Soooooo. IBC

Soooooo. IBC!
For those of you who don't know (and obviously only read tv-bay for my column) IBC is the world's second largest broadcast convention, held in Amsterdam. As previously mentioned in last months' column, I went with tv-bay.
It was my first convention of any kind, and I was in no way prepared for the sheer scale of the event. This thing is massive.
Some of the stands were the size of my house, and the Sony stand? Bigger then my local cricket ground. A few of the stands even had two floors! And a double staircase! I was so grateful for my map, otherwise I might not have found my way back out again!
Myself, Simon (as in editor-of-tv-bay-Simon) and Jon (as in jpratchett, feature writer and my yoda, fantastic!) spent four days flitting form stand to stand, grabbing anyone and thrusting them into the spotlight to be interviewed by Jon (fantastic!).
Before we go any further I would just like to give credit to Simon, who did a stellar job of being our cameraman. I've got my money on him to win the shot put at 2012, his shoulder is now that hench.
During those four days, I developed a unique skill. I became outside of time. Doing 120+ interviews in such a short space of time, each with different people, from different companies, selling different products, in different places has a strange effect on you. Time became irrelevant (my only reference was lunch), and once you've got the first few interviews of the day under your tool belt (more on that later) you no longer have any clue where you've been or who you've spoken to. Like when you watch TV for too long and during the ad break you can't remember what episode you're watching anymore. I'm sure Jon (fantastic!) forgot his own name a few times.
The highlight for me (aside from all the freebies) was meeting someone I hadn't met before telling me they had read my column. I really appreciate getting feedback, and it's great to know that someone enjoys my writing. And meeting Philip Bloom for the first time was great too.
My least favourite part was being ignored by most of the 'suits'. Just because I'm female (and blonde) does not mean that I won't understand what you have to say. Or that I can't answer any of your questions. Or that I am not worth introducing yourself to.
As my role of Sat Nav/assistant/audio checker/lunch reminder/marketing agent pacifier was pretty varied I needed something to hold all the necessary accessories that we required. The answer? An amazing tool belt! I had spare v lock batteries, spare microphone, batteries, electrical tape, so many Sharpies, dulling powder ( though to Jon’s (fanastic!) credit, he didn't need it), business cards, press kits, cereal bars and who knows what else squirreled away in it. Though a pointer? Low slung on the hips is way more comfortable the on waist.
I really enjoyed my time at IBC, it was extremely draining, but was a brilliant experience. To keep track of all that we did at IBC go to broadcastshow.com. Fantastic! (by doing so, you'll also understand why I'm saying 'fantastic' so much!)
As I said, I really value your feedback, be it comments, questions or suggestions. Contact me on twitter - @emmabeanies.