This post was commissioned for CVP for their new blog page. Read and enjoy!

I can’t tell you a definitive yes or no here, but I can at least give you some valuable information to help you make your mind up.

First off, is someone paying for you to go? Then the answer is simple, yes! Never turn down a freebie like this. Most of my hesitations about going are pretty much all based on it being self funded. Is it worthwhile? What will you get out of it? Is it better than BVE or NAB? Well, most of these questions are subjective, and the answers are different depending on the person. 

The International Broadcasters Convention been going since around the 15th century. Actually, that’s a lie. I have no idea, I am sure a quick Google would tell me the answer, but as I am writing this on a plane that shockingly/ thankfully doesn’t have the Internet, I will just stick with the 15th Century and expect to be corrected a dozen times in the comments by people who don’t get my silly English humour! It hasn’t always been in Amsterdam, but it has for all the time that I have been going, which is probably around 7 times maybe?

I lost my IBC virginity around 8 years ago, a few months after willfully surrendering my NAB virginity to its US cousin. The two shows are very similar, the National Association of Broadcasters is bigger. Well it’s American, so it has to be, and it’s more, erm…American. IBC is like NAB with a lot less Americans but a lot more people from everywhere else. The two shows are very similar and more or less interchangeable.

Once there, you can revel in the endless stands where companies try to tempt you with their latest and greatest bits of gear, software and stuff that you have no idea what it’s for. It’s traditionally the show where Sony announce 230 new cameras that make you scream “but I only just bought the previous model” and also where people head to the Blackmagic stand to demand answers as to why the 231 cameras they announced at NAB in April still haven’t shipped! Meanwhile, Canon will show off cameras already announced that are….solid, many people will visit ARRI to check out the ALEXA mini and be kicked off their stand for slobbering over it. Countless lighting companies will try to blind you and all those tripod manufacturers will hope to impress you with one of the least impressive pieces of kit to demonstrate! But it’s a “look only, no buying” situation, as these are shows for showing off their temptations, not a place for directly selling to end users (although some smaller ones will sneakily do it under the counter!)

There are 5 types of people who go to IBC (continued in the CVP Blog!) 

SO check the rest of the blog out!