Sony Hosts Thousands Of ‘Virtual’ Attendees At Virtual Trade Show

Sony
successfully hosted one of the largest online virtual trade shows this
week as thousands of attendees visited the company’s “HD Creation and Workflow
Online Expo.”

Produced
in association with trade publishing group NewBay Media, the virtual expo was
created to provide video-production professionals with information on the
latest tapeless workflow technologies and high-definition formats, in an
interactive and visually entertaining way.

“Our goal
was to give professionals from all segments of the industry — network
television, movie studios, government, independent moviemakers, and others — a
unique opportunity to join us at an interactive event without having to leave
the comfort of their home office; they could even join us if they were on
location,” explains Alec Shapiro, SVP of sales and marketing in Sony’s
Broadcast and Production Systems Division. “The show was virtual, but it was
also very real in that it gave professionals hands-on knowledge, in an
environmentally and cost-friendly way, that they could take away from the show
and start putting to use immediately.”

During
the interactive event, attendees who logged in were greeted by a virtual Shapiro,
who invited participants to explore the virtual trade-show floor. From there,
attendees were given access to a full schedule of live presentations by
well known professionals, a networking lounge, group chats, virtual booth
tours, product tutorials, and access to on-demand video presentations on the
company’s latest tapeless technologies and high-definition products.

One highlight was a live “HD Workflow” panel discussion with directors of photography Dennis Dillon, Dave Sperling, Doug Jensen, and Curt Pair, moderated by TV Technology columnist Walter Schoenknecht. Each of these video professionals has made the switch to tapeless HD workflows using Sony technology — both the XDCAM HD optical and XDCAM EX solid-state-memory camcorders — and they shared their experiences and techniques with the attendees.

Participants at that session also heard firsthand about ways in
which production techniques and technology intertwine to form an integrated HD
workflow.

In order
to provide attendees with a well-rounded and interactive online experience,
Sony also teamed with several leading non-linear-editing companies, which
constructed “booths” on the floor and contributed content and presentation
materials for the show. Those companies included Adobe, Avid, Thomson Grass
Valley, and Sony Creative
Software.

Shapiro notes that this type of virtual effort was a natural next step for Sony. In
addition to supporting the company’s commitment to environmentally friendly,
“green” initiatives, the show allowed the electronics and broadcast products
giant to create a forum where it could both transfer to and gain knowledge from the professional-video-production industry.

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