Ten Reasons to Attend NAB 2011

As a filmmaker you may be wondering why should I go to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in 2011; where is the art in that? Ponder for a minute that Vincent Van Gogh starved and cut off his ear while Picasso did not. Both were great artists, but Vincent shuttered himself away from the establishment. NAB has a lot to offer filmmakers and here are ten reasons you need to be at the NAB Show in 2011.

1.    NAB Show 2011 is time and cost effective. The NAB Show in 2011 will be held April 11-14th at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Las Vegas Hilton. NAB Show 2011 has a free personal planning tool myNABShow that allows you to search exhibits, exhibitors, and speakers and programs in advance. Using myNABShow lets you request and set up appointments, map locations and search products and promotions. This conference won't be days of lost milling around on tired feet. Take the time you save to network and play; It's Vegas baby!

2.    The Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Conference is also in Vegas at the same time as NAB Show 2011. Overlapping in scope with NAB; BEA is academically focused with more than 1,600 members including educators, students and professionals. Many BEA people will also be registering and attending NAB increasing the importance and scope of NAB Show 2011.

3.    NAB 2011 offers days of filmmaking specific programs. The Masters class in 3-D filmmaking will be held April 12th. Former speakers for 3-D filmmaking have included Buzz Hays, Sony, Steve Hellmuth, NBA Entertainment and Brian Bonnick from Imax. Highly experienced professionals will share with you the complex variables of the trade that have worked or not over the years.

4.    NAB Show includes sessions on Post Production and Post Production World Certification prep classes and exams. There are additional discussion sessions in content theater, broadband, post-production, pro-audio, radio and more.

5.    DCS 2011 on April 9th and 10th concentrates on the latest developments in 3-D production technologies. The emphasis is to make sense of the fast paced developments in broadband, broadcasting production, workflow and digital media. How these new technologies and business models can be used and how they affect your work will also be explored in the Telecom Access Network sessions and Telepresence. All of these sessions are especially important to filmmakers now as computer text based platforms increasingly turn to mobile and video.

6.    The content conference at NAB 2011 explores content trends in film, TV and small screen production. Most importantly the content conference investigates which technological advances enhance your content production and creative process. Like all new trends some tech will die off and/or the tools will be of limited use to you. Before expending vast amounts of time, money and energy it is immensely helpful to listen and discuss these topics in an open forum.

7.    Networking. Like all conferences and festivals NAB 2011 offers filmmaking professionals a chance to connect and socialize. Thousands of years of human evolution have made face time matter. This is how we function as a species. At NAB show 2011 there are people from a wide spectrum of related fields including people from the military and government, engineers of all types and telecom and computing specialists. Unlike most film festivals that are largely inhabited with Industry people at NAB Show you will meet a diversified group of media professionals. Learning about their industries allows for new perspectives and connections.

8.    NAB Show 2011 is an International venue. Media professionals from all over the world attend NAB Show. In today's filmmaking keeping yourself open to new cultures and markets is always a good idea.

9.    Sponsors and supporting organizations at NAB Show 2011 include Turner, Sony, Echostar and ATV Broadcasting among others. Their people will be at NAB Show 2011. Shouldn't you be?

10.    Career Day is April 13th and is sponsored by the NAB Educational Foundation in conjunction with the Broadcast Education Association and the Radio-Television News Directors Association. Whether you are looking for a job or looking for new talent, career day has something to offer you. Resumes can be posted now online at www.broadcastcareerlink.com. Registered NAB show attendees can then use the myNABShow tool to set up appointments and organize the event. Given all there is at NAB Show 2011 as a filmmaker it is probably a good idea for you. Besides, I bet you like both of your ears.

See you in Vegas!