A Broad Array of Choices

Sep 1, 2006 12:00 PM

           

The NAB New York: Content Creation+ conference kicks off at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York on Monday, Oct. 23 and runs through Thursday, Oct. 26. The exhibit floor opens on Tuesday, Oct. 24 and stays open until 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25. There, companies such as Apple, Avid, and Panasonic will showcase the latest in editing, motion graphics, HD, lighting, video, sound, film, camera, and news-gathering technology.

Calling the conference the East Coast's largest gathering of TV, video, and film professionals, Ben Kozuch, the conference chairperson and president and co-founder of Future Media Concepts (FMC), says the conference is a rich educational forum that is focused around its more than 130 sessions. The sessions range from hands-on instructional sessions that focus on specific software programs to informational forums that discuss business issues and opportunities. In addition, the conference features a career fair, keynote addresses by award-winning editors, software certification classes, and two special movie screenings.

This year's conference is organized as a series of six primary events grouped into two thematic areas: Content Creation and Business Summits. Attendees need only register for those events of interest to them. All of the registration packages include access to the exhibit floor, keynote addresses, career fair, and movie screenings. Anyone who attended last year's NAB Post+ New York conference is eligible for a conference alumni discount.

Content Creation Conferences

The three events that fall under the umbrella of Content Creation are the NAB Post|Production New York Conference, the RAW Digital Photography Conference, and the Podcasting Summit.

The NAB Post|Production New York Conference is the most extensive forum at the show, featuring more than 100 sessions devoted to content creation tools and techniques. As in the past, the sessions are geared primarily toward intermediate and advanced users eager to enhance their creative, technical, and business skills.

The most basic sessions are the Fast Start sessions offered on Monday as part of the conference Boot Camp. These sessions are an ideal opportunity for someone with limited familiarity with a particular program to get a solid introduction to the package before entering the more advanced sessions offered over the subsequent days.

“These sessions are not really meant for novices to the industry,” Kozuch says. “They are more geared toward those already in the industry who are looking to diversify their skill set. For example, maybe you're a web designer who wants to learn more about Photoshop, or maybe you're a shooter who's trying to develop some video editing skills.”

Each of the Fast Start sessions runs three hours. Among the software programs being covered this year are Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Flash, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Apple DVD Studio Pro, and Apple Motion.

Regular conference sessions also kick off on Monday and then continue over the course of the next three days. Many of these sessions are software specific, although they often are focused on promoting mastery of a specific technique. Such sessions include “Mastering Expressions with Adobe After Effects” and “Color Correction in Avid NLEs.”

Owners of either the Panasonic HG-HVX200 camera or the Sony HVR-Z1U/HDR-FX1 camera will benefit from a track titled “Maximize Your Affordable HD Cameras” on Monday that consists of sessions focused on those two cameras.

Other tracks have a more general focus and are geared toward those who want to increase their knowledge in certain topics or techniques regardless of the equipment used. Such tracks include Digital Video Production, Digital Facility, and HD Solutions. Here, users will find sessions devoted to a wide range of production and postproduction techniques for lighting, sound capture, editing, shooting, and workflow management.

“This year, there will be a heavy focus on HD in our conference sessions,” Kozuch says. “Not only will HD issues be covered in the HD-specific tracks, but they will be covered elsewhere, as well, such as in the Digital Facility track. HD represents a primary challenge and opportunity for the modern digital facility.”

Podcasting and Digital Photography

The Podcasting Summit comes to the New York show following its successful introduction at the NAB show in Las Vegas in April. This two-day conference runs Wednesday through Thursday, and provides attendees interested in this emerging area with an opportunity to take sessions focused on both technical and business issues. The technical sessions focus on production, encoding, and compression techniques for creating podcasts with high-quality video and sound, while the business sessions focus on marketing, legal, and ethical issues.

To make things convenient for attendees, the sessions have been organized so that topics related to audio podcastings will be offered on Wednesday, while video podcasting sessions will be offered on Thursday. Sessions covering business issues will be scattered throughout the two days.

The RAW Digital Photography Conference is a new addition to the show that provides an ideal venue for photographers to gain the expertise that will allow them to move from the traditional “wet lab” photo development process to a digital development process. Sessions focus primarily on tools and techniques that will familiarize attendees with the new RAW digital format, a format that better meets the needs of professional photographers. Unlike the JPEG format, which is fine for amateur photographers, RAW files contain every bit of information the camera's sensor can see. RAW files are the new digital negatives for the serious photographer. The sessions for this conference will be offered on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Executive Business Summits

The three events that fall under the umbrella of Business Summits are the RTNDA News and Technology Summit, SportTech: Sports and Technology Summit, and TimeShift: Advertising and Broadcast Summit.

According to John Marino, NAB's vice president of science and technology, these summits help meet one of the key objectives of the New York conference, which is to “provide an East Coast venue for understanding new digital media technologies and how they are driving the evolution of business models and offering new revenue opportunities for all.”

On Wednesday, the RTNDA News and Technology Summit sponsored by the Radio and Television News Directors Association provides news professionals a chance to explore how the latest digital technologies are changing their business. Here, attendees will learn from industry leaders what networks and local stations are doing to build successful broadband strategies. Buzzwords such as “RSS,” “podcasting,” “VOD,” and “vlogging” will be demystified as experts discuss how the return on a smart investment can save a station thousands of dollars.

The SportsTech and TimeShift summits are being presented by iHollywoodForum, a Los Angeles-based producer of business summits on digital entertainment topics. The SportsTech Summit to be offered on Tuesday will explore how leagues, teams, advertisers, broadcasters, and the media now have new opportunities to generate revenue from sports with interactive applications. Attendees will learn to develop a strategy to retain viewers and generate revenue from delivery of sports across multiple platforms, including cell phones and iPods. Industry experts will offer sample cases studies of those working successfully with cross-platform campaigns, and attendees will even get an insider's view of broadcasters preparing for multi-platform coverage for the 2008 Olympics.

On Wednesday, the TimeShift Summit will explore the unprecedented challenges advertisers face as the boundaries between TV, the Internet, and mobile platforms merge and as the adoption of time-shifting devices like TiVo personalize the TV viewing experience. In addition to discussing case studies, session leaders will scrutinize new advertising solutions and business models, view data from consumer response studies, evaluate the fragmentation of viewers, and predict industry growth patterns. Among the sessions offered are “How TiVo Changes Advertising,” “Exploiting Podcasts and Videocasts,” and “Creating Personalized Content.”

To find out more about these and the other sessions to be offered at NAB New York, or to register for the conference, go to www.nabnewyork.com.

Career Fair

Looking for a job? Be sure to stop by the Career Fair out on the exhibit floor. Organized by the National Association of Broadcasters Educational Foundation (NABEF), the Broadcasters Educational Foundation (BEA), and the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), the career fair will feature recruiters from 15 different organizations representing a mix of colleges, TV and radio stations, film studios, and video houses.

Certification Courses

Take your career to the next level by registering for one of four different software certification courses. These comprehensive, two-day courses kick off on Monday and provide thorough, hands-on training in Avid Xpress Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro Level I and II, and Apple Motion. All prep classes are specifically geared to prepare their students for taking an accompanying certification exam. Attend a certification training course, pass an exam, and leave NAB New York with one heck of a souvenir!

Registration Information

All NAB New York Content Creation+ registration packages include access to NAB New York exhibits, exhibit hall cocktail reception, exhibit hall luncheon, other exhibit hall events, keynote sessions, The Cutting Edge film screening, and 48-Hour Film Project.

Registration packages must be purchased separately.

Registration Contact Information

Registration Status
Experient (301) 682-7962

Additional Information
(202) 595-2052

Toll-free Registration
Hotline (888) 740-4622

Toll-free Attendee Services
Hotline (800) 342-2460

Or register online at
www.nabnewyork.com/registration

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