Canadian technology and broadcast production always feels a couple of steps behind the world. Profusion attempts to bring a NAB show-like presence up North. While the scale of Profusion felt a bit less than Henry’s Photo and Imaging show, we certainly are excited about a Canadian conference whose focus is on film and video.
The Good
Everyone from Made in Camera attended the event, but the highlight for me was Rodney Charters. He was the cinematographer for 24 and is a big proponent of the HDSLR movement. Rodney comes across as a really down to earth production star with a wealth of knowledge that he’s eager to share. He brought an audience member on stage to demonstrate lighting techniques. He showed how they used the Canon 5D MKII to film driving plates for 24. He also showed a clip of using handheld gyroscopic stabilizers. He’s the type of person we dream to work with.
Phillip Bloom was the headliner. One of our guys attended his workshop and picked up some good tips from the face of HDSLR.
A sales rep from Steadicam. It was fun trying on all of the Steadicam gear. We actually started putting the gear on ourselves before the sales rep told us to. Poor guy though, he had to run the floor as well as setup for a presentation at the same time.
The Constructive
The organizers put up a valiant effort for the first edition of Profusion, but here are some recommendations:
- Notify guests when the rooms and times change for speaker events. We came out of some talks not knowing where our next talk was.
- All talks went overtime or were late to start.
- Sorry to sound harsh, but the Making Money in Video talk was almost useless. I am glad it was free. It didn’t offer any useful content. It discussed silly viral videos and was filled with fake numbers and statistics.
- We didn’t attend the “Industry Gala”, but we’ve heard strong opinions about it. There were no keynote speakers as promised and the “5 star” dinner of sandwiches was not worth the $80 per head cost.
Despite these shortcomings, we look forward to next year’s event and we’re glad that the sponsors and organizers are putting in the effort.
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Comments on: "Profusion Expo has potential" (2)
Hi
I was told the gala dinner was cancelled. Hence it became just a few drink and snacks. If people paid for this they should not have done as it was cancelled.
P
“We didn’t attend the “Industry Gala”, but we’ve heard strong opinions about it. There were no keynote speakers as promised and the “5 star” dinner of sandwiches was not worth the $80 per head cost.”
Last Year’s Industry Gala was cancelled and all tickets were refunded well before the actual event occurred, instead we had an informal meet and greet with some finger foods and a cash bar at the end of the first day that was free of charge.
This year the scope of our show has doubled to include Pro-Photography seminars and equipment to highlight the fusion between the two mediums that has been happening with the fusion of technology.
We’re thrilled to welcome back Philip Bloom and have new presenters like StillMotion and Vincent Laforet. 2011 is going to be bigger and better than last year and we really hope you come!