National Association of Broadcasters Convention

This year the National Association of Broadcasters seems to have moved forward in accepting the diverse media industry crowd that attends its annual convention.

Until just a few years ago, it seemed reasonable to surmise that the NAB expected only its constituency of broadcasters (and for a while webcasters) to attend. The association didn't seem to take aggressive advantage of the demographic shift as NAB became one of the top gathering points for film and television postproduction, digital cinema, and videographers of all stripes, professional and even prosumer.

Of course over the past few years, NAB programming and marketing has gradually broadened. Slogans like Convergence Marketplace suggested that the NAB was aware of the influx of new media professionals and the overlapping of broadcast technology and “electronic media” technology of all kinds.

This year, according to an NAB spokesperson, convergence has happened (good to know), and now the NAB has officially embraced its role as The Largest Electronic Media Show. Session programming reveals topics that are only remotely broadcast-related — if at all — such as digital dailies. There is a strong emphasis on desktop production, which of course has a role in broadcast, but is important to a much broader demographic as well. Although not put on by NAB itself, the Digital Cinema Summit once again fills two weekend days. Last year, attendance for this summit was sizeable and enthusiastic, begging the question of when there will be even more official NAB programming for the ever-growing crowd of filmmakers.

This year, the NAB has also added the first annual technology awards, the Award for Innovation in Media (AIM), which will be given in the categories of Content Creation, Management, and Delivery. They're intended “to recognize groundbreaking products that advance the industry by…boosting efficiency, increasing user flexibility and creativity, and/or lowering operating costs” — much the same criteria for our own Pick Hit awards, and the awards given out by other publications. In fact, NAB will ask select members of the trade media to help choose from among the finalists, who will be chosen by NAB attendees themselves. The results of this vote will help demonstrate the priorities of the NAB attendees and may also hint at its demographic spread.

It seems ironic that as trade shows have struggled under a three-year-plus recession, the NAB has not moved even more quickly to embrace the enviable range of pilgrims who persist in attending the trade show, even though they are not officially broadcast-related.

It is to the NAB's credit that its show is so attractive to this diverse (and overlapping) crowd of the faithful. The increased efforts it is making to serve its broadening audience are welcome. There will continue to be ever-greater competition for the time and attention of media professionals (and greater competition for the manufacturers' exhibition and marketing dollars). Those who serve best will obviously serve longest.