SAE MAGAZINE - SAE Alumni Association - SAE Institute

54 sae & sae alUMni news // sae alUMni convention
Flash back // Rückblick –
SAE ALUMNI CONvENTION 2008
More visitors, more exhibitors, more seminars, more demo suites, a new Apple
Area, numerous panel discussions, a “Meet & Greet”, a lot of networking,
the SAE ALUMNI Awards ceremony, a bombastic CONvENTION Party and all
kinds of great fun – that is what the fourth SAE ALUMNI CONvENTION, held
from October 16 – 17, 2008 in berlin had to offer.
For the fourth time, the SAE ALUMNI Association, together with the SAE
Institute, hosted the SAE ALUMNI CONVENTION. As in the past years, the
venue chosen was the SAE Institute Berlin Campus whose 5,000 square
meter facility simply offers optimal conditions for this kind of event. More
than 50 exhibitors from the audio-visual media industry presented their
latest products to an extremely interested target group during the two-day
trade fair.
Already on the first day, over 2,000 visitors registered. The mixture of open
exhibition stands and enclosed demo suites combined with expert trade
presentations proved once again to be very enriching for both the exhibitors
and the visitors. The European Premier of Pro Tools 8, introduced by the
Digidesign Company in regularly held workshops in their own demo suite
as well as in one of the large seminar rooms, aroused particular interest.
Keyboarder Simon Grey (Jamiroquai, Incognito, etc) presented the ”Reason“
software for the Propellerhead company.
The exhibition and workshops in the “Apple Area“ also drew the public like
a magnet and were very well visited. The exhibition stands and suites of all
other exhibitors were also drawing capacity crowds. The response of the
exhibitors as far as the course of events, organization, number of visitors
and the quality of talks and discussions with visitors was very positive. In
fact, many exhibitors have already confirmed their participation at the 2009
SAE ALUMNI CONVENTION from October 15 th –16 th and a number of other
companies have expressed their interest and desire to be represented at the
2009 CONVENTION in Berlin.
Technology you can touch: interested visitors at one of the many
exhibition stands
The more than 40 seminars held were another highlight for the visitors. As in
years past, emphasis was placed on providing a wide scope of content and
a broad range of trade expertise. And so, on Friday for example, Germany’s
Photoshop-guru, Doc Baumann, gave a presentation on photomontage
and was subsequently available to answer questions in the Apple Area. Also,
Larissa Vassilian, alias Annik Rubens from the Pod cast “Sleepless in Munich“,
enthralled her listeners with her comments on the theme “Practical Pod
casting“. The audio engineers got their money’s worth as well, for example,
in the seminar by Chris Fichera (Grammy Award winner and Vice President
of Blue Sky) on the theme “5.1 Surround Sound“ or the “Pro Tools @ Work“
presentation by Hans-Martin Buff (Engineer for Prince, Peppermint Park
Studios). The scope of the seminars ranged from audio technology through
webdesign to film and gamedesign. The exceptional flair of the event is
certainly the fact that visitors have the opportunity to chat with the lecturers
after their presentations either in the catering tent or during the party –
networking the way it should be!
After the first successful day of the trade fair, all participants were invited to
attend the CONVENTION Party. Shuttle buses brought the visitors directly
from the CONVENTION to the party at the Fritz Club in the Postbahnhof. The
evening flowed under the relaxed moderation of Ulli Pallemanns (Producer
and Manager of Studios 301). The official part consisted of a speech by
Chris Müller (Organizer of the SAE ALUMNI CONVENTION) and the official
presentation of the SAE ALUMNI Awards in five categories. Each of the
winners received an iMac and a cash prize of 3,000 Euros – a heartfelt “Thank
you!“ at this point to all of the sponsors. With his closing speech, Tom Misner
(Founder of SAE) capped off the official part of the evening, opened the
buffet and unleashed the flow of free beer.
Always well visited: The Digidesign demo suite with an ICON
console and the new Pro Tools 8
www.sae-alumni-convention.org