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COW Articles: NAB Apple Bows Out of NAB 2008
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[Michael Belanger] “Is there a chance Apple may do an about face? In your article Ron you mentioned not much flack from users. Any place we can go and tell them that we are not pleased??”
I doubt that they’ll be back. The Pro Apps Team really did lobby hard for the company not to pull from the show and they really wanted to go but in the end, NAB’s never-ending parade of price increases came back to bite them this year — hard. Apple’s $15 million will not be showing up and that has to hurt NAB and the Las Vegas businesses who also can’t seem to resist raising rates every year, even though businesses and Average Joes are being especially hard pressed this year. Avid likely spends equally as much and so with the two of them gone, that has to put a big crunch on NAB’s wallet. It will also easily translate into fewer people going to NAB in 2008. Still, they are demanding healthy rate increases and things that sold for far less last year, have much higher costs for the same thing this year.
This year, I think is going to be a pivotal year for NAB and I think that 2009 is going to find a humbler NAB with hat in hand, trying hard to win back their lost love. Who knows if either of the Two Big As will be back. I doubt they will. And from there, I think that the event is doomed to decline in size and scope and eventually return to its pre-multimedia persona as an event for broadcasters — after all, that is what it is supposed to be, isn’t it?
But as I said somewhere else in this thread, someone has to pay for those trophies they give at the dinners they hold, and so maybe their rate increases and endless fees are not really all that out of line after all.
;o)
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
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I wasn’t referring to this thread, Randall. Why I said three months is due to your general manner in our forums. You are especially tepid in this thread, probably due to the way that some of your recent insults with people got you slapped down by me and others.
But I must commend you most sincerely, and I do mean that, as you have become much more balanced and respectful — especially in this thread.
I will be quite up front with you, Randall. I hate NAB. As I said somewhere else in this thread, I have repeatedly had them screw around with my contracts, leave important things off of them that were clearly agreed to, had wrong booth number assignments made (after negotiating specific booths and then seeing them not end up on the contract), ad nauseum.
To be even more brutally honest with you, I like them so little that I refused their advertising this year in Creative COW Magazine and told them that we would not accept it. We wanted to send them a message as they can’t treat people the way they do. They are bullies in my opinion and they think that they can do whatever they wish. Me, I disagree and I am one stubborn man that you don’t want to screw with — especially in a war of principle.
I applaud both Apple and Avid and I will cheer the next round of defectors, as well.
As I said, the only thing I am sorry about in any of this is that I won’t get to see my friends this year. That was the part of NAB that I loved. The technology I can learn about in a myriad of places and I hardly think that I can only get accurate answers from those manning the booths at NAB.
Just as in life in general, you learn who to listen to and which voices you won’t. I choose my friends with care and my counselors with even more care.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
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[Ron Lindeboom] “Wow, I think it may be time for me and Kathlyn to just pull the plug on this turd and not bother with this anymore. If the COW is just noise, then I for one think it’s outlived its usefulness and it is clearly time to put my energy into something more useful.”
Oh, don’t talk like that! You’ve done a great thing. What’s gotten into you?
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[walter biscardi] “I’ve seen way too many threads in the Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Color, AJA Kona, BlackMagic that have completely false or inaccurate information. Someone corrects that information only to have it shot down again by someone else or the original person.”
Walter,
Sure that does happen from time to time, there’s no doubt about it, and no one is immune, even Cow leaders give out bad info every once in while. However, I’d have to agree with Ron and say that NAB can be even more of a minefield of misinformation.
All too often the booths at NAB are manned by people only newly acquainted with the latest versions of the products they are demonstrating. The odds of a “power user” actually landing someone with useful knowledge is often marginal at best. Sure, that can be minimized by seeking out the top guns and by prudent appointment setting, but that can be more difficult at NAB than anywhere else on the planet.
My uptake is much greater than what NAB can typically provide. Plus, the noise factor alone makes the transfer of any real information incredibly difficult. To me, NAB is more frustrating than anything else, and between the Cow and other channels of communication, I feel I can get better information and more of it in a much shorter time than I ever could doing at NAB, and isn’t that really the point?
Yes, I do miss meeting people there, but…
David
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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I guess the big question I have is the lead time issue. Wouldn’t Avid and Apple have put the space on hold and paid up last year. It should take about 6 months for them to create booths and staging not to mention training. For them to cancel 90 days out is pretty strange … they basically already made the financial committment and probably already spent money. Not sure how much they could save. They must have put down some sort of deposit to hold a space that big. This all doesn’t make that much sense for them to pull out this late. Now if they don’t book for next year that’s another thing all together. \
Anyways… it will be a much calmer and less exciting NAB. As for NAB being for broadcasters only… not sure I have seen that …. maybe it will return to the more standard playersBest
Mike Belanger
Dandelion Editing
http://www.dandelionediting.com -
[Michael Belanger] “Wouldn’t Avid and Apple have put the space on hold and paid up last year.”
They can cancel within a certain time period and do so with specified penalties based on when they cancel. So yes, they likely paid penalties but far less than the cost of attending the show. At a certain point, they decided that the returns just weren’t there.
These are not stupid companies and they have incredible marketing departments and outside trend analysis and user survey organizations that they each work with, so they did not base their decisions on whim and caprice. These were hwithout a doubt deliberated financial decisions.
But with the staggering yearly increases in costs to attend NAB as an exhibitor, these companies decided it just didn’t make sense any longer.
Me, I hope that NAB is getting the message that they can’t keep doing this to companies anymore — especially when they tout their pre-show sign-up numbers and I can’t recall ever seeing the actual floor attendance “they really showed up” numbers.
[Michael Belanger] “Not sure how much they could save. They must have put down some sort of deposit to hold a space that big.”
Quite enough that they thought that it was worth it. The deposit, fees and penalties were likely a small part of the real costs involved with really showing up.
Avid got off lighter, I am sure, as they canceled far enough out that their penalties would likely be less than Apple’s. But in both cases I doubt that their penalties were anywhere near the total costs of actually being at the show.
[Michael Belanger] “…it will be a much calmer and less exciting NAB.”
This is one of the inherent things that NAB has to get hold of: the companies make NAB what it is, not NAB itself. It is but a handful of attendees that attend the NAB functions. The conferences are done by contract with other outside training companies, they are just “in association” with NAB. The floor traffic is there to see the products and the vendors. There are few who hang out at the NAB entry booths.
Without the companies and products, NAB will not only be less exciting but will likely attract far fewer people.
With far fewer people, fewer companies will want to attend next year’s gathering.
And the spiral becomes an increasingly repetitive pattern as the years go on.
That’s how I see it, and others are free to disagree with that prediction.
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] “Wow, I think it may be time for me and Kathlyn to just pull the plug on this turd and not bother with this anymore. If the COW is just noise, then I for one think it’s outlived its usefulness and it is clearly time to put my energy into something more useful.
Nothing lasts forever.”
Never implied that. In my opinion there’s no better place on the internet for professionals to get information and share ideas. This is proven week in and week out.
There is also no better place to market yourself on a week to week basis either. I can trace the majority of the growth of my company to my association with the Cow. As a networking source there is no better place than the Creative Cow.
I’m just saying there is a wonderful thing about that face to face communication with folks that we do miss even on this website. Now if NAB is simply not worth the money that folks are having to pour in to the show, well that’s another story. There was recently an article in MSNBC.com about CES looking to pull out of las vegas due to the high costs for both the attendees and the exhibitors. Now THAT is a something that I would totally understand and support.
Obviously we all understand that getting and supporting a booth at a show like NAB is going to be an expensive proposition. Perhaps the show has just gotten too expensive these days even for large companies like Avid and Apple to justify. Perhaps you’re right, maybe NAB just need to shrink back to it’s original intent of the heavy iron companies. I attended NAB back in 1990 when it was right here in Atlanta. Just one show floor and all heavy iron to work in broadcast.
I just really took offense to Tim lumping all folks on the Show Floor as not knowing what they are talking about and not being able to get any useful information on the show floor. Especially when I work alongside other Cow leaders like Shane Ross, Jerry Hofmann to name a few.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow! -
Having been a long time attendee I can honestly say that Apple has made a huge impact on the “NAB feel”, once was stiff and sterile and with the likes of Apple alot more geeky but fun geeky folks. I guess the folks at Adobe will have to fill in the gap… assuming of course they show up this year.
I can honestly say the events and buzz at the events has never been better than the past two years . Last year apple sponsored alot of the FCP user group meeting from the L.A. folks and even solicited ideas on what we, the users, would like to be enhanced on the program. In some way, their absence is saying they no longer value those insights or at least don’t feel that is an important take away as we were lead to believe.I was aware that NAB folks were doing some price “adjustments” ie huge increases but I am very shocked they were far more than Apple and Avid fealt was beyond their ouch point.
Well… as I indicated earlier… I guess my lineup at the Red won’t be as bad… well… maybe worse… assuming they show up this year.
Best
Mike B -
[walter biscardi] “I just really took offense to Tim lumping all folks on the Show Floor as not knowing what they are talking about and not being able to get any useful information on the show floor. Especially when I work alongside other Cow leaders like Shane Ross, Jerry Hofmann to name a few.”
As you may have noted from my earlier comment, Walter, I have my opinions just as Tim Wilson has his. While we most times agree with each others opinions, we do not always do so and each of us is a different individual.
Tim is mellower than me on most occasions, but sometimes he’s not.
:o)
Thanks for the heads up on the CES story at MSNBC, I was unaware of that aspect of the issue. Thanks for giving me a new drum to add to the set. ;o)
Have fun, Walter.
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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[Randall Raymond] “Million dollar suites down to Yugo prices and doing more. That’s why you went. So the dust has settled – maybe the revolution is over, maybe not – but I hope you are not blaming the NAB for providing the venue, are you?”
Back then, there was only one way to see everything in one place and that was NAB. Now, with high speed Internet, you can do everything but actually touch the goods. And remember, we’re men (at least some of us are) and we need to touch things. A few years ago, when we were remodeling our kitchen, we went shopping for the usual stuff, cabinets, a big honkin’ sink and granite countertops. Afterward, when showing off the new kitchen, the wife told someone that I had to fondle everything. I couldn’t buy a nail (or get married) without touching it first Well, she’s right. Men are touchers and women can window shop.
I love to feel finished, processed aluminum, the protein coating on lenses, the rough, black paint on barndoors, cables and connectors, steadicams, monitors, switcher levers, everything! Except lightbulbs, that is.
Touch, touch, touch.
Feel, feel ,feel.
Buy, buy, buy.Touch me, feel me. Buy me.
And they know it.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1.
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