The Broadcast Engineering and IT (BEIT) Conference at NAB Show is designed for broadcast engineers and technicians, media technology managers, contract engineers, broadcast equipment manufacturers, distributors, engineering consultants and R&D engineers. Technical presentations consider pressing issues facing today’s media professionals.

The BEIT Conference runs April 15-18, 2023.

Ling Ling Sun is the Chair of the 2023 NAB (BEIT) Conference Program Committee and the Chief Technology Officer at Nebraska Public Media. She took time to provide some insight about the BEIT Conference and the broadcast engineering and IT community.

Q. What are the biggest trends impacting the community/industry right now?

Cloud-based technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), mobile technologies, and real-time renderings are some of the most notable ones.

Q. What challenges do media companies need to overcome because of these trends?

Knowledge and capacity. Organizational transformation begins with people, and there is a need for upskilling and reskilling the workforce to adapt to these emerging technologies. Organizations have to build certain capacities, such as computational power, connectivity, and storage to manage these challenges.

Q. What’s one thing you wish more broadcast engineers knew about?

A system approach is crucial, as technologies are interconnected. By taking a holistic approach, engineers can find optimal solutions that address organizational challenges and needs.

Q. What are the top three things that attendees should hunt down on the show floor to expand on some of the things they learned at the BEIT Conference?

Attendees at NAB Show can expand on what they learned at the BEIT Conference by focusing on the technologies and solutions that are most relevant to their organization’s needs. For example, North American broadcasters seeking transmission system upgrades may be interested in NextGen TV broadcasting solutions, while content producers may want to explore AI, cloud-based platforms and services, and real-time rendering technologies. News professionals may be interested in mobile technology-related products and applications. Planning and doing research in advance can help attendees make the most of their time at the show.