year the axe fell – next year it may not – if they come back, they will come back with an improved product.

There must be some soul-searching going on there and where a 141 million dollar budget for ‘research’ went to last year…

Wouldn’t the first dollar spent on ‘research’ have told them that they need to listen to their customers, when the perception found everywhere is that they don’t? That left $140,999,999.00 to fix it.

Now they say they are listening – why did it take the brick wall (they have run into) to make that happen?

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Dmods] “…a larger conference seems to be still relevant.”

I couldn’t agree with this, more. Conferences have their place and many users get real value from them. I think conferences will long outlive expos.

But hey, that’s just my opinion.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom
creativecow.net
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[Rennie Klymyk]

Sorry Ron, I hadn’t meant to infer you had meant nab is dead but after reading many of the comments ie:” I believe that over the next few years, these shows will become less and less important and their attendees and exhibitors will dwindle.” it sounded like doom and gloom for nab.
It spurned me to check the attendance records and they seem as healthy as ever so I just wanted to make a point before too many people decided nab was not worth going to anymore.

Some times my sense of humor takes over as with my heading NAB IS DEAD. I was using it as a newspaper cartoonist would use a humorous drawing to make a point in favor of nab. My intention was not to put words in yours or anyone else’s mouth but merely to invoke some positive thought to all potential nab supporters. I apologize if it came off any other way.

I for one look forward to attending more nab conventions in the future and find them valuable. I live in a city with NO (ZERO) professional equipment dealers with the closest ones being 5 hours and a $100.00 ferry ride away. I find I’m often steered away from what I initially inquired about in favor of the brand of choice (of the dealer) when I call these distance dealers. At nab, attendees can get hands on exposure and fair representation of just about any product or brand.

NAB is much more than an annual convention with roots deeply implanted into the commercial video world. As someone who has run a small not for profit convention on a break even basis it is easy to see the enormous potential for profit of a convention the size of NAB. (the city of Las Vegas should pay them to rent the convention centers and hold the event there!) Profits from the convention must offset many of the other arms of the organization. Perhaps it’s time to scale this offset back to make it more affordable for attendees and trades exhibitors alike to remain a part of the convention.

[Andy Stinton]

Call me insane! I have always thought that Avid has an air of arrogance, much the same as Media 100 used to have..

Perhaps they are sitting on their thousands of unsold Xpress Pro boxes and saying “Let the huddled masses of NAB eat cake , but they will do so without us . This is our final cut”

It’s a colorful explanation if nothing else.

[Ron Lindeboom]

Thanks for the clarification, Rennie.

Like you, I live in a nowhere town hours from anywhere. We are halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco and it seems that our area, like yours, is out of the flow of this industry.

But as I said somewhere else, NAB is great because it’s a party — not because it’s necessary.

That my opinion.

I don’t argue that NAB *posts* that they get large numbers. But there is only one event that posts audited numbers and that is DV Expo. NAB posts the number of people that sign up. But there are far fewer that actually show up.

Many that work the booths joke during breaks, etc., that we see the same people going back and forth for days. And it’s true for those that work the COW booth as our business is people and so we are looking at them, not at a computer screen.

I’d guess that NAB’s *real* floor numbers are somewhere between 40,000 to 60,000. Still a huge number but without any kind of third party verification, it’s hard to say what’s really going on.

That’s why we love Alexa.com, Compete.com, TrafficEstimate.com and Google Analytics. Between them, we can prove that we have five-times the traffic every month of the year that NAB has at its peak.

I am NOT saying that we are more important than NAB and I do not believe that for a moment. What I *am* saying is that the market is changing and as sites like CreativeCOW.net continue to grow, traditional venues that people went to for information — like magazines and expos — become less and less important and it is why they struggle.

As Tim and I like to say, we aren’t chasing news in the Creative COW Magazine. Why? These forums do a far better job ferrting out press releases, reviews and other traditional fodder of dead tree-based journalism than we ever could. So we look for the deeper stories, more broad-scoped analysis and commentary on things that really matter in the long run — this, as tools change all the time but over-riding principles usually don’t.

It’s why the COW Magazine is growing faster than we can add people to our database. We have budgeted monies to keep the magazine in the black and so we only add just so many with each issue. Most all of our competitors would love to be in that position. But they aren’t. Why? They are all chasing the same news and reviews and have the same hunks of plastic on their covers every month.

Times are not only a’ changin’, but so is the market and since writing this article here at the COW, I have been written by people at most all the major networks who have said that they loved reading it.

Our membership sign ups are three-times normal and we had the biggest sign-up day in our history yesterday.

While there are indeed a lot of people that love going to NAB, the truth is, there are many who have been in this industry for decades who never want to walk its hallowed halls again, it seems.

More and more of the people we met at NAB over the last few years are newer users who are just starting out. The old guard that we used to meet and talk with is fading out and tell me that they love sites like the COW just because it helps them keep up with things without being obligated to travel anymore.

For those who love to travel, god bless ’em, me says. ;o)

But I can too understand those who say that they’ll just take the information please, without all the sensory overload, thank you.

Again, that is just my opinion and I am not asking you or anyone else to agree with me.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom
creativecow.net
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