IBC has taken care over the years to ensure that it reflects the concerns and challenges in the wider industry, and its special feature areas serve as an excellent barometer to understand exactly what it is that keeps the people trying to plot the future of the business awake at nights.
The IBC Content Everywhere Hub, situated at the heart of the inaugural IBC Content Everywhere event, will be one of their key destinations this year. Each day will host a programme of free-to attend sessions and product demonstrations built around two, hour-long, curated and editorially-independent sessions and panel discussions. Subjects under discussions include Social TV, audience measurement in a digital world, in-stadia second screens for spectators, ‘dongle wars’ and much more.
Two of the most disruptive technologies to impact the industry also now shelter under the IBC Content Everywhere banner. IBC Cloud Solutions in Hall 3 features a theatre attraction that hosts both free to attend presentations and case studies on cloud technology and products, allowing visitors to unpack the issues surrounding cloud-based solutions and weigh for themselves the benefits and potential disadvantages. IBC Content Everywhere Workflow Solutions, meanwhile, showcases the financial and production benefits of the disruptive technologies of tapeless production. You can find it, and its presentation theatre, in Hall 9.
A slightly larger auditorium is the home of The IBC Big Screen Experience, one of the many facets of the IBC show that makes it truly unique. Situated at the centre of the RAI, the 1700-seat venue is this year kitted out with Christie 6P 2D and 3D laser projection (which is still yet to be mass produced) and Dolby Atmos immersive audio. The Christie ‘6-Primary’ 4K laser projectors are yet to be mass produced — probably coming on stream in 2015 — so this will be one of the first places to see one running and witness the additional luminance they bring to cinema projection, particularly in 3D.
The Big Screen is home to the Disruptive Cinema strand of the Conference, the perennially popular free screenings, which are typically Hollywood blockbusters chosen to highlight the power and capabilities of the audio and projection systems, and also the vibrant and fast-paced IBC Awards Ceremony, which takes place on the Sunday evening and is free to attend to all show attendees.
Over the years the IBC Awards has become one of the centrepieces of the entire show: a true celebration of the best the global industry has to offer which acknowledges excellence in a number of key fields. including the IBC International Honour for Excellence and the IBC Innovation Awards. It’s more than just an awards show too, often teasing the crowd in the RAI Auditorium with exclusive glimpses of the cutting-edge content that will be exciting audiences in the year to come.
Another free to visit part of the show that always draws significant crowds is the Industry Insights conference stream. These sessions are free for all IBC attendees and are home to, amongst others, the always fascinating ‘What Caught My Eye’ sessions. These have become an IBC institution over the years; a series of three curated looks at the best that the IBC showfloor has to offer provided by experts in their fields in three separate categories.
One of their picks is often located in the Future Zone. The Future Zone is the place where IBC attendees, and indeed, often anyone, first get to see some of the projects fresh from the drawing boards of some of the foremost technology institutions in the industry. Over the years it has been host to all sorts of game-changing exhibits and prototypes, including some that have gone on to have a much greater impact out in the main exhibition itself.
What will be its highlights this year? You will have to investigate the Park Foyer next to Hall 8 to find out.