A day in the life
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Chriss Scherer
[email protected]
What’s you typical day at the NAB Show?
Everyone’s agenda is different during the convention. I am often asked what my day is like at the convention. It’s probably safe to say that it’s probably not like yours. Compared to mine, your schedule is probably rather loose.
I know you have certain sessions that you want to attend, and you may have some meetings with exhibitors scheduled. I also know that some companies hold engineering team meetings at the convention. Still, I doubt that your schedule has something scheduled every 15 or 30 minutes.
Mine does.
This year, I’ll be in Las Vegas from Friday to Friday. The first two full days, Saturday and Sunday, are a mix of events. While not as hectic as the weekdays, I’ll be moving between several SBE meetings, checking in on the SBE Ennes Workshop when I have a moment, dropping in on manufacturer seminars, preparing materials for use during the week, and just making sure that everything is ready to go.
And that’s just Saturday.
Sunday is similar, but I start with a six-hour (at least) SBE board of directors meeting.
Once the convention floor opens, the clock starts ticking. After waking up Monday morning, it’s almost non-stop motion until I go to bed. Most of my time is spent on the convention floor where I am visiting as many exhibitors as I can to learn about the new technology and new products. Much of my time is scheduled for specific appointments, and during the time that is not scheduled I move from booth to booth.
When I’m not on the exhibit floor, I’m at events. On Monday morning I am moderating the Broadcast Engineering Conference session called Communicating with Management. On Tuesday afternoon I’ll help present the SBE membership meeting. On Wednesday I’ll attend the Technology Luncheon and then meet with the Pick Hits panelists to collect their choices for the annual Pick Hits of the convention.
Thursday is my light day when it comes to events, but that just means I have more time on the convention floor.
In the evenings, the busy schedule continues. Sure, there are parties to attend, but I still have work to do. I usually have a business dinner to attend as well.
When I return to my hotel room = usually no earlier than 10 p.m. = I would like nothing more than to kick back and fall asleep. But I can’t. There is still work to be done. During the day, I have collected a great deal of information and material, and I have to sort through it while it’s fresh in my mind. Some of this information is used for Currents, our daily online news update.
Then there are the photos. As we have done since 2005, Radio magazine will produce a photo blog of the convention. The Radio magazine staff, contributors and reporters take photos during the convention, and we prepare and post a large number every evening. We don’t post everything. We select the best of the batch each evening to give you a visual taste of what happened each day.
And then finally I check e-mail and voice mail so I can stay in touch with business.
I know you’re no stranger to long hours and a heavy workload. I’ve built studios and transmitters sites, too. But while the convention for many attendees is something of a break from the routine, the convention is the routine for me. I’m not complaining, but by Thursday afternoon, I’m ready for it to be over.
And then in December, we start planning for the next year’s convention again.
What’s your opinion? Send it to[email protected]
