The Offset Podcast EP013: Trade Shows

Trade shows have always played a big role in the production and postproduction industries.  

Pre Internet, outside of going to visit a company or reseller directly, a trade show was the only way to get valuable information about products, workflows, and in general, where the industry was headed. In the 1980s through the early 2000s shows like the National Association Of Broadcasters (NAB) or the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) were hosts to hundreds of thousands.  

Equally as important as visiting the show floor were the plethora of networking events, parties, and hangouts - some of which are still whispered about in convention center hallways for how epic they were!

In this episode of The Offset Podcast, we discuss what shows like NAB mean to us as colorists, educators, and technology-driving guys and why even post-pandemic where the crowds and investments from exhibitors are smaller, trade shows still play a vital role - even if that role is just networking and seeing colleagues you only know virtually or see at trade shows!   

While we're a bit heavy on NAB in this episode -  as it's the show we know the best and the one we've gone to the most. The things we discuss in this episode apply to other big trade shows like IBC, BIRTV, Interbee, CabSat, Broadcast India, and others

In this show some of the things we'll discuss including:

Getting time in with software developers of your favorite tools to suggest features, workflows, and bugs.
Face time with peers and colleagues that you might not see or speak to regularly
Rubbing elbows with industry heroes
Leveraging educational sub-conferences and presentations
Survival tips & techniques
Building a contact database and following up post-trade show
Cost saving tips

Enjoy the episode!

Creators & Guests

Host

Joey D'Anna

Joey is lead colorist and CTO of DC Color. When he’s not in the color suite you’ll usually find him with a wrench in hand working on one of his classic cars or bikes

Host

Robbie Carman

Robbie is the managing colorist and CEO of DC Color. A guitar aficionado who’s never met a piece of gear he didn’t like.

Editor

Stella Yrigoyen

Stella Yrigoyen is an Austin, TX-based video editor specializing in documentary filmmaking. With a B.S. in Radio-Television-Film from UT Austin and over 7 years of editing experience, Stella possesses an in-depth understanding of the post-production pipeline. In the past year, she worked on Austin PBS series like 'Taco Mafia' and 'Chasing the Tide,' served as a Production Assistant on 'Austin City Limits,' and contributed to various post-production roles on other creatively and technically demanding projects.

What is The Offset Podcast?

The Offset Podcast is a semi-monthly (twice a month) podcast hosted by postproduction industry stalwarts Robbie Carman & Joey D’Anna - we’re professional colorists, educators, and polymaths in video postproduction and color. We’ve been told our detailed, informative, and easy-to-follow explanations of even the most technical subjects have helped people at all levels to improve their workflows, tackle their technical/creative problems, and even improve their approaches to business & client communication.

Geared towards postproduction industry professionals each episode feels like catching up with valued peers and is the perfect length for the average commute, lunch break, or to keep you company while you work.

01:00:00:02 - 01:00:18:06
Joey
Welcome back to The Offset Podcast. In this episode, we're going to be talking about NAB and recapping our experience and talking about the conference and conferences in general in the post-production industry. Stay tuned.

01:00:18:08 - 01:00:37:16
Robbie
This episode is sponsored by our friends Flanders Scientific, who are leaders in color accurate display solutions for professional video. Whether you're a colorist, editor, DIT or broadcast engineer, Flanders Scientific has professional display solutions to meet your needs. Learn more at Flanders scientific.com.

01:00:37:18 - 01:00:40:20
Joey
Hey, welcome back to The Offset Podcast. I'm Joey D’Anna

01:00:40:22 - 01:00:42:17
Robbie
And I am Robbie Carman.

01:00:42:19 - 01:00:43:13
Joey
And in this.

01:00:43:13 - 01:00:44:03
Robbie
Episode.

01:00:44:06 - 01:01:11:18
Joey
We are talking about in a bit specifically, we're talking about the experience of NAB and what it means to us as both post-production professionals and kind of educator and as communicators in the business. So Robbie and I have been going to nab for, for many, many years, and what we don't want to focus on is what's the cool new stuff that we saw this year?

01:01:11:21 - 01:01:12:14
Robbie
There's a million here.

01:01:12:14 - 01:01:36:17
Joey
You've seen all of that that we want to talk about what NAB means to us, why we go every year, what are the important things to do to remember while you're there to prepare for, to get the best experience possible and all of the little details that people don't often think of when they're preparing to go to a conference like that.

01:01:36:19 - 01:01:43:13
Joey
So, Robbie, let's start with you. What did you do at NAB this year? And tell us a little bit about it?

01:01:43:15 - 01:02:14:08
Robbie
Well, so first, first of all, I mean, I just think it's important to say that, trade shows have been a part of my life for my entire professional career, all 25 years. I, actually, up until the Covid pandemic, I had a streak. I think, of 21 years straight of going to Las Vegas for any B and then mixed in with that, you know, occasionally going to IBC over in Amsterdam, which is the, you know, big European show.

01:02:14:09 - 01:02:37:16
Robbie
I've been to inter be over in Japan, cab sat in Dubai like and part of that was that I was often going to the trade shows under the auspices of education, teaching classes, that kind of stuff. Right. but you know, through the years also have done quite a bit of work for, you know, companies that were friendly with and, you know, and, you know, working kind of doing demos and education and those kind of, you know, ways to.

01:02:37:16 - 01:03:00:22
Robbie
And so this year, yeah, our great sponsor, Finder Scientific, they had me out to, man a little like private demo booth room that they had, which was, which was a whole lot of fun because, honestly, I've been on the show for the show for proper for a lot of years, you know, doing stuff for, for companies where there's ten bajillion people around.

01:03:01:00 - 01:03:15:11
Robbie
so having a little, private room, especially also with my level of germaphobe. Yeah. that one was really. That was really nice. because, hey, it wasn't too long ago that you actually got Covid coming back from NAB, right? So that it happened.

01:03:15:13 - 01:03:18:11
Joey
we'll talk about that, too. How do you stay healthy during these conferences?

01:03:18:11 - 01:03:39:15
Robbie
So yeah, I was I was man in this booth, actually with, Nate McFarland from Dolby. And we were talking about, some of the new Flanders studio labs. We're talking color management. We were talking Dolby Vision. so, yeah, it was a nice, low key, fun, experience this year around, you know, the, on the show floor and actually, I thought it was in general, a great, a great year.

01:03:39:15 - 01:03:53:09
Robbie
It was busy, but not too busy. and, you know, the show, I think has kind of, you know, used to be this mega, mega, mega thing and then it kind of scaled back over Covid. And now I think we're kind of hitting a nice, sweet spot getting traffic again as well. But you were there this year as well.

01:03:53:09 - 01:03:55:15
Robbie
Joey, tell us a little bit about what you're doing.

01:03:55:17 - 01:04:16:02
Joey
Yeah, I have done this year along with probably, I think the past six years in a row, I had the absolute privilege of demoing DaVinci resolve on the official Blackmagic booth, right, for Blackmagic. And, you know, you know this. Everybody I've talked to you knows this. It's my favorite time of the year is my favorite thing in the world to do is you're super done.

01:04:16:02 - 01:04:37:11
Joey
The teaching thing I've done sessions. I've done panels. To me, none of it compares to just doing live demos, thinking on your feet, answering questions, showing off new features on real footage, solving problems in real time with just people coming and going yeah, behind you and around you constantly. It's so fun to do.

01:04:37:11 - 01:04:58:08
Robbie
For those of you who don't know what the set up looks like, I want you to close your eyes and kind of visit us for a second. black magic. I don't know if this is actually true, but I'm just going to say it is, has the biggest booth. anybody of all the various show, the the hall floors, they are generally located in the south lower hall, right at the front.

01:04:58:10 - 01:05:27:06
Robbie
and they have I don't know how what it is. It's probably 40,000ft² of space or something like that, where they have various, you know, cameras and demo sessions and presenting stations and whatnot. Now, Joey's not trying to be, you know, kind of, whatever about this. He's he he is literally in the center of the booth, the center of attention, working the big, you know, advanced panels and, obviously kind of demoing off new features over black magics, you know, premiere, product.

01:05:27:07 - 01:05:45:01
Robbie
And it is pretty funny. Joey, I have to say, after having seen you do this for a number of years, one, your level of excitement is undeniable. How like weeks in advance, you just can not talk about anything but getting out to anybody to, you know, I often tell people I'm like, go see Joey at the Black Magic booth.

01:05:45:01 - 01:06:10:09
Robbie
And I'm like, where's he going to be? And I'm like, well, you'll hear him before you get there, right? Oh, good. Cause your exuberance is, is there. And then and then three, I think it is. It is really kind of fun because, I have a whole lot of pictures. I'll put a couple on the post for this particular episode, where Joey, just as he is just rock star, I just you got like, you know, 50 people around you, some of them big time colors even, you know, and, you know, it's showing new features and that kind of stuff.

01:06:10:09 - 01:06:11:19
Robbie
So it's a cool experience.

01:06:11:21 - 01:06:41:15
Joey
Yeah. And for me, it's it's it's two things. It's, it's that the experience of talking to all the, the colleagues and users and colorists out there and helping them solve their problems. But also it is a time where you can have some really quality one on one time with the development team. Yep. And talk through problems that both you've noticed and that users that have talked to you in the booth have noticed and really just get their ear and talk through these things.

01:06:41:15 - 01:06:43:21
Joey
And it's an invaluable resource.

01:06:43:21 - 01:06:58:04
Robbie
So I think that's a big I think that's the biggest thing. Joey is right there is what I think people should understand about trade shows. There is a certain set of people that just come in just to like, hey, I want to see all the cool stuff, the toys, whatever. And they're really just there to kind of party, right?

01:06:58:04 - 01:07:12:19
Robbie
We'll get to that part a second. I think if you're going to get the most as a user, if you're going to get the most out of the show floor experience at any trade show, right. It is kind of mapping out your game plan of, I'm going to go here, I'm going to go there, I'm going to see this and what individual products.

01:07:12:21 - 01:07:30:08
Robbie
But it's also trying to be as specific as you can with that time that you have with the decision makers, the dev team, even the marketing people at these producers. Right. They're so used to like, you know, people just coming up and go, oh, show me something cool, right? Like you're much you don't get that opportunity very often for face time with these people.

01:07:30:08 - 01:07:50:14
Robbie
So going to these booths with, you know, your top, you know, whatever, five pain points or things you would like to see that are that's useful for you because you get answers to your questions directly from the teams. But also it's a very important thing. And the reason why these companies spend megabucks on these trade shows is because they crave that interface with their customers.

01:07:50:14 - 01:08:05:23
Robbie
Right? And so I think for people to get the most out of their trade show experience, going there with a plan, questions, things to look at, specifics is way more valuable than just, I don't know, show me something cool. Right. you're going to get we get a much more out of it that way.

01:08:06:01 - 01:08:33:04
Joey
Yeah. And that brings me to what I think is the most important part of any B or other, any other trade show, which is you can get the new features on the news on the internet very easily, but you can't get is one on one FaceTime with both all of the the people that you deal with from a vendor side of software vendors, hardware vendors, etc. but also your colleagues, other colorists, other artists in the industry that you may or may not have ever been able to meet in person.

01:08:33:04 - 01:08:49:22
Joey
You might have talked to them online. You may, you know, have been in some of the communities around, but not been able to get FaceTime with people. It is we often say that this is a people business first, and NAB is the best time for everybody to be in one place at one time.

01:08:50:00 - 01:09:07:00
Robbie
I mean, I can't I can't argue with that. I mean, I think that it's, I think if you talk to a lot of people about why they go to the the show, it's that catching up with an old friend, you know, kind of it's the it's the the late nights sitting at a bar. It's the going out to dinners.

01:09:07:00 - 01:09:22:07
Robbie
It's the, you know, the various events and parties. And I think, you know, as somebody who battles a little bit of like, you know, I don't I'm not a big fan of people. Right. Like, one of the things that it's important for me all the time to go to the shows is to be out there and interacting with people.

01:09:22:09 - 01:10:01:13
Robbie
And because I think a lot of, you know, we hear a lot of times from people that. You know, I'm a solo operator, I'm an individual colorist. I work out of my house like it's really difficult sometimes to know if you're doing it the right way or not, or what the latest and greatest technique is. And so it's amazing going to these shows, you know, talking to people from all sorts of geographic locations right around the world, working on a wide variety of types of projects, some of them working at facilities, some of them working at small shops, some of them working on their own and gaining that kind of perspective and, and information

01:10:01:15 - 01:10:19:08
Robbie
and sometimes like the weird thing about it is that sometimes, like you're constantly shifting where you are on that scale, right? Sometimes you're talking to a level colorist from Big Time Shop who's graded, you know, the latest tentpole film. It's like, now you're just this little micro person. You're like, oh, paying homage to them right then other times, like, you're like, Joey, right?

01:10:19:11 - 01:10:33:21
Robbie
You have a crowd gathered around you, you know? Let me show you what the latest and greatest feature. And you are that guy, right? Or that girl. so it's interesting to me, too. How about the trade shows? Kind of like you have to kind of like, you know, shift a little bit depending on the, the scenario that you're around.

01:10:33:22 - 01:10:35:22
Joey
Yeah. You're always on your feet.

01:10:36:00 - 01:10:54:05
Robbie
Yeah. But I would, I would say the one thing that's interesting to me about NAB is going or any trade show, but especially in a B because it's, you know, here in the States and the biggest one is going into it with kind of like, I know nothing I need to absorb things as a sponge kind of thing.

01:10:54:05 - 01:11:18:14
Robbie
Right. And I think that, you know, people think of trade shows as just that, just the, the, the floor portion with exhibitors showing their wares. It's really important to note that all of the trade shows in our industry at least have large information and educational components to them. Right? So in any B, for example, there's post-production world, which is a huge, education conference.

01:11:18:14 - 01:11:40:08
Robbie
It's for pay, but it's a, you know, big education conference. there's Gaussian gear, which is, an awesome, new initiative. I think probably the past 5 or 6 years, where it's, you know, driven by female film, filmmakers and people in post and, you know, in production, you know, giving talks and chats, you know, simply and all, all the various standards, bodies, they do things.

01:11:40:10 - 01:11:59:13
Robbie
I mean, even the manufacturers oftentimes will have educational places, you know, I remember this year, you know, I, I attended one that was about learning more about laser projection, you know, because that's sort of been, you know, in my radar, but something I don't understand very well. And so there is opportunity to also get, you know, educated and learn more at these experiences.

01:11:59:13 - 01:12:02:14
Robbie
Then then you might have just, you know, sitting behind looking at a product on a computer screen.

01:12:02:17 - 01:12:18:03
Joey
Yeah. And that goes back to what you originally said, which just make a plan. Right. Look at the vendors that you're going to be really focusing on and see what offerings that they have. Like you, this time around, they weren't charging for sessions with you. You just had to sign up for one.

01:12:18:06 - 01:12:18:13
Robbie
Right?

01:12:18:18 - 01:12:37:12
Joey
Right. That was something that Flanders was just providing to to to anybody that signed up, you know, and there are resources like that across many different manufacturers, many different vendors. They'll set up their own classes, their own presentations, stuff like that, that you, in most cases, don't have to pay for or don't need to do anything but sign up.

01:12:37:14 - 01:12:50:07
Joey
And if you kind of come in with a plan of, I want to see this, I want to see that these different events or ones I want to go to, you can get a lot of value just from show floor presentations, and things like that.

01:12:50:09 - 01:13:11:11
Robbie
But hands down, hands down. Yeah. And I mean, I think, I think the other thing that I often talk to people who are new to going to these trade shows about is that a lot of the, you know, I mentioned at the very top of the show of like going into it with a plan of questions, pain points and places you want to go, products you want to see.

01:13:11:12 - 01:13:40:16
Robbie
But there's the other side of that, which is the casual interaction part of things that I think cannot be cannot be underestimated. Right. And that means going to, you know, various events that are put out there, like, you know, for us, the color mixer is one. In years past, there was things like the media motion ball, but even big parties like, you know, the be an age, party, age party, like whoever those those have value.

01:13:40:18 - 01:13:58:19
Robbie
And I'm going to say that one of the things that I try to do every year is, put myself in uncomfortable situations. Right? And what I mean by that is just simply introducing to myself to somebody I don't know and be like, hey, man, like, do you mind if I hang with you for a little bit?

01:13:58:19 - 01:14:08:19
Robbie
Or hey, can I, can I follow along while you go over to that booth? Right. And I found over the past 25 years or so that a lot of people that I know in this industry, I have met.

01:14:08:21 - 01:14:09:10
Joey
Through that.

01:14:09:10 - 01:14:26:14
Robbie
Very technique of, oh, well, we only see each other at trade shows, but it's great catching up and I've learned more about what they do that's parlayed into work sometimes. you know, so putting yourself in those in those social situations too, I think are good. And I would say that, you know, to those of you who are a little bit like me, who are like, well, I'm scared of people.

01:14:26:14 - 01:14:30:03
Robbie
I don't want to I don't want to talk to people. with the.

01:14:30:05 - 01:14:32:03
Joey
All nerds, it may be.

01:14:32:05 - 01:14:54:15
Robbie
With the exception of 1 or 2 people who probably, honestly were just too inebriated to have good conversations. Almost everybody is, you know, it's bare hugs, it's high fives. It's smiles on their faces, willing, you know, willing to willing to engage. Like, I mean, I had a conversation with somebody at the colors mixer, you know, and I was like, I went up to them.

01:14:54:15 - 01:15:11:05
Robbie
I'm not going to name their name. But I was a little, you know, they were like a big name. And no, they're just like any other other person. They were like, cool. They were cool, you know, and said, hey, I really my, your work and blah blah, blah. We started talking about one of the projects. They gave me a little inside baseball on what it was like, you know, working on a particular project, and it was chill.

01:15:11:05 - 01:15:23:20
Robbie
So I would just urge people not to be timid and afraid of, you know, seeing people that they might recognize or know or whatever. People are just people, you, you know, you approach it with respect and kindness. People are going to be cool.

01:15:23:22 - 01:15:53:20
Joey
Yeah. Like we always say to people, business first. Now I want to talk about something that I think is very important, especially to the new in Abbey goers or the casual in Abbey go or not, the seasoned NAB warriors like us. How do you survive the trip? Right? And what I mean by that is NAB, from a physical and health perspective is a absolute murderous slog because.

01:15:53:21 - 01:15:56:19
Robbie
Even before we had global pandemics to worry about.

01:15:56:19 - 01:16:16:03
Joey
Yeah, yeah. Everybody you talk to coming home from NAB is usually sick with something. Anybody that's talk to me on the booth for the past, like however many years, knows I lose my voice by like day two and start like scratching and like sounding like I'm gonna die. So here's what here's the deal, right? You're going to Las Vegas.

01:16:16:06 - 01:16:34:10
Joey
It might not even feel that hot because it's not in the middle of summer, but it is dry and the air conditioning runs 24 over seven everywhere. So I want to give you guys just some pointers that I've found over the years. And I've gotten better at it. Better and better, over this one. Don't over drink. That's number one.

01:16:34:10 - 01:16:55:14
Joey
It's very easy to over drink. And I'm not saying don't have a good time. This is the this is the week to have a good time. But what you don't need in Las Vegas to be more dehydrated, force yourself to drink so much water. Like even if you're not thirsty, just keep drinking water constantly because it makes such a difference.

01:16:55:14 - 01:17:19:23
Joey
This year I made a point. I had a bottle of water with me all the time and any chance I got, I was just drinking the water, thirsty or not. And I tell you what, my voice lasted longer this year than it ever has before. Yeah, right. Another trick that I figured out just this year is I actually just turned down the AC in my room so I could get better sleep because I wasn't up coughing with the dry air.

01:17:20:01 - 01:17:23:19
Joey
I just let the room be a little bit warmer. That made a difference for me.

01:17:23:21 - 01:17:43:18
Robbie
Yeah, the other one that that's like that too, that I don't realize until like day two of conference shows how much it's going to impact me because it's like, hey, you start at 8:00, 9:00 in the morning, you're talking until 5 or 6:00 in the morning, and then you're talking all night with people. And to me, chapstick. Man, I cannot tell you how big, how big until bringing chapstick.

01:17:43:21 - 01:17:48:03
Robbie
The worst feeling in the world is that your lips are all cracked and broken up. It's just like chapstick.

01:17:48:06 - 01:17:52:16
Joey
The desert by I use chapstick for one week a year.

01:17:52:17 - 01:18:12:12
Robbie
That's the weekend. Also, I would say on that same the same edge, that same line having in your backpack or your pocket, having some cough drops, some mints, you know, something like that is like, again, for the dryness reason and the amount of talking that you do is was thing. And then related to that which is really only affects people like you and I Joey.

01:18:12:14 - 01:18:29:09
Robbie
And that is is I, I'm often telling myself in these situations to turn the volume down. Right. Yeah. Because we get excited. We're loud, gregarious guys anyway, right? Like we end up like screaming conversations, especially at the social events.

01:18:29:11 - 01:18:30:12
Joey
Oh my God, I know.

01:18:30:16 - 01:18:32:09
Robbie
That social that one of the things I.

01:18:32:12 - 01:18:37:23
Joey
It serves me well in the booth because I can project, but it's it's murder on your throat.

01:18:37:23 - 01:18:53:15
Robbie
Well, I'm actually I'm actually at social events. A trade shows I, you know, if it's like a big, you know, like a college mixer or something, I'm like, hey, let's go have this conversation outside over there or something like that where, like, you don't have to be competing with the music. All the other people.

01:18:53:15 - 01:19:03:12
Joey
Remember one year we we were organizing the colors mixer, and when we were doing the big raffle microphone, entire PA system stopped working and I was just like, don't worry, I'm.

01:19:03:15 - 01:19:04:18
Robbie
Just here. Yeah, yeah.

01:19:04:21 - 01:19:08:13
Joey
And it worked. Yeah, we got through it. It was not comfortable.

01:19:08:15 - 01:19:25:08
Robbie
So so the other the other things obviously about shows in general, right. Is you know, you want to look cool, but your feet need to be comfortable. That's the biggest thing. you know, I look, you know, when I look at my watch every, every day at a trade show, you know, at home, I probably average, I don't know, six, 7000.

01:19:25:10 - 01:19:40:20
Robbie
You know, steps probably should be getting more, but probably somewhere about, you know, on the Monday of this year's end, maybe I hit over 30,000 steps. Right. and, you know, a lot of time, especially at MLB in Vegas, nothing is nearly as close as you think it is. Please don't try to walk because you'll you'll die.

01:19:40:20 - 01:19:46:10
Joey
There's no short walks in Vegas. Everything is a cab ride or an Uber or some other kind of transportation.

01:19:46:10 - 01:19:47:02
Robbie
Which includes.

01:19:47:02 - 01:19:50:22
Joey
You can walk from one point to another point in Las Vegas. You're wrong.

01:19:51:03 - 01:20:00:11
Robbie
Yeah. And that includes the that includes the show floor, the this all these halls are very long, very wide. You'll do a lot of walking there. So comfortable shoes, socks etc. and is another one. And that goes.

01:20:00:11 - 01:20:18:06
Joey
Back into planning too. You know, the show floor extends across multiple halls, multiple buildings, figure out your plan like don't you don't need to hit every building the first day. You just don't. You need to pace yourself. People don't pace themselves. And they they they realize like a day and a half in like, oh, I'm done for the week.

01:20:18:12 - 01:20:37:05
Robbie
Totally. The other thing I would, would urge people to do is that there is a lot of swag and crap given out around anybody, and if you're not, if you don't have a stable location to store things in at the show, right, like I you're working at a trade show booth or something, having some sort of backpack or bag or whatever.

01:20:37:05 - 01:20:57:21
Robbie
Fanny pack or whatever, you're going to find indispensable because next thing you know, you're loaded up with 73,000 giveaways and all that kind of stuff. Having a place, to put all those things. also, I would say, and this was, this is maybe just me, but it's been actually, it's come to my attention more because of, the pandemic this year.

01:20:57:21 - 01:21:14:16
Robbie
Man, I had my backpack loaded with, like, little bottles of hand sanitizer. Right. Because here's here's the thing is that, trade show illness is a real thing. even before we were talking about, you know, global pandemics, I every single year, I had to get back on the plane and be, you know, I blame it on all.

01:21:14:16 - 01:21:38:20
Robbie
I'm just a little tired behind. But sure enough, 2 or 3 days after I get back, those germs have, You know, done their thing. And then I have a cold for a week. Right. I have I generally now at trade shows revert to the old fist bump instead of the handshake, which everybody understands these days. and, you know, I, I probably got some strange looks from some people, but, like, literally, I'm just, you know, hand sanitizer and, like, didn't you just do that?

01:21:38:20 - 01:21:47:01
Robbie
Yep. I just did that. But I'm doing it again. Right? You know, just and and actually this year didn't have returned without a cold. So there is some there's something I.

01:21:47:03 - 01:21:52:22
Joey
I feel great coming home. I, I attest that to the water.

01:21:53:00 - 01:22:11:10
Robbie
it could be the other, the other thing I would say, too, is that, when it comes to kind of your, your health and well-being, is that like, you know, you mentioned this in the context of not getting dehydrated, too, but, like, you know, 3:00 in the morning is not going to do anybody any good with their immune system.

01:22:11:10 - 01:22:26:00
Robbie
Right. Like try to try to get some sleep. Right. And, you know, and kind of plan that out. I, I, you know, when early days is going to be when I was 25, it was. Yeah. Stay out until 5:00 in the morning. And now I'm like, I've been to that bar. I'm going to go home and go back there.

01:22:26:01 - 01:22:26:10
Robbie
Yeah.

01:22:26:10 - 01:22:47:00
Joey
And just kind of judge what your your tolerance of extreme partying is. Yeah. You know, for what your goals are of the show. Right. Like Robbie and I were both working this, this entire show. So we did not have a lot of particularly late nights partying. If you're just going to hang out with me and meet people and have a good trip, you could probably be a little bit more flexible with that.

01:22:47:00 - 01:22:48:13
Joey
Than, than than we are.

01:22:48:15 - 01:23:13:09
Robbie
Yeah. And then the last thing I'll say about the general trade show experience is if you're going to go there to do business and ask questions and get answers to problems and suggest ideas, whatever. you know, there are so many people that people working at booths meet every day at the trade shows that, you know, your particular next great idea might have gone, you know, in one ear and out the other ear for the person that you talk to.

01:23:13:10 - 01:23:35:07
Robbie
Right? So getting contact information and following up and following up post-show with somebody is, is a really big thing. And I've actually found that like I parlay one trade show into another trade show. Hey, remember that great discussion we had in NAB. Let's continue it at IBC. Right. And I'll follow up with them. So getting contact information and following up with people that you meet is a is.

01:23:35:07 - 01:23:52:11
Joey
A big thing. I keep a whole pocket full of business cards and that people have given me. Yeah, right. And I try to at least send an email to everyone that I have contacted before, just, hey, great either seeing you again or meeting you for the first time at NAB. Just wanted to make sure you had my contact information.

01:23:52:11 - 01:24:24:20
Joey
We can stay in touch. I hope you had a safe, you know, pleasant trip home. You know, just a friendly follow up email to keep you on people's radar because you never know. There's so many different aspects of the industry in one place at one time, with so many different webs of connections between each other that, you know, making that point of contact with the right person at the right time could mean the difference between a job down the road and not, you know, you never know where these contacts lead, and this is the best place to get them, because you start with face to face time.

01:24:24:23 - 01:24:28:03
Joey
And then when you follow up, they're remembering who you are.

01:24:28:05 - 01:24:44:08
Robbie
Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's so true. And I and I have those experiences all the time like in cabs or Ubers, you know, like, oh, you're going back to the hotel. Do you mind if I jump in with you? That kind of thing. Like, you know, being prepared. You never know who you're going to meet. You never know what's going to lead to the to the next, you know, the next great thing.

01:24:44:08 - 01:25:08:02
Robbie
So having, you know, either paper copies of your card or a digital version of it or whatever, like being prepared in those situations. The other thing I would say, and this is going to sound really geeky about, this, but I have learned that having some sort of, I should say, elevator pitch about what you do and who you are is a really nice thing to have, right?

01:25:08:02 - 01:25:27:20
Robbie
And just need doesn't have to be perfect, but kind of like the short, like because you're going to somebody's going to say, oh yeah, what do you do? Right? And you want to take 30 minutes of that person's life, right? Just like, oh, I'm a colorist based out of wherever this is the stuff I work on. And, you know, here's my website, like, whatever it may be, just being prepared for that quick elevator pitch, because I can't tell you how many times people come up to me.

01:25:27:20 - 01:25:51:22
Robbie
I'm like, oh, I, I would love to get your life story at some point in time, but I got to go over here and do this right. So being short and succinct and kind of having that elevator pitch I think is helpful as well. So, yeah, I mean, so anybody IBC and Ruby, all these various places, I think that they are if you have not been to a major industry trade show, I think it's a great, you know, great thing to do at least a couple times.

01:25:52:04 - 01:26:11:21
Robbie
Do you need to go every year like we do? Probably not. I mean, because it is expensive, right? It can add up, but it is the it is still nice, especially with things that do require tactile look and feel like, you know, thinking cameras and lenses and things that, you know, you're going to interact with different control surfaces, right?

01:26:11:22 - 01:26:21:16
Joey
Yeah. I can't tell you how many people get super excited when they come to the Black Magic booth. And I'm demoing the advanced panel and I'm just like, here, you drive it, I'll show you the basics.

01:26:21:17 - 01:26:23:11
Robbie
Right? And they never sat down. Right, right.

01:26:23:11 - 01:26:31:14
Joey
And try it because it's all about feel and tactile control. And some people are like, whoa, I get to play with it. Like, of course you get to play with it. That's why these companies are here.

01:26:31:19 - 01:26:52:06
Robbie
Yeah. And I think, you know, combining kind of just, you know, touring around the show floor also with trying to get some, free or, you know, relatively affordable educational opportunities. at these shows is a big thing. And then and again, as we discussed, you know, not, you know, trying to be as social and as networking as possible.

01:26:52:08 - 01:27:15:00
Robbie
and these events is always going to pay off. And, you know, honestly, some of my best, clients, connections, friends, have been in situations where, you know, trade shows. And also it's just one of those things where, like, you will you will come up with a trade show group of friends, right? Yeah. I'm thinking of, you know, my buddy Simon, it was like, I don't think I've ever seen Simon outside of, outside of a trade show, right?

01:27:15:00 - 01:27:21:13
Robbie
It's just like, oh, here we are again. Oh, you're working that booth. I'm working in this booth, you know, so it becomes like a little bit of, a traveling circus as well. So.

01:27:21:13 - 01:27:42:06
Joey
Good stuff. Yeah. And like you mentioned, it can be expensive. but there's ways to mitigate that. within reason. Right? First, I will say this. Never, ever pay for a pass for the show for their free, every vendor has a sign up sheet on their website where you can just say, hey, you get a free NAB show pass.

01:27:42:06 - 01:28:03:07
Joey
So it's like 15 bucks or ten bucks, whatever they would charge you if you actually signed up yourself. You can sign up through any number of exhibitors that are going to be there, as long as you do it in advance. And I think an important thing to mention that's NAB specific is they have changed the show. They started doing this, last year, I think, or maybe the year before.

01:28:03:07 - 01:28:03:18
Robbie
Two years ago.

01:28:03:18 - 01:28:33:12
Joey
And they changed the show from starting on Monday and ending on Thursday to starting on Sunday and ending on Wednesday. And what that does is it allows people that can't really afford to leave their 9 to 5 for a lot of days, a full open day on a Sunday, that they can make it out to the show, even if it's just for one day, and have the opportunity to to do some of this networking to to get it, get the show experience without having to sacrifice an entire day of working.

01:28:33:12 - 01:28:51:19
Joey
And, as a result, income. You know, I think that was, a move on Abby's part that that surprised a lot of people because, like, we have the show starts on Sunday. That's a little weird, but once you see, you kind of understand it, it makes a lot of sense. And I think it opens up the opportunity for a lot of people that couldn't go for various scheduling reasons before.

01:28:51:21 - 01:29:15:12
Robbie
Yeah. And specifically within AB, there's a couple other cost saving things that you should consider. Number one, Airbnb runs a housing website that opens up a couple months, before the show actually begins. this is essentially anybody themselves, the National Association of Broadcasters block booking rooms at various Vegas hotels, you know, and these range obviously from, you know, the ultra cheap up to the ultra, luxurious rates.

01:29:15:12 - 01:29:37:03
Robbie
So you can kind of choose your poison, for what works for you for there. The other thing I would say in terms of cost savings and stuff like that is that, the Vegas monorail is actually pretty good. Runs down the entire side of the strip that the, convention center is actually on. So kind of starting up at MGM and going all the way a little bit past, the convention center, so you can actually get weekly passes.

01:29:37:03 - 01:29:55:14
Robbie
So instead of spending, you know, $25 in a cab or over every time, you can jump up and down that, two I would also say that, yes, Vegas is known for its very good food, but everything in Vegas is really, really super expensive. So one of the things that I've started getting in the habit of doing, especially working the shows, is like, I'll get in.

01:29:55:17 - 01:30:15:18
Robbie
If I get in usually a day early, I'll take a cab over to a grocery store or Costco or something like that, buy a case of water, right? buy, you know, some snacks and like, you know, protein bars and stuff like that. So instead of going down to the hotel lobby and spending, you know, $13 for about water or whatever, I have that ready to go.

01:30:15:18 - 01:30:32:12
Robbie
And actually in Vegas, there's a whole bunch of options as well for kind of nontraditional, like, you know, hotel rooms. What I mean by that is not a casino like some of them are like, are like extended, say, places almost. So you can have kitchen and stuff like that. So if you're going to be there for a while, that's another thing.

01:30:32:14 - 01:30:50:01
Robbie
And then the last thing I'll say about, about Vegas in particular, because this is not always the case with every trade show, but in Vegas in particular, there's just a lot of cool things to do. In Vegas. I mentioned food is being one of them has a lot of great restaurants. but you're not far, obviously, from the Grand Canyon, downtown Old Vegas.

01:30:50:01 - 01:30:51:09
Robbie
Have you ever been to Old Vegas? Sure.

01:30:51:10 - 01:30:52:13
Joey
Remount street. Oh, yeah.

01:30:52:16 - 01:31:08:21
Robbie
Oh, yeah. Man, old Vegas is a hoot. It's, it's a really good time to do, I recently, not this year, but the year before, I had gone to the Pinball Museum, which was a really cool place to go. there's a variety of things to do that are also social and you'll find a lot of these events happen at some of these places, too.

01:31:08:21 - 01:31:24:15
Robbie
So, that's worth, worth a check as well. so. Yeah, man, you know, Vegas is a hoot every year. I mean, I took a little bit of break because of the pandemic, but I'm glad that, was back at it this year. You know, honestly, as I told you, I had a lot of trepidation about going back to the show.

01:31:24:19 - 01:31:45:04
Robbie
Mainly for all my germaphobe, pandemic kind of reasons. But I'm glad that you and some others forced me to go, because it kind of was like getting back on the bike. And then once I came back, I was like, oh, yeah, man, that's what I remember. I asked what I liked, and sure, there was some of the pain and the pain in the ass factors of whatever chapped lips and lost voice and whatever.

01:31:45:04 - 01:31:50:12
Robbie
But, it is a really great experience to be able to, to see people that you don't get to see often.

01:31:50:14 - 01:32:11:02
Joey
Yeah. And like I said, you know, it's every year for me, it's my Super Bowl. And I, I love the entire experience. And, and we kind of we're at a inflection point with the, with the, with the pandemic where I felt like there was real risk that anybody was going to get killed. It got delayed, it got delayed, it got delayed.

01:32:11:04 - 01:32:23:03
Joey
Then it kind of came back and everybody showed up. You know, the first year it came back, more people showed up than they expected. And I think that kind of brought it back. And now we're good right.

01:32:23:04 - 01:32:50:10
Robbie
Yeah. And it's it's a, it's a, it's an a good spot. I don't think it's the same as it was in the heyday of the early 2000s, late 1990s. But I do think it's now in a pretty good sweet spot. You know, the only, the only unfortunate thing is, is that as our industry has, gotten more diverse and more democratized for smaller companies, like, I think it's still is prohibitively expensive for a lot of companies to display at the actual show floor.

01:32:50:14 - 01:32:59:13
Robbie
So that's actually one one last point I'll say is that you might look at the list and go, oh, my favorite company or a company I want to talk to is not actually on the show floor.

01:32:59:15 - 01:33:01:11
Joey
Don't they? Are they just don't have a booth.

01:33:01:16 - 01:33:24:12
Robbie
They? Yeah, they're probably walking around. Also, a lot of companies will rent out hotel rooms to do demos, and show off their wares, because that's significantly cheaper than getting physical space. but you also might be, be on the lookout for, you know, if a software developer or whatever is a small company, they might be like, well, I'm here at the show, but I'm at the Adobe booth or I'm at, you know, the Blackmagic booth or wherever they may be.

01:33:24:14 - 01:33:27:00
Robbie
come meet me there. So there's still those opportunities as well.

01:33:27:00 - 01:33:37:20
Joey
Yeah. So check in with all your people before you go and figure out where people are going to be, because it really is. And most, most companies have some kind of presence there.

01:33:37:21 - 01:34:05:11
Robbie
So good stuff. Well, as always, big thanks to our editor Stella, who makes us sound intelligible. Big thanks to our sponsor, Flanders Scientific, for the great support, and getting helping us get The Offset Podcast out there. of course, you might be watching on YouTube or listening on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, or wherever you are consuming this, if you have the ability or the time, please do us a favor and like the show and rate the show.

01:34:05:13 - 01:34:21:22
Robbie
leave us a comment about the show on this episode or any of the other episodes we released. and as always, we really appreciate you taking the time to listen to us and our opinions about all things related to color, post-production, and so on. So for The Offset Podcast, I'm Robbie Carman.

01:34:22:00 - 01:34:23:13
Joey
And I'm Joey D’Anna. Thanks for watching.