We recently had the opportunity to support Dell EMC’s presence at IBC2018, one of the most influential media, entertainment and technology events in the world. More than 57,000 visitors from 170 countries gathered in Amsterdam for IBC, including content creators, broadcasters and content delivery providers.
The show wraps up today, Sept 18., after five jam-packed days of informational sessions, technical conferences, award ceremonies, booth demonstrations, and countless networking lunches, dinners and happy hours.
Originally known as the International Broadcasting Convention, IBC has shifted from its technical broadcast roots and now covers the whole breadth of media creation management and delivery, from online content to digital cinema, and from automated workflows to high-resolution capture and display.
At the show, Dell highlighted its comprehensive technology portfolio, which includes Dell EMC storage, servers, networking, VMware virtualization solutions, and high-performance Dell workstations and displays. In fact, Dell EMC has been working with broadcasters, content service providers and media production facilities for more than a decade.
This marks the third year that Communiqué PR has supported Dell EMC at IBC, working to secure onsite briefings with key media and entertainment trade reporters and to drive coverage from show announcements.
Together with Dell EMC’s global agencies, this year we were able to secure seven press and analyst meetings for Dell EMC’s media and entertainment team, as well as five potential press “stop-bys” at its booth. We also helped to prepare and submit a nomination for Dell EMC for IABM’s BAM Awards (which is currently a finalist in the “Store” category!), and supported content development leading up to the show.
Large, busy trade shows like IBC can make it difficult for companies to get noticed amid all the noise. There’s so much competition for attention, whether it’s the industry keynotes and educational sessions, the press conferences and events, the booth demos or – perhaps most important (and fun!) of all, the networking parties.
For PR and communications professionals, it’s important to keep a few things in mind at large industry gatherings like IBC2018. Below are a few pointers for how to make the maximum impact at an industry conference or trade show:
Think beyond the event itself. Particularly at trade shows, schedules are almost always in flux, which means that some press briefings might run late, get pushed to another day or cancelled altogether. While face-to-face time with journalists is one of the top priorities at a show, remember that you can – and should – connect with them throughout the year and update them about your company. Following up after the event might be an opportunity to get your company included in post-show wrap-up articles and offer takeaways from the big announcements that took place.
Think globally, not locally. As with any PR or communications endeavor, consider your audience – and at IBC, that audience is decidedly global. More than 170 countries are represented at the show, and that includes journalists from all corners of the world. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase any global clients or use cases your customers might have, and also to educate yourself about the specific industry trends and market drivers that various regions are experiencing.
We wish the Dell EMC team and the entire Dell crew the best of luck at IBC2018 and look forward to hearing about how the show went. Did your company exhibit, speak or attend IBC? What were your thoughts and takeaways? Tell us here in the comments!