Everyone’s back from the NAB Convention in Las Vegas. An interesting time was had by some. The hordes that attended last year (125,000) were down to around 100,000. That included about 60,000 vendors (down from 65,000 last year). That’s a vendor-attendee ratio of 3 to 2. Off by a margin of blah blah blah. More stuff to be sold than there were buyers. Joseph Seligman of the old Seligman Department Stores once said, "A good salesman is one that can sell something he doesn’t have to someone who doesn’t want it." Sound familiar?
Here’s how I see things:
First of all, let’s talk about the economy. "Poo Poo!" as one of my friends replied when asked just last week, "How’s business?"
He used to say, "My desk is covered with boards and I’m hot!!" There were few of his breed at the show. Maybe they were on the golf course, but definitely not at the show.
Then there was the "Writers’ Strike." Thank God it has been averted, settled, a non-event. The preparation for it was monumental—good for some, not so good for others. But wait—it’s not really over yet. There is still the possibility of another strike. The SAG-AFTRA strike still needs to be settled. Oh, well. We’ll wait and see about that, too. Keep the ADR comin’!
Back to Vegas. The early days of the show were cold. I personally hate the cold. Tough to play golf when it is so cold. The pools at the Bellagio and the Hard Rock are empty when it’s too cold. You know—no showgirls or showguys to look at.
As predicted: Ta daa! Few, almost no, mentions on the floor of the Internet. Some streaming, a few more interactive mentions, but the big question asked was, "Did you see how small the Quantel booth was?"
Final Cut Pro is definitely getting better. But they’d better get their audio together. Apple showed DV with Version 10—but it wasn’t working, just like yours.
Speaking of Apple: There were hardly any MACs in the Avid Booth. Yep, Windows wins, especially if one of your largest shareholders is Intel. And almost everyone had an Avid type to sell you: "Yep, it’s just like an Avid." (That salesperson just told you what to buy.)
Flat Screens. I want one for over my fireplace. Wow! Really cool ones doing really cool things. Bigger, brighter, cheaper—almost HD- or whatever-ready. "Got any B stock" or after-show specials?
How big was Sony’s Booth? Lots of new faces. Good thing everyone wears name cards. I hope they don’t open any more facilities. I don’t want to have to compete with them.
And how about the poor kids from the broadcast arena? How they cannot afford the new technology that the FCC has mandated even made The New York Times. Especially the public stations that are now allowed to sell ads. The economy and the lack of donations from the private sector have slowed their buying habits.
There was not one cookbook booth at either the Las Vegas Convention Center or the Sands Convention center. It was easier to get a reservation for dinner. The lines in the facilities were definitely shorter.
Best thing at the show was the new Aeron Chair with the gel-filled seat. They probably sold 3,000 in the first two days. The Aqua Massage Room on the Strip was a hit. (I was told about this one.)
The only things that were the same as last year were that Siegfried and Roy got more plastic surgery and used new pictures from seven years ago on the billboards. And the food from the concessions on the convention floors still sucked.
