The inaugural ProFusion Video Expo was held Friday June 18 and Saturday June 19, 2010 at the Toronto Congress Centre. I dropped by the floor show on Friday, attended a few seminars on Saturday morning, and returned to the floor show on Saturday afternoon in search of answers and deals.
The event seemed to skew heavily towards HDSLR shooters. I was perfectly OK with that, as that's what I am (T2i all the way baby!) but I can see that the absence of RED and other logical "next step" digital video solutions will need to be addressed in the future. I can easily see combining the show with some REDucation classes to have an event that provides insight and training opportunities for anyone from novice to Pro.
Since this was its first year, I'd have to say there was a good showing from most of the major vendors – it was the absence of the minor vendors that left the most to be desired. I hang out online at places like Cinema5d.com and DVInfo.net and read up on gear from the likes of CPM (HDSLR rig), LightCraftWorkshop (Fader-ND variable ND filter) CineCity (Matte box, stabilizers) DFocus (Follow Focus) and their ilk. These are the vendors whose gear interest me, these are the products I want to pick up, turn on, and test fit to my camera. And, (unfortunately) these are the vendors that can't make it to all/any trade shows except the biggest/closest.
So, my ideas?
- grow ProFusion until it is large enough to be irresistible to most vendors – even the small ones. That's just a matter of time.
- institute a second room for "low cost" manufacturers – smaller booths, no frills, etc. with a correspondingly lower booth cost. Drop some of the barriers to entry for those smaller manufacturers. That's a decision Vistek will have to make, even in the face of opposition from the established large-scale vendors.
- open the show to other multi-line dealers. That's a decision Vistek will have to make, even in the face of opposition from their own sales reps.
All in all, for a first-year effort, things went pretty well. I'm sure the show organizer will have ironed out the small kinks next year (speaker scheduling, enforcing seminar length, signage and way-finding, ensuring product availability, etc.) and hopefully critical mass will engender improvements in vendor representation and knowledge-building opportunities.
Will I be at ProFusion 2011? You bet!