ISE 2023 – Interview with Mike Blackman

PROSOUND editor Dieter Michel spoke with Mike Blackman, ISE’s managing director, about what visitors can expect at the show next week

Dieter Michel:

Hi Mike. Thank you for having the time for this pre-show interview. I hope you are well.

Mike Blackman:

Well, yes, I am. And thank you for having me! Yes, we’re getting a show off the ground again. That’s coming back to what the old ISE used to be like.

Dieter Michel: Great expectations …

Mike Blackman: Yes, really great expectations, a lot of new things, but you know, just looking good.

Dieter Michel:

We’re going to come to the new things a little bit later I think. I also expect that this 2023 show will even be more interesting than last year’s because last year we still had some COVID influence. And even then, it was a really, really good start after the COVID years. Are there any COVID related issues for this year? Things to take care of?

Mike Blackman:

The only thing which is happening is that, throughout europe, anyone who was traveling in china has to be vaccinated or show a negative test. But other than that, nothing that is worrying us.

Dieter Michel:

Yes, and I assume that everything related to Russia is like last year, right?

Mike Blackman:

Yes, exactly the same. We stopped our business in Russia as you know. But on top of that, we had to cancel contracts with the Russian companies that we had exhibiting. I feel sorry for some of them, because they don’t all agree with what Mr Putin wants, but I also understand that we have to show solidarity here.

Dieter Michel:

Regarding new things at the show: I’ve seen that, browsing a little bit through the content you’re offering, I see that you’re going to have, for example, a Content Production and Distribution Summit. What will that cover?

Mike Blackman:

You were there last year and you saw that the amount of companies for our industry who were showing virtual studios, virtual sets et cetera. What we’ve seen is that the nature of content creation more and more virtualizes. It’s changing from not just youtubers, but all the way up to film – look at the Mandalorian, look at 1899. All these films and series et cetera are being created using virtual sets. So you know the AV Industry is really what’s changing, it’s being the game changer here, disrupting the whole idea of how you create content.

So we have seen that we need to make a bit of a focus there and help people find the products and solutions that are available.

So on the first side, we’ve got the conference – we’ve got the keynote with BK Johannessen showing the Unreal engine. He’s the business unit director of Epic Games for Broadcast and Live Events. The Unreal Engine is not being used just for game creation, it’s being used for E- Sports and it’s being used for TV production. It has become something quite significant when it comes to content creation. So we’ve got him for the first keynote on Tuesday.

We have got an area of the show which is focused on that but then we’ve got about another 70 exhibitors spread around different areas of the exhibition. We have a couple of things which are happening in Hall 6 in the middle of that Content Creation Zone. One is TV3 – the Catalan Broadcasting Corporation – who are actually building a studio and showing 3D Production, how they do the 360° production.

You came to the launch event we did in Barcelona – do you remember the human towers?
We had that reception in that really beautiful building at the airport and we had the Catalan people building the human towers (Castells) where they were standing on each other’s shoulders. This is a real sport in Catalonia, we are gonig to be showing this and showing how they create content in an interesting way with that.

Then we’ve got Mediapro, which is another one of the big content studios in Barcelona, one of the biggest in the world actually. They will also be showing the whole workflow process of content creation and we’re actually going to be doing live interviews with C-Level people from the industry in there, amongst other things. So, there’s quite a lot going on happening.

Dieter Michel:

When you mentioned Unreal or games engines in general – I’ve seen at the gamescom that it’s not only about games, but also content creation for serious games, education and training. And generally, if you want to do something with AR/VR/XR content and applications, maybe in education, maybe in employee training or training in general, you need to get the content produced and presented. And the games engines simply are already there and you can use them without reinventing the wheel, right?

So, can we say that in general the borders between, let’s say classical conference technology with projection, presentation technology, broadcast and games or gaming applications become more and more fuzzy and everybody chooses the tools they need for their project?

Mike Blackman:

The tools are changing and people are actually seeing that, firstly, when it comes to what they’re doing, it’s costing a lot less now to do. People can be much more creative so it doesn’t matter in which area.

I mean, firstly, the use of LED screens rather than the traditional projection is creating all sorts of new opportunities. What else have we got in there? When you look at the camera side again, you can actually create really good content with cameras that don’t cost you 100,000 Euro anymore. So I think there’s a lot of development in the industry, There’s a lot that is actually happening. These are game changes, people are discovering new ways to actually create or present. So, yes, the industry is changing, the industry is modernizing and the industry is getting better. The industry is getting more sophisticated.

Dieter Michel:

Will the Metaverse also be playing a role in the context of ISE or is that still a future topic?

Mike Blackman:

No – actually we have a feature in Hall 6. I was introduced to a new company called Univrse. They are going to be doing Multi-User VR. And I was actually able to participate in one of their presentations where I walked around a virtual space in a virtual world with about ten other people. We were able to see each other as avatars in that space and interact with each other. The movement, the motion – everything worked extremely well.

We went up the elevator to different floors and the creative part of it made it really feel like you were moving upwards in this elevator. We had one section where we walked into a bedroom where there was a child sleeping and there were toys on the floor everywhere and this teddy bear. And he stands up and starts talking to us of reading a story and then he shrinks. He made a shrink to be in the toys.

We’ll have this as a live presentation at ISE and hopefully we can process quite a few people through it. And you know that’s a bit of a game playing. But one part of it is where they actually show how this becomes applicable for museums and learning. So you get the game playing part of it and you’ve got the learning part of it and applications which will become more business related.

Dieter Michel:

And I also see that – when you mention schools and museums and the like – that education also plays a significant role at ISE.

Mike Blackman:

Absolutely.

Dieter Michel:

I especially saw that Education Technology is a topic – which is probably a little bit more than just “Education”. So that topic is about, if I understand it correctly, tools you can use to better educate whoever you want to educate.

Mike Blackman:

Exactly. Showing what tools are available for schools, universities, etc. to actually improve their teaching possibilities.

Dieter Michel:

That’s very interesting. So the ISE is a place where you can get all the information about whatever you want to do with – let’s say – media technology in a broad sense.

Mike Blackman:

I think one of the things you have to look at is that AV generally is now touching all of us in every aspect of our lives – whether it’s home, whether it’s in the retail sector, whether it’s in hospitality. It is becoming more and more intrinsic as part of our lives, of whatever we do. And that’s why we show all the possibilities at ISE, people start to understand.

For example Shopping: During the pandemic, only the non food shops had to close. So they changed their business model to Online. Amazon and the big online stores really did well out of it. And now the high street stores are trying to get their business back. So they are trying to make the retail – going shopping – to be experiential. It’s no longer just about going and buying something, it’s about having an experience and enjoying that.

So obviously the AV Technology has some of the best applications to enhance the experience of the customers. So that’s change. You are seeing how you are using AV in the home changing. Think about it: Three years ago, we in business, we knew about Zoom – but now every school child and my grandmother knows what Zoom and Microsoft teams applications are. We look at how offices, office space, is changing as well because we’re talking about more coworking spaces, more collaboration because of the hybrid working potential. So you’re seeing more and more ways in which AV is becoming influencing how we work and how we live.

Dieter Michel:

Absolutely. So this might be – even if it’s the only advantage COVID has brought to us – that we are much more aware of what we can really do to improve everything even in a short time.

Mike Blackman:

And not everything is new, a lot of tools that are being used existed, but what has happened is people are more aware.

Dieter Michel:

Exactly, we can really use it. It’s not an academic, theoretical potential but you can really use it. So it would make sense even for people who are less technical to go to ISE just for seeing and experiencing the potential and the possibilities, right?

Mike Blackman:

You know, one of our challenges is bringing the corporate world to ISE. The channel comes, but what is happening is that more and more manufacturers are saying they need to speak to the corporate end users who generally probably don’t care what equipment they’re buying. They just want something that functions and works and serves the purpose that they need. So the manufacturers are more and more saying: Well, we want to influence those people directly to choose our brand rather than the competitor. So yes, we want to get them there.

We don’t want consumers, but we certainly want to get the corporate users, the buyers of AV solutions and products and yes – this is the place to come and see it. This is the place to come and experience what’s possible. Get inspiration.

Dieter Michel:

So anything else you want people to know about the upcoming ISE show?

Mike Blackman:

I’m sure you have the numbers, facts and figures. We have over 1000 exhibitors, we have a show floor which is larger than in 2020. Obviously we have new things with the Content Production Area in Hall 6. We have about 200 speakers over four days and eight conference programs. And three keynotes.

The first keynote will be held by BK Johanessen, already mentioned. For the second keynote on day two, we actually have Stephen Nuttall from the America’s Cup. He is Head of Television.

We’ve got a bit of a relationship with the America’s Cup people because when Barcelona pitched for the America’s Cup, they asked us to support that. And now the America’s Cup people are saying they would like to get some programs to ISE and I said: The America’s Cup is a phenomenal brand, but I’m trying to make it relevance (to ISE).

And then they started talking about that actually America’s Cup is not just about the sailing, it’s actually how they get that information to viewers all over the world through content creation using AI, using special cameras – it’s a big operation behind that and that’s what they’re going to talk about. So again extremely relevant.

And the third keynote is something new. I met professor Fran Chuan, he specialized in looking at innovation in companies or how companies curate innovation, how companies create innovative ideas. And one of the things we were talking about and came to look at was to actually say, okay how innovative is our industry or how we think we are and how how do companies actually nurture and promote innovation within their own organizations. So since December, since the end of the year, we’ve been doing a survey of the companies in the industry. And Fran Chuan’s presentation, his keynote will be about how innovative our industry is and that’s going to be on Thursday.

Dieter Michel:

Okay, that sounds very interesting. So I would like to thank you for now. Thank you for your time and we’ll meet next week!

Mike Blackman:

Thank you. Bye bye!