Last year I was in Vegas for NAB Saturday through Thursday, which is a bit too long for me for a multitude of reasons. This year, because baby number three is imminent, I was only able to fly in on Saturday and out on Monday. That’s not enough for me to A) get acclimated to the time zone and weather differences in time to not be irritable and B) not near enough time to see everything there is to see at an NAB convention. So, I wasn’t able to sit in as many sessions, visit every exhibit on my list or spend as much time networking as usual. But, I did have a few takeaways that I’d like to share. Plus, I asked a few of my radio pals who were there a little longer than me to share their one big takeaway as well.

Again, this year I stayed at the hotel closest to the convention, the Westgate. The hotel where Elvis famously did his residency back in the day which is why everyone from the cab drivers that picked me up outside, to the bartenders that served me free drinks while I played video poker, had an Elvis story they were anxious to share. It’s also a good hotel to stay at during a sporting event like the NCAA Final Four, because the Super Book is the perfect place to take in a game. As usual, they talked me into a room upgrade by mentioning that it would allow me to do an early check in. It’s amazing how the room you booked is never ready in time for an early check in but the suite that only costs an extra $50 a day is always available for one, but it was a nice room with a great view, so it was worth it. The room had also been updated since last year, so it was a little nicer than I expected.

Because of my tight turnaround I wasn’t able to sit in many sessions. However, I did watch a few. In the Creator Lab I caught a ‘State of The Economy’ session moderated by Brit Starr, Chief Marketing Officer of CreatorIQ, and featuring some brilliant panelists, EMarketer VP & Principal Analyst Jasmine Enberg, The Ankler ‘Like & Subscribe’ Author Natalie Jarvey and Every Problem Solved Owner Leslie Morgan. They discussed the TikTok uncertainty with the deadline to sell still looming and how that’s giving creators even more incentive to diversify and use other platforms. Personally, I would like one of those platforms to be radio. But, that will only happen if we take the initiative to enter into more content partnerships with creators. Broadly the panel said that the TikTok uncertainty hasn’t shifted consumption but it has caused brands to stop thinking TikTok first. They also mentioned how even short form digital creators are consistently pushing for paid subscribers at a few dollars a month each. Though the conversion rates are low, they all understand that even 1 or 2% of 1.5 million Instagram followers earns you between $75,000 and $150,000 a month at $5 a piece. This is the model I’d like to see more of radio embrace to get some of that video game type money. They added that social media is still the platform creators use for discovery and 60% of creators’ money still comes from brand deals they do on those platforms, but many of them are now going off platform for additional revenue. Jasmine Enberg stressed how “Brands should look for engagement rate and creative alignment when partnering with creators.” At one point moderator Britt Star asked the panel “What can traditional media learn from digital content creators?” No one on the panel directly answered the question, but did talk about how Hollywood has bought in. In my opinion radio should follow Hollywood’s lead, but as the panel cautioned, we’ve “got to let them be themselves.” Later that same day I saw Myron Kerstein, ACE Editor of the Wicked movie discussing some of the behind-the-scenes process for editing the film and how they had ’14 sound stages’ at their disposal to help the film come together.

As NAB has grown, the exhibits get more impressive and elaborate every year. It’s so massive now it can be a little overwhelming for first time radio visitors. So, I always tell any of my radio clients, colleagues and friends that I run into to visit a few specific booths with content creation tools that are within our budget. Those companies that sell $200 to $500 microphones and cameras, instead of $5,000 to $20,000 mics and cameras. However, it appears some of those vendors have been priced out at this point. That is understandable when major companies like Sony, Black Magic and Adobe have such massive footprints at NAB. Adobe now has several meeting rooms adjacent to their huge booth to close deals (which is a great idea instead of trying to lock someone in for a dinner meeting later). Hopefully, they’re able to find out a way to get some of those other companies like Shure, Rode, Osbot and Mevo back next year and beyond. I was excited to see Riverside there, my favorite platform for recording audio/video podcasts remotely. I also stopped by the RCS booth to see the latest version of ZettaCloud, their cloud-based automation system and my technical expert friends at DNav who partner with me on 24/7 Engineering and also manufacture and sell LED screens right here in the US (Something that Vegas uses creatively throughout the strip).

As somebody who’s been coming to Vegas for quite a while now for both business and fun, I have a few places that I go every time. I always stop by The Cromwell to play the tables and get an Old Fashioned at the lounge bar, but I’ve of course aged out of hitting up their popular Drais nightclub. For a budget friendly steak dinner, I typically make my way over to Ellis Island, which is about to get an update by the way. This year, I also ventured out and met a potential client for lunch at Wolfgang Puck’s Bar & Grill in the MGM Grand. I had the Italian Meat gluten-free pizza, which was amazing!

Final Thoughts

I know I sound like a broken record because I say this after every convention I attend. But, more radio people have to start attending these conventions. This year the declining trend in radio attendance seemed even worse to me, although to be fair maybe that’s because I was only there for a few days. My pal John Lund had a radio-specific session about radio and podcasting that was well attended, so that’s a good sign. The pushback I hear from radio people I talk to that no longer attend is that there aren’t enough radio-specific sessions or exhibits. However, that’s a little chicken and the egg to me. The less radio people that show up each year, the less sessions they’re going to program for us and the less exhibitors whose products we can afford will purchase booth space. Plus, I will always argue that beyond the radio specific stuff, it’s still good for all of us to see and hear the creator economy sessions and see the video equipment since those are two things all of radio needs to improve on. When I asked Chip Miller, CEO of Audio1 who was there for the whole event, what his big takeaway from NAB was. He said that it was clear that “AI is something that will be more in play in the future and more accepted and that video is expected now for podcasting” echoing my sentiment that audio isn’t enough anymore. Greg Tacher, Executive VP of GMP Radio Reps, also remarked on how AI dominant NAB was this year.

If you attended the show, let me know in the comments what your big takeaway was this year.