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Published on 20 Aug 2018
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By: Marjorie Loiseau, digital marketing manager for broadcast solutions

1. It will be crowded

People everywhere! Around 57,000 visitors (maybe more) and 1,700 exhibitors will flood the Amsterdam RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre from 13-17 September. Lots of expert speakers from leading organizations will be there to talk about technologies driving the industry and its future. So what could possibly go wrong?

Well, the convention center is huge! You could get lost in the 15 different halls looking for a way out or simply for the toilets. But every cloud has a silver lining! You never know, you might bump into someone exciting and new! It is a truly international show after all. According to figures from last year, most came from Western Europe and Scandinavia, followed by North America, Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and then South America.

2. You will hear about AI, VR, AR and beyond – AGAIN!

Your trip could be ruined by finding out even more about these important emerging technologies. Here we get straight to the heart of the matter with a lounge talk on Thursday the 13: From epic poetry to AI: Discovering algorithms for creating responsive media. Hopefully, lounge talks are one of this year’s beneficial innovations, providing the opportunity to exchange information via a more dynamic experience.

Three days later, on Sunday 16, Richard Mills, Technical Director at Sky VR Studios and Muki Kulhan, MD at Muki-International, will share insights on the next-gen development and techniques in interactive and immersive production, including VR, AR, and AI.

You could also  discover the future of production with a tech talk on AI, also on the 16th, when three experts will demonstrate the latest technologies for AI-assisted production.

And if that’s not enough for you, you could enter the IBC 2018 Future Zone, where Liquid Cinema will be presenting its solution for distributing cinematic VR content to the web, mobiles and VR devices.

3. FIFA World Cup 2018 never ends

Oh no, more football. Yawn. But after an exciting FIFA World Cup, there’s still much to talk about in terms of its impact on the world of live sports broadcast.

The 2018 competition highlighted many challenges faced by the industry. Piracy is one of them, as demonstrated by the hack of beIN Sports’ content in the Middle East by the pirate network beoutQ. And with continuously increasing rights costs, pirate streams represent considerable revenue loss for rights holders.

As live sports continue to achieve massive viewing figures, another challenge is to deliver high-quality content over multiple platforms and raise engagement across those platforms. So there’s a need to enhance the experience and personalize live sports content using graphics, highlights, attached metadata, and make all this possible near real-time.

On day four at 2:45 pm, Abi Hemingway, Producer and Director at Jackshoot, and Ben Naiper, Strategic Partner Lead, Broadcast & Sport at Google, will discuss how live sports events engage audiences and what other broadcasters can learn from them.

The session will be followed at 3:45 pm by a case study: World Cup 2018: Reinventing live sports coverage.

4. They will make you run.

Yep, exercise, 2.49 miles to be exact. That’s what you’ll run if you take part in the 4K 4Charity Fun Run. This is a running/walking event organized every year at IBC, committed to supporting non-profit organizations promoting diversity and inclusion in the fields of education, technology, media, and entertainment.

This year the two selected charities are Stichting NewTechkids (or NewTechKids Foundation) and Iridescent. The first is a local non-profit foundation working to promote computer science thinking education in primary schools. The second is a global non-profit association that helps underrepresented young people, especially girls, using engineering and technology activities to encourage the development of skills that will allow them to become lifelong leaders and innovators.

Last year’s event was a success and we think this one will be too. (Registrations are open here). It starts at 7.00am (as they say, the early bird catches the worm.)

5. You will be spoiled

We’ve all experienced a TV show or movie being spoiled by finding things out in advance; you know the pain. This could well occur at IBC 2018 as well. Imagine this happening by listening to the filmmakers, producers, editors, colourists or visual effects supervisors themselves. Awful, right?

This year, there will be spoilers aplenty from the Game of Thrones production and post-production team, the editors of the next Star Wars movie and more recent blockbuster Deadpool 2, and possibly by the visual effects supervisor behind The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Thanks to the Big Screen programme, we will learn key techniques from experienced and talented crew behind the scene of our most beloved content. But you might want to cover your ears at some points!

It’s Amsterdam!

Ok we said five, but this one is worth including too. It’s Amsterdam!
And, why would you want to see this?

Amsterdam IBC

 

Or smell these?
Amsterdam flowers

 

Or visit this?

Amsterdam museum

 

Or drink this? 
coffee amsterdam

 

And if, after all this, you still want to go at IBC 2018, well… we’ll see you there!
Why? Because it’s the place to be.
Where? Hall 1 Booth A.29 (don’t get lost).
What? Our new Digital Media Hub suite of services for sport and live events and the new version of GCXN, our broadcast-quality content distribution solution over the public internet.
Book a demo here

Globecast IBC invitation