What’s your typical IBC routine: what are you there to see/learn, who are you there to meet?
I attend IBC to have as many business-focused discussions as possible with technology buyers and sellers. The technology side of the media industry lacks for public disclosures around business developments, owing to a paucity of public companies in the technology supplier community and the lack of technology-focused disclosures from media organisations. There is no better reference for media technology industry developments than candid conversations with the professionals spending technology budgets, deploying technology projects, and selling technology solutions.
What are you most looking forward to at IBC 2022?
I am eager to hear more about how executives expect industry economics to evolve into virtualised technology environments. The trade show is itself a data point about how the process of selling technology will start to adjust to this new paradigm. Deploying technologies in virtualised environments is different, therefore the discipline of selling technology is changing, and by extension the associated trade events will evolve. My suspicion is the process will start with the organisers and exhibitors stripping down the exhibition to only its core commercial elements, discarding many of the distractions of prior shows.
Why is IBC important to you in a professional capacity, and how does the show compare to others on the calendar?
It is a big world, but it isn’t a particularly big media technology industry. IBC is one of only two opportunities on the industry calendar to engage with a critical mass of global industry executives while on the same time zone, in the same location, and over the course of several days.
