Continued...

"Jerry Gepner creates an unusually relaxed atmosphere, where normally busy people have time to both listen and participate"¦"

"This is a great event to exchange ideas and solutions that affect us all"¦"

"The most informative and eye opening events I have been exposed to in my 20 + years in the Broadcast Industry"¦"

Over 140 broadcast professionals gathered in Basking Ridge New Jersey on March 10 and 11 for the eighth annual Technology Forum sponsored by the Vitec Group and Bexel Broadcast Services. This year, the Tech Forum achieved its greatest success as one of the broadcast industry's premier events playing host to top executives from major networks, sports leagues, and broadcast manufacturers. The Technology Forum was conceived as (and still operates as) a what is said here, stays here event. It is a gathering where top industry movers from all aspects of broadcast converge to explore, debate and uncover real solutions that matter to the production and operational engineering communities. The Forum is not about what is theoretically possible, but what is practically possible and needed in the real world. It is a place where the guests find common ground and issues and where presenters hear the real-world needs and concerns of their customers.

Jerry Gepner led the attendees through two full days of technology overviews, and ideas. This generated much conversation about what new production tools are available while stimulating thinking and the idea flow among the guests.

The Tech Forum began with a special announcement about Bexel's leadership change - Jerry was handed the "Bexel Baton" from outgoing CEO Andy Crist, who concluded a successful ten-year run in the top spot. Andy will continue to provide consulting services for Bexel, working closely with Jerry during the transition.

Like last year's TF7, the "˜continuing conversation' theme was used in three "˜living room' settings that provided an immersive environment for each of the three sessions, as follows:

• Conversation # 1 "Real World Audio" Presenters: Calrec, and Audio-Technica
• Conversation # 2 "3D Production" Presenters: 3ality, Canon, and Kerner
• Conversation # 3 "The New Stuff" Presenters: NewTek, Red, and Blue Sky

Each attendee was assigned a 3-digit number when they arrived. There were six variations on the number that ensured that the mix of attendees was different during each living room conversation. This created a highly interactive forum that saw a lot of communication between the attendees and presenters during the two day event. The living room environment (complete with overstuffed chair and couches) provided a relaxed, intimate environment.

Technology Forum History
The Technology Forum was originally conceived as a way for the live broadcast production and engineering community to have truly honest interaction with the broadcast technology manufacturing community in a way that was not possible at traditional trade shows and technical organization presentations. The original format involved a "shoot out" between various manufacturers in a particular specialty, followed by some very direct questions and comments from the audience. Each presenting company has a 2-3 hour private session with the guests of the Forum.

Over the course of the two-day session, the group learns about new technologies and solutions, discusses real issues and problems in the industry, builds new relationships and shares professional experiences and knowledge. The format has changed from a single, two-day ballroom setting, to a relaxed multi-topic "living room" format and has grown from including just the major technology companies to an event where the newest startup sits alongside the biggest global technology company.

From Rhett Frazier - Bexel National Sales Manager:
"Though this was my first Tech Forum, the casual and participatory nature of the sessions was extremely conducive to conversation and sharing ideas. Jerry highlighted many of the more sought-after technical minds for us on a con call beforehand so that we could "˜chat them up' with the right background info. Thanks to the shuffling of attendees for the sessions, and the fact that Dolce is tucked away in the interior wilds of New Jersey, people could not easily form the cliques that are so common to other events."

"Among the technological eye openers: the cameras from Canon and RED respectively that leverage the high pixel count of digital still technology and apply video capability: at the low end the Canon 5D which has the look and feel of a digital still camera but captures 1080i HD, and at the high end the 2K (to eventually 9K) RED cameras that are revolutionary due to their proprietary image sensors that are able to capture much more data than traditional HD video."

"Also of note: the move to wavelet compression codecs (JPEG 2000), RED Code."

From Garrick Lewis - Calrec Western Sales:
"Attending my first Tech Forum I was not sure what to expect. The Living Room format, lunches, dinner, and Lightning round presentations was a great way to meet others in the Broadcast field and hear what projects different companies who attended the forum were working on. Having the opportunity to assess the current business climate from other professionals viewpoints and how the exhibited technologies could benefit future customers was definitely worth the price of admission."

"Discussing with Ken from SVG the momentum of 3D in the marketplace along with seeing the demos of this evolving technology from 3ality and Kerner Optical was very helpful in seeing the process first hand. The RED camera demo was also quite interesting in seeing what the buzz has been about. The presented products and manufacturer representatives sharing "˜how these can benefit one's company and their customers' in the changing Broadcast Marketplace was very helpful."

"I had the opportunity to chat with Mark Valenti of the Sextant Group and freelance engineer Jonathan Freed on mixing sound for 3D. Talking with Bob Burtis from National City Media Finance and listening to a presentation on the business climate of leasing and loans moving forward was also informative. Hearing how satisfied Henry Rousseau from ESPN was on their purchase of multiple Calrec Mixing Consoles for the Connecticut and LA Offices was nice. Seeing others from the Bexel team and current customers in a relaxed environment was a great experience. I look forward to next year's event!"

From Joyce Bente - Director of BVG:
"My first experience with the Vitec Tech Forum will hopefully not be my last. It proved to be one of the most informative and eye opening events I have been exposed to in my 20 + years in the Broadcasting Industry. It wasn't just about the in depth training of current products and exposure to cutting edge technology, but more of an awakening. If we don't stay in touch, stay connected, stay on top of this quickly changing, evolving industry we call Broadcasting, we will be left behind. Not just technically, but in every aspect of our lives. And it won't take many years for that to happen. Change is happening faster than Warp 10! It was a great pleasure to share this experience with so many industry professionals that Jerry Gepner had amassed. The cocktail conversations were exhilarating."