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Get Connected With Your Industry at IBC2014

John Holton, chair of the IBC2014 Exhibition Committee, talks about this year’s event and describes some of the continuing developments as well as dramatic changes.

John Holton, chair of the IBC2014 Exhibition Committee, talks about this year’s event and describes some of the continuing developments as well as dramatic changes.

We know, because we talk to a lot of visitors, that IBC is a vital part of their annual plans. For many it is the annual investment in knowledge, the chance to see what the industry is up to, and what technical developments will challenge us all in the coming months and years.

This is a very fast-moving business – now more than ever – and so we have to make it as easy as possible for visitors to get at that information. The central way we do that through our exhibition, and with two watchwords we always have in mind: IBC has to be comprehensive, and it has to be convenient.

So I can tell you, for instance, that this year we have over 1,500 stands, occupying more than 50,000 square metres of stand space throughout 14 halls. That is pretty big, of course, and we are proud of it.

So let me look at the first of my two C words: Comprehensive. We bring together all the key vendors from around the world. IBC is the only global event, and we work hard to ensure that is true.

I am pretty sure, though, that no-one reading this is going to attempt to visit all 1,000 stands. Even if it were possible, no-one needs to know everything.

The chances are you have one or two projects in mind, and need to look at specific areas of technology. That is why our halls are laid out not by some arcane rules of seniority, but by grouping technologies together in a logical way.

Hence my second C word: Convenience. IBC is a convenient exhibition to visit. If you are about to invest in transmitters, virtually all you need can be found in Hall 8. If you want to upgrade your post production hardware, Hall 7 has all the major brands.

Touch & Connect

Those are two fairly traditional examples I have just quoted. As we are all aware, the nature of electronic media is fast changing, and IBC is continually evolving to reflect that. This year sees dramatic changes.

IBC Content Everywhere Europe is the first in a series of global events powered and created by IBC. It is aimed at the convergence between IT, telecoms and broadcast. As its name suggests, it exists to analyse and present the technologies which allow consumers to enjoy content where, when and how they want it delivered.

You could think of IBC Content Everywhere Europe as a show within a show, were it not so tightly integrated into the IBC environment. Naturally, all of these new media exhibitors are part of the one IBC exhibition space, and all visitors are welcome to tour any part of the show floor.

If you came to IBC last year you may have spotted some visitors carrying orange devices along with their badges. This is our Touch & Connect technology, and it lies at the heart of IBC Content Everywhere Europe.

As well as using it to download content from exhibitors, you can use it to build your own social network of contacts, creating a community around common technical, creative and business interests.

IBC Content Everywhere Europe will be taking place across the entire IBC2014 show floor, and will feature three key areas of interest; the Hub stage in Hall 14, where there will be a rolling programme of presentations and debates, free to all visitors, and two more show floor stages for targeted master classes and forums — IBC Content Everywhere Cloud Solutions in Hall 3, and IBC Content Everywhere Workflow Solutions in Hall 9. Again, all these sessions and demonstrations are free to all.

Once again we are hosting the IBC Future Zone, in the Park Foyer near Hall 8. This is where the cutting edge work in the world’s R&D labs and universities comes to life. It is your chance to see what may become the hit product of IBC2020. This area also hosts the Technical Posters, carefully selected and curated by IBC’s Technical Paper’s Committee for their non-commercial & thought provoking ideas.

The IBC2014 exhibition is going to be comprehensive – all the key vendors in every sector of the industry from bespoke broadcast hardware to app development and interactive streaming – and it is going to be convenient, meaning just logical groupings of exhibitors but informative and thought-provoking presentations and discussions without even leaving the show floor.

It really is the one place to build your stock of knowledge. I look forward to seeing you in September for our most exciting IBC yet.