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Attending NAB
April 21, 2008

One of the exciting parts of my job is the chance to see, first hand, how show organizers and producers are adopting technology into their tradeshow floors.  This often allows me to visit a variety of shows and conferences. 

I must admit I have seen quite a few events in my career, yet I still get excited by the chance to walk out onto a floor on the first show day.

Last week I traveled to Las Vegas to attend the annual conference for the National Association of Broadcasters.  I have actually heard of this event for years and always thought it would be an interesting event to visit. 

Thanks to Chris Brown’s generosity, I was able to obtain a show pass to see first hand what many people have described as one of the best tradeshows in the industry.

I was impressed with the show management's vision of their purpose and the role the tradeshow has in the industry.  They have greatly expanded the definition of broadcasting to include the many different medias that have grown over the years.  This adaption to their environment is why NAB still represents one of the largest audiences.  NAB continues to question their strategic significance and seems to be well positioned to serve as an important contribution to their industry.

Given their status as one of North America’s largest tradeshows, you would expect chaotic lines and challenges with crowd flow.  Moments with congestion are a given; I have never stood in a longer Starbucks ordering line. But I was very impressed with the organization and relative ease to get around the event.

I went through the registration process and can report that I did not experience any problems.   The registration package was mailed to me prior to the show and I managed to leave it at home.

While I did not get the chance to use the tool yet, I was impressed with the placement of the social networking tool in a prominent place on the show floor within a networking lounge.  I did not see many people utilizing the solution, but I only came by a few times during the day.

The exhibition sales war room for next year was in full operations.  It was interesting how most exhibitors preferred to utilize printed maps to determine premium locations while digital floor plans sat idle, off to the side on several computers.  I suspect better education and training with exhibitors and a more prominent placement of the technology might recruit more users.

Overall, it seems that most NAB attendees had several helpful interactive tools for their show experience.  Congratulations to the NAB exhibition team on successfully launching another productive tradeshow.

Posted by Stephen Nold on April 21, 2008 | Comments (0)