IBC2010 Exhibition Review

IBC2010 was undoubtedly a world class event. The second largest IBC of all time, the numbers alone are impressive. IBC2010 featured some 1,300 key international suppliers from around the world – 250 that were at the show for the first time – exhibiting in around 100,000 square meters spread around thirteen halls at the RAI (to accommodate OB trucks, satellite links and other large-scale products there were 22 presentations in the outside exhibits area too). And, of course, over 48,500 attendees were at the show to witness it all.

Business, as could be heard from anecdotal evidence and seen daily in the pages of the IBC Daily News or on the IBC TV News broadcasts, was brisk too, with many deals and sales struck on the showfloor. There was significant added value at the show this year too, which, along with a resurgent economy, helped contribute to the buzz in the RAI’s halls.

This year, IBC expanded into a thirteenth hall to accommodate demand, and the organisation also established the Connected World, dedicating a hall specifically to the IP-driven platforms of IPTV, Mobile TV and Digital Signage that are doing to much to extend the broadcast market into both new screens and new times. The Connected World was supported by the excellent Business Briefings and Armchair Revolution sessions that sought to explain and annotate the new technology; while elsewhere the continuing success of the IBC Big Screen with its high-profile free movie screenings such as Toy Story 3* and Avatar (Special Edition)**, not to mention demonstrations of innovative technology such as NHK’s astonishing-looking Super Hi-Vision, all helped add to the energy and success of the show.

IBC2010 also featured a comprehensive training programme, ensuring it helps invest in the future of the industry. Running over Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 September, The IBC Digital Media Training Workshops were organised and run by internationally renowned training company Future Media Concepts. The Workshops were practical, intensive hands-on training courses aimed at intermediate to advanced users covering the main tools that industry uses - Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Production Suite – as well as topical subjects such as DSLR video, Video Production, 3D Production Workflow, and Motion Graphics.

There was also free training on offer in the shape of the professional and exhibitor-mounted training sessions on offer in the Production Village that covered all aspects of shooting with the technology on show. And demonstration workshops in the Post Production Zone covered a range of important subjects ranging from production techniques to desktop post production tools, always designed to give attendees valuable hands-on experience, tips and tricks that they could take away with them and use to further advance their careers.

Thanks to these innovations as well as the increasing robustness of the economy, talking to exhibitors traffic was felt to be good not only across the whole of the exhibition but also throughout its duration, with stands continuing to be busy all the way through to the show’s closing on Tuesday afternoon.

Miguel Angel Doncel, CEO of Spanish graphics and editing equipment developer SGO said: “It has been an incredible show for us – totally amazing. Last year people were talking about stereoscopic 3D: now they are looking for solutions.”

More generally, Joop Janssen, CEO of the Vitec Group of around 20 well-known brands in production equipment, said “IBC has been fantastic for us as media supplier companies. We definitely see the market being up from last year: there is more life in the broadcast market in general.”

And, perhaps the best indication of all: by the final day, 80% of exhibitors had made bookings for space at IBC2011.

To view the IBC2010 Conference Review, click here.

*Toy Story 3 courtesy of Buena Vista International and produced by The Walt Disney Company’s Pixar Animation Studios.
**Avatar (Special Edition) courtesy of 20th Century Fox International and by kind permission of Lightstorm Entertainment.