I arrived Monday to Las Vegas doubting about of the success of the NAB Show 2009 and reflecting on the speculation of the decline or possible lack of attendance to the show this year due to the down turn of the national economy. Another reason I had in consideration, was the withdraw of three powerful crowd "pleasers", Quantel, Thomson Broadcasting and Apple, surprising us always with revolutionary products during the last several years.
Jon Fauer, ASC and Dedotec, USA top executives
After checking my credentials and walk into the the massive Las Vegas Convention Center, my fears were immediately dissipated after encountering an enormous amount of exhibitors with a variety of booths and colorful displays. From the local midsized service to the international manufacturer to the big names such as Panasonic, Canon, Avid, Harris and Grass Valley, all of them ready to answer any question I may have had about their services or products.
As per the slogan goes, It Brings Content To Life, the NAB presents a large amount of interesting conferences, industry panels and workshops about a variety of disciplines and skills such as,"From IPTV Solutions to High Definition Encoding "to "Advertising Innovations Summit" to "Director of Photography Workshop" to "Podcasting Workshop" to "Technologies for Worship" to the "Telecom Conferences".
Telecom 2009 Conference
The workshops and conferences enlighten the attending audience with the experience, technical advise and how-to-tips of the presenters and guest speakers. Some of the seminars and presenters this year are, "Virtual Worlds", a conversation with Second Life Founder Philip Rosedale, held past Tuesday. The Digital Cinema Summit "3D Cinema & Beyond: Lens to Living Room" presented by Patrick Lussier, helmer of Bloody Valentine: 3D" held Saturday and Sunday and "Classic and Digital Techniques for a Timeless Experience" with Henry Selick director of such films as "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "James and the Giant Peach" and, most recently, "Coraline," who described his stop-motion animated filmmaking style in term. The director, screening clips from "Coraline," explained that his technology-enabled brand of stop-motion animation takes advantage of new technologies such as facial animation, motion-controlled camera rigs with 4K digital motion picture cameras and rapid-prototyping 3D printers, resulting in "a spectacle that seems modern, not a quaint, old approach to filmmaking."
Henry Selick, Director
To dispel any unfounded rumors, the NAB is sailing up wind at full mast, keeping busy many vendors, responding inquires and filling out orders from national and international prospective buyers and maintaining an optimistic outlook in the broadcast industry. For instance, I witness the potential purchase of a 35 mm film camera at the Aaton booth, the intense interest displayed by foreign senior buyers at the Sony super booth, the swarming of users of Adobe products at its mega booth and the hypnotized stare at the 3D presentation at the Oscar Award winning Silicon Imaging 3D digital cinema booth. With two days remaining, the NAB Show has been a phenomenal success by any measure in an otherwise challenging economy," said NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton. "We appreciate the strong support of both exhibitors and attendees who continue to make the NAB Show the most important annual event for the electronic media marketplace."
The number of registered attendees to date was 83,842, international attendees was 23,232 and news media was 1,246. International and news media attendance figures are included in the overall registration number. The figures are based on pre-show and onsite registration. Final registration data will be available following the NAB Show.
