Ep.4, S2 - NAB Inside Tips for Government Video Teams

Let's not make light of this, Pete will actually be going to his 15th NAB this year. That's like a decade and a half. I didn't have to bring a razor when I first started going to NAB 'cause I was like, just a kid. This podcast is for city communications teams and video professionals in government. We talk about expanding service delivery with video and streaming, media accessibility, gear, broadcast and streaming workflows, and more. It's all right here on the Government Video Podcast. Welcome back, GVP listeners, I'm your host, Michelle Alimoradi, and we're three episodes into season two of the podcast. What? Also, it's February, which means whether you're ready or not, it's time to start thinking about NAB. If you're in government video or broadcasting, streaming, even AV, this event has something for you. NAB brings together the latest technology, tools, workflow, innovations, and industry experts. And today I'm joined by Pete Tufigno, the VP of sales at Tightrope Media Systems, and let's not make light of this, Pete will actually be going to his 15th NAB this year. That's like a decade and a half. I, I didn't have to bring a razor when I first started going to NAB 'cause I was like, just a kid. but how, like, how is it like, I feel like the holidays just happened, right? And it's like, oh yeah, NAB, we'll do that like second quarter and now it's like, okay, I need to book my flight. Like things are getting real. We're, we gotta just dive right in as soon as January hits. It's crazy. so Pete, you're our senior NAB veteran here, but I'll have you know that I. I'm going to my 7th NAB this year, so maybe I'll catch up to you someday. I don't know if that's how math like expert level. It's expert level. Seven years. Yeah, we're, we're getting there. We're getting there. in this episode, you and I are going to be talking about all things NAB, like what's new this year, what we think are the must see trends and we're also going to We're going to share some stories, even though, you know, you're really not supposed to do that, like what happens in Vegas or whatever. but you know, we're, we're breaking some rules today. Like we're going for it. And we're also going to bring you some inside tips because, let's be honest, navigating the show floor is an Olympic sport in and of itself. And of course, for our government video, folks, we simply must talk about the themes of this year's convention that tie into the work that you do and what you can look for if you attend NAB this year in Las Vegas. So, Pete, let's get into it. let's do it. Let's do it. I'm psyched. So, again, decade and a half going to NAB. You, you can probably barely remember your first one, but, but let's give it a shot. Can you remember what your first impressions were at the first one, or even just, you know, the first few years that you were going? Like, What came to mind for you? Yeah, the, the show was for sure bigger than, than what I pictured. Right? So my first few years at the company, everyone else would go to NAB and I'd be stuck back answering the phones. And they would just come back so energized and so like, Just, it just fuels them for the rest of the year. So when I went, I was like, okay, so we'll just walk around. I'll, I'll know people right in year one. And then it's just like amazed that you, you work on, you work so hard on getting into one hall or getting done with one hall and then there's another one and another one and oh yeah, now there's West Hall, like it's, it's impressive. I think, I think that's a really important point to prepare people for if they've not been. Because I remember before I went to my first one, you know, I was new to the industry. And my more, you know, senior colleagues, probably you included at that point would say things like I'd be at a smaller convention, you know, that was still at a big convention center. And I'd be like, Whoa look at these exhibits. They're so spectacular. They'd just be like, wait till you go to NAB. They're like, this is nothing. Just wait till Just wait, just And I'm like, what do you mean? You know, what's bigger than this? And then I went and I wouldn't say that it was necessarily there was still big exhibits at some of these other smaller ones. But at NAB, it's like, they're all big, you know, and you've got four different halls, like you said, and they were all full and they have it separated out by category. And you're like, How are there this many people in like production and this many people in distribution and this many people in like production trucks like I had no idea there were this many options and then and then it gets even more granular than that in terms of like workflow solutions and just some weird little like in between steps that that you didn't think about before Yeah, like some booths are bigger than the shows that you would go to before, right? You're like this, this one booth is physically, geographically as big as like this show that I thought was pretty darn good and pretty fruitful, right? It's, it's pretty crazy. Yeah, I'm not going to name too many vendors here. If you want to see the full vendor list you can look on the NAB show website, but I will say Black Magic, which is a Bye, Brand that a lot of people are familiar with and probably use those tools in their daily work. Huge booth with a garden in it and like Multiple stages. So just picture that and that's not the only one like there's there's other ones like that in each hall so that in and of itself is like fun but also it can be a little bit overwhelming. So I always tell people Look at the website ahead of time, and at least have some rough list of all the people that you want to meet with, right? Because it's a lot, and once you have your short list, you at least know where people are. And maybe you can dedicate one morning to one hall, an afternoon to another hall. Have, have a plan for where you're going to sit down and chill for a little bit in between. That I feel is my biggest advice that I give people. NAB has tools for that. You can go on their website. You can create a whole show plan for yourself when you create an account and register. And I think that is a really useful tool that you should actually take advantage of. What, what would be your big advice for first timers? I, I would say get registered, right? That's like a general trade show rule that I have even for like CESs and some of the other big shows, it's like register early, you find a vendor code, get registered, and then at least you start to get on the list and you're, you're on the radar. But I would totally agree with what you're saying on the show planner, like for the first many years as an exhibitor, it's a little different, but even when I went to NAB. As a, as an attendee, just start like saying, Oh yeah, I want to go to that booth and use the online tool to do that because a, you get there and it's a zoo and you just, you can't remember who you did or didn't want to see. And then also, it like, maps you out, it's like, oh, if you're in South Upper go to here's three you want to visit, and then this one right over here, and so you really help minimize your steps. We always talk about getting your steps in at home and stuff, but at NAB it's like, how can I minimize, how can I do less how can I not walk 25, 000 steps today? Yeah. right, right, for sure. no, I think that's great advice. And their app is also super helpful. So, I mean, at this point in time, I would use the website. But then when you get there, all of that's going to carry over to their app. And then even within the app, Here's a good insight tip. Make sure you look for any like free fun events that are either being held by the convention or by some of the vendors, because I find a bunch of cool free stuff in there. Sometimes it's talks, sometimes it's happy hours or just like networking events for, you know, some kinds of birds of a feather topic, like. I have been a radio nerd in a past life, hence the podcast, right? There was like radio meetups and other kinds of meetups. We have also held meetups specifically for people in community media and government broadcasts. And who knows, we might do that again this year. We haven't, we haven't decided yet. But those are all things that People tend to list later, so you, you tend to find them in the app and you want to check that maybe when you're at the airport, like headed, headed to the convention. and then there's also other add ons that are pretty valuable that you can add on to your registration when you sign up. So, so A Don't pay for an exhibit hall pass, like just find a vendor that you want to see and get their exhibit hall pass code. It's fifty dollar savings. And then when you register, there are other workshops and things that you can sign up for, trainings. And some of them, I looked at the, at the offerings this year. There's quite a few that are 200 or less and they're like production, camera work, editing. Some people might be doing that in their daily work and it would be worth it to look at getting some of these trainings from, you know, the industry's best. So that's one thing that, that's several things. I listed several things. Let's be real. Those are several things that Michelle recommends for, for first timeNAB-ers have you, have you had an experience with, with that kind of stuff? yes, yeah, I would like the other thing I was just thinking too is when you get to the airport, like you land and it's baggage claim and there's the liquor store to the left pick up your badge. It's Vegas. It's so funny. I forget what the sign says as you're coming down the escalator, but it's like liquor store and just like something else like pharmacy or just like the weirdest To the left of the slot machines. Mm hmm. Yep. but get your badge it at baggage claim, like they'll have a little temporary badge pickup areas. Cause if you're like, Oh, Sunday morning, I'm going to get to the show early, get my badge and just hit the floor. The lines to pick up badges are insane. So if you can do that there that's very helpful, but I'll also echo what you're saying about like evening activities Like happy hours or manufacturer events. Cause when I first started going to NAB, like I'd, I'd work the booth all day, six o'clock would come around and I'd be like, okay, see y'all tomorrow. And I'd go back to my hotel room and sleep and like, just recover. But like what I've learned is like this, the first half of the day is the trade show and then the second half is like when you're networking and when you're meeting with people it's usually a great way to snag a dinner, find some manufacturer that hasn't hit their dinner quota and they need to take customers out. that for sure can be. Can be beneficial. And also on that note would you say half the day is this and half the day is, half the day is trade show, half the day is networking. Like we're talking about 12, 14 hour days. So, pacing yourself. is so necessary, don't go all out on day 1, would be advice that I would say and for getting into, you know, stories that we're all supposed to share, in the past, I, I was invited to an association party on the first night It was the night before the exhibits start, right? So NAB has a couple of days before the exhibit hall opens. That's just the workshops and sessions. And then some bigger manufacturers like to have a big party or associations like to have a big party that first night, you know, it was like the opening night kind of thing, and if you go to those. Pace yourself because you've got a whole week of very long days coming up and let's just say I learned that lesson the hard way. Vegas is not gonna run out of alcohol. You do not need to fill up on the day before the show starts. Right, there, there will be an abundance of open bars, there will be an abundance of parties, you'll be fine. That's definitely some good advice. And I promise we will get into actual solutions and technology that you're gonna see at the show. But we just, I think it's important to let people know, especially first timers, about all of that part. Wear comfortable shoes. Take advantage of any free water than anyone's Or free chairs. Anytime you see a chair, take it. Yeah. The shoe thing I learned is after the show I get back, I change my shoes and socks, I don't know, maybe TMI, but like I changed my shoes and socks for the, like the evening thing. Cause it's just you're standing all day. It's always like the debate. Is it, is it worse to be a manufacturer who's stuck in a 10 by 20 square Mm hmm. be Standing still on your feet all day or like the attendee who's like just getting billions of steps in there's both are not super Awesome, but it's worth it. It's definitely worth it. Yeah, I would say my first year, I was like all about how I looked, right? I wanted to be super dressed up, and I wore terrible shoes, and I really regretted it. Because we didn't have any padding in our booth. It was, like, this weird padding. Sports athletic floor, I don't know how to explain it. No padding is the short of it. And that was just a, that was a bad call. And every year since then, I've been like, What is the dressiest form of tennis shoe that I can find? That is what I will be wearing. Because it really is. Even, even when you're an exhibitor and you're stuck in your booth, I was still averaging 20, 000 steps a day or more. So there you go. I feel like and there's a good amount. There's no shame in tennis shoes There's no shame in wearing flats To the, to the show floor and then changing it to something like, no one's, no one is judging or looking down, you know, they're just like, okay, like you do you, it's usually the topic of conversation oh yeah, like, It's not your first show, huh? it's a good networking conversation starter for sure. This episode is brought to you by Tightrope Media Systems, powering access and connecting communities. When it comes to making your government meetings accessible, Cablecast and Mediascribe have you covered. Live captioning in room and at home, mobile friendly viewing, transcription and translation, automated workflows, streaming apps, agenda integration and chaptering, and more. All designed to make your job easier while keeping your community informed. Heading to NAB show in Las Vegas this April? Come see it all in action. We'll be in West hall booth. W two six one five. Get your free exhibit hall pass on us, go to cablecast. tv to get your code and book a time with our team to find out how we can help you bring accessibility to the next level. I, I do want to talk a little bit about networking too, cause I know that's a big reason that people go to these shows. wHat, What tips, advice do you have as a 15 time NAB attendee for networking, Yeah, I, I think remembering that everyone there is in, in your world, right? It's like, it's like a, If I go to like spring training in, in Florida, like the Minnesota, Minnesota, right. And so there's you see someone else with a Minnesota shirt in Florida and you're like, Hey, what's up? Like you have this bonding thing in common where like here, like I just got back from lunch and everyone's from Minnesota, but you're like, yeah, whatever, like we're here. So I just like the people you bump into. just randomly or you're on the escalator next to like could all be great connections. So I'd encourage people to like just talk with people for sure. But also just again, when the show floor ends, go, even if you just go walk the strip, you're going to like, See people and bump into people. My, like my joke to tell new newbies in Vegas is if you can see it, you can walk it, right? Like you're at one end of the strip. You're like, Oh, the stratosphere is like right there. See it, like just walk down there. And it turns out it's four miles away, yeah, or four miles, It's a trick. So yeah. I have a two part response to that. One is you reminded me when you were talking about where you could pick up your badge. I always pick my badge up at my hotel. Because a lot of the hotels will have a place where you can pick it up there. And on that same note, there's all these people walking around with their badge not on the show floor. You know, on the strip, at their hotel, at a restaurant, whatever. They're wearing the badge. So use that. As a conversation starter, because, or use, you know, the fact that you're both from the same state, you know, or same city, whatever, as a conversation starter, because you really never know the layers of connection that you're gonna take advantage of later, you know, not to say that this is all transactional I've made friends too, you know, and then you have people to, you have people to hang out with, you have people to go with, Discover other things with. So I think all of that is valuable and the, the two easiest ones are to have a conversation with someone who's from a place you're familiar with or the same place as you or just that they have a badge at all. And you're in a place where there's just a few people with a badge. It's a great way to start a conversation with people. And the. Other thing I want to say about that, because we're going to get into actual solutions is that NAB, which stands for the National Association of Broadcasters Convention, has traditionally in the past been very heavily broadcast. But as we all know, as our listeners know, all of that's been sort of, blurred, right? The lines between these industries are blurring. That's air quotes for industries, for those who are listening on the podcast app because people that are in broadcast are using the same tools as people in film and people in podcasting even and, and social media streamers, you know, we're all using the same tools at this point. So, um, People will just go to whatever convention is most convenient, sometimes because, you know, Adobe is going to be at all of them. Blackmagic is going to be at all of them so it really doesn't make as big of a difference. Sometimes it's the timing, it's the location, it's the cost so you really have the ability to find your people. At at any of these, even though it says broadcast and you're not technically broadcasting, there's just so many good networking opportunities and things to learn. that's, that's where I'll leave that. I think we should talk about what's happening at the show a little bit. let's do it. Let's do it. So trends that we're seeing at NAB 2025. A carryover from 2024. Is of course AI, right? AI is everywhere. Everybody's talking about AI. Particularly in like media content generation. And it's advancing so fast, right? Like what we were using last year is just so much better this year. And it's going to be like crazy in two or three years. So a lot of AI. media workflows. What are you seeing in that area that stands out to you, Pete? Yeah, I think I would say that I'm kind of late to the AI game, but it's a thing. it will be in your role, very soon, if it isn't already, let's be real very soon. But I think that the ability for people to do more with less, right? the old let computers do computer things, so people can do people things. But I feel like as, as budgets and things evolve, it's going to be like less money, less people less time, right? Like all these things are just going to be like, you're going to have less and less of the things that you have now. I think as we evolve from year to year, for sure. Yeah, I think I see it making workflows more efficient. You know, consolidating workflows in a way. Making the output that you want cheaper or accessible if you haven't been doing it before. So we're seeing things like, In the government space, captioning, translation any sort of way to present things in multiple languages or to increase accessibility of your media for ADA compliance, that's all super important and AI is playing a big role in making that affordable and accessible to staff at any skill level as well. And it's, it's doing it like super, like it's super quick. Like I remember the first like zoom call that I was on that lasted 30 minutes and I'm trying to hammer out notes. And then someone's Hey, here's this AI, AI recap. And you're just like, Oh, okay, wait. And so taking that, much time did that save me? Right? A, I didn't have to multitask during the meeting. Let's be honest, I'm no good at it. And it's Oh shoot, who said they were gonna it's all there. And so take that, my little 30 minute meeting with coworkers and say, okay, now this is a government meeting or this is like a budget meeting and it's two and a half hours long and I was late, so I don't, and just like instantly or darn near instantly like getting the recap of that. And then it's archived and it's searchable and, and it's all there, right? It's not like I forgot to, my assistant forgot to put that bit in there. It's just, it's just there. It's crazy. Right, it's like attention city clerks, like attention IT managers, attention AV department, media department at your county or city, like we're solving problems over here that we know you all grumble about all the time. Or we're just making things possible that you've been wanting to do and you were like, Oh, we don't have the budget for that. You know, or maybe you're, maybe you are doing it and you're paying a lot of money and you need to make space. To add other things, so you need to bring those costs down. What were you going to say? I I feel like it's, it's cliche to be like, oh, there's, there's things that can give you time back in your day. Like, how many sales pitches say that? We save you an average of three hours per, but it's like, this absolutely does that. Right? I don't want to admit how many hours of meetings I'm in a week. It's just it just makes it man, it literally makes it manageable. Yeah. And talk about people who are already maxed out with their work Tay. Right. Yeah. want to boil this down for people that are actually like on the NAB site, looking for these solutions that do the things that we're talking about. And we didn't even get into this category, but this is important to a lot of cities, too. There's a category for audience measurement. So you can look that up and see all the different vendors that are providing solutions for that. There is automation and playout. So if you're looking for ways to consolidate your data. Content delivery across like your cable channel, your streaming apps, your, your website. There is a dedicated category for that where you're going to be able to see all the, all the vendors demoing those solutions. There is a whole like just workflow solutions category as well that you can search. A big one that we've been talking about is subtitling and closed captioning. Bunch of vendors for that. You can look that up by category and, and it'll just spit out all the people offering that. Talked about streaming apps, OTT, that, that type of distribution, got a ton of, of vendors presenting that at NAB and then also just like cable equipment, head end, if you've, if you've still got a cable channel that. You are playing out to, you know, for government meetings live or just like local, local content, local sports. There is, there are a ton of vendors presenting those solutions as well. So those are like the specific categories that I would recommend to look for on the website. And, again, that's where you can start like bookmarking people to look at when you go, or even just to we're talking to people who aren't going, too, right? We're talking to people who aren't going that just want to know who's even got this solution that they're looking for, who's a trusted name in these types of solutions. Like, Use the website for that, too, even if you're not going, because that's available to anyone. and it's like the, the daily recaps, Obviously like the email summaries, which are great. Like big highlights from day one, or actually I think now they start at day zero, set up day, they start talking about things. But also like the NAB daily, like the newspaper thing. I think they're still doing that this year. There's just great information to peruse in there. And I know you mentioned it earlier about like attending sessions. So there's, there's a ton, but there's also a lot that are just on the show floor. At three o'clock right here in the middle of the show floor is a little mini stage and they're going to talk about. And so a lot of that stuff that's just included, right? If you're in the exhibit hall, you can, you can soak that up. Yeah, there's a lot of Big names that speak at NAB and if you even just get on their email list, even if you're not going You get a lot of this information in your inbox like weekly and then I think once it gets closer You start to get stuff daily and it just even if you're not going it just gives you a starting point to Search for what you might want to do think that you want in terms of, you know, solutions, research for accessibility initiatives or streaming initiatives along those lines. what do you think is, is next? What do you think is like the next new trend coming up for, for government video in this space? AI, have we, have we belabored the AI point? Like, I think that that's going to be, I think that's going to be huge for, for time saving both for like the, the people working in the space. But also people like the citizens, right. People that are just trying to get, get the information they want. And not being able to find it or being like, oh, yeah, we talked about that in the January 3rd meeting. It's like, okay we've all been in marathon meetings we need to just sit and watch this. So I think that having all that kind of stuff automated and searchable and show me this specific thing about the referendum or about the park they're going to build across the street. That's, that's what I'm here for. So I think that'll be a lot easier to find. love that tangible example, like we've been kind of throwing around a lot of conceptual talk, I think, but but when we talk about AI as a content creation partner, making things more efficient, consolidating things, think about if you're a city clerk and you now have a tool that will automatically index your meeting for you. Mark, mark the moments where we're switching to new topics on the agenda and also transcribe your meeting so that you, in this three hour video that you're trying to put out, it's searchable and people can actually skip to the conversation points that are important to them quickly. Because I think what we've seen a lot in the past is we've got these staffs that are really small and they might be very well meaning. They, they really want to promote civic engagement. That's why they're putting the video out there. But they have a really small staff, so they don't have someone. That can go through and do all this chaptering and indexing and make sure that the video directly ties with the agenda. But that is the thing that really makes that 3 hour on demand asset usable. Because most people are not going to just turn that on and try to manually skip to the point that they think they're talking about the agenda item that they care about. That's just, people really don't have the time. So, when we say efficiency, consolidation, that's really what we're talking about, right? for sure. And I would add the translation piece to that. I mean, you talk about, you know, some, some cities in different parts of the, of the country. And it's oh, we have residents that that speak these five different languages, like a large population of them. And historically, they've been The kind of like they can't get access to that they're living there, they're paying the taxes, right? Like they need to have access to this information. So I think that's going to be a big piece of it too. It's kind of automating that, that translation piece of it. Yeah. Totally. And, and you will be able to find that at NAB. So, with that, I think we'll wrap our NAB show 2025 preview episode. And if you are headed to NAB this year, and you'd like to say hi to Pete and myself, you can find us in the West Hall at booth W2615, 2615. We'd love to pick back up on this conversation with you in person, if you've got the time. And if you can't make it to NAB this year, you can tune in for our next episode that will be coming to you directly from Las Vegas. So, thanks Be sure to, you know, make sure you're subscribed so you'll get notified when that episode drops. And thank you so much, Pete, for going down memory lane with me today. That was, that was really fun. It's super fun. I'm going to go start breaking in my shoes. So Right. for this show. I'm already planning my outfits. I'll tell you that. And if you are loyal pod fan found this episode valuable. We hope that you will like it and share it with colleague and subscribe to get notifications when we drop new episodes on your favorite podcast platform. So until then, I'm Michelle Alimoradi and this is the Government Video Podcast remember to keep innovating and hopefully we'll see you at NAB. Thanks for tuning in.