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Opinions about Post|Production World classes
Hello all,
Since this will be my first trip to the NAB show, I wanted to pick your brains a bit about the Post|Production World conference. I spent a couple hours pouring through this forum and from what I’ve seen, you all recommended researching and creating a good NAB show game-plan, so I’m starting early! I just have some basic questions for those that have attended these classes:
1) Overall, did you find the PPW classes to be worth your time and money?
2) Does PPW consume too much of your time and prevent you from walking the exhibit floor?
3) What kind of PPW class schedule did you create for yourself: multiple classes each day for the entire duration of the conference, or just pick and choose a few classes here and there?
4) Are the free, exhibit floor classes offered by vendors good sources of information, or does one really need to attend Post|Production World classes for in-depth learning?
5) Would you say the majority of the classes target those at a basic, moderate or advanced level?Sorry for the laundry list of questions, but I’m sure I can learn quite a bit from all of your past NAB and PPW experiences.
Just so you know where I’m coming from, my video editing skills would be categorized as “moderate” level with the strong desire to make a push toward “advanced”. I’m currently using the Adobe CS5 Production package, so I’m using Premiere. I’m very interested in learning more about editing, After Effects, compression/encoding, color correction, and basic field shooting techniques. No interest in certification at the moment.
Thanks!
Mike Tomei
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz
12 GB RAM
1 GB VRAM
Adobe Production Premium CS5
https://www.miketomei.com -
2 Replies
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Mike:
The first question to really answer is what do you want to away from your NAB experience? You do mention that you want to “push towards advance” in the editing and general post-production area. Based on that need (knowledge/skill need), taking the classes will be helpful. From my perspective please keep in mind that I have not been to the PPW classes for about 11 years (this is my 12 year I think) or more (it wasn’t Future Media running it then) but have sent staff to the classes for the last four years. And, most likely I may be participating this year in PPW for a couple of classes – if not for some new knowledge, but for experiencing it with our staff. My stuff aside, I think the classes may be perfect for you to at least compare your current skill-set/knowledge-base with others and further identify your strengths and weaknesses.
1) “…worth your time and money?” Based on your stated need, they may work great for you.2) “…time and prevent you from walking the exhibit floor?” This can be a real issue if you have appointments or limited time at the conference. For me this becomes a challenge as often times our staff need to meet with vendors to solve problems or demo new stuff. The classes have always gotten in the way of this. Manageable – sure, but if you have some serious shopping/problem solving to take care of on the show floor, you may have to compromise.
3) “…class schedule…” This will truly depend on your needs elsewhere. I just prioritize my needs and then make a plan with some flexibility to change during the week. Keep in mind that there are 10-12 mini-conferences occurring at NAB so if you want to attend NAB sessions, BEA, RTNDA, etc. Attempting to schedule all of this can be a nightmare especially when you probably won’t know the PPW classes or schedule until very close to the conference.
4)“…free, exhibit floor classes…” This, like the PPW classes may vary greatly. BUT, most of the floor “training” sessions are demonstrations of feature sets, etc. and not necessarily training. And if you have questions, often times many of these demos don’t provide much time or ability due to the fact that the next session is already behind schedule. Remember it is a sales floor not a training floor. Yes training occurs, but the PPW classes are much better suited for training. Definitely worth participating in, but not a substitute.
5) “…classes target…” As I haven’t taken one in a while, I can say that our staff has good and bad classes, some meet and exceed the course objectives, others fail miserably. This is to say that some say advanced level and our staff will say that it was barely advanced as it only talked about xyz.
In sum, I don’t think by any means that the classes will be a total waste of your time. Worth the cost? – Only you will know afterwards as the consistency level of the PPW can vary.
Hope that is somewhat helpful.
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Hi David,
Thanks so much for the great response. Exactly what I was looking for.
From the little research I’ve done, I’m 99% sure I’ll be taking classes at Post Production World. Looking forward to it.
Mike
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz
12 GB RAM
1 GB VRAM
Adobe Production Premium CS5
https://www.miketomei.com
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