NAB is what CES and Cine Gear Expo are to their respective worlds - but when you go to NAB, you expect something more. You expect the razzle-dazzle, the full Vegas effect, the city of lights firing on all cylinders. What you don't expect is the ongoing construction - the choking, the craziness in the streets, especially down Fremont Street and beyond. It hits you before you even get inside.
Congested, torn up and a somewhat chaotic before you even step onto the floor. It sets a tone - whether intentional or not. Then you cross over to the Las Vegas Convention Center, step inside and everything shifts. That's when NAB turns into a living organism.
A floor that breathes
Cameras, lenses, cranes - hardware everywhere - but layered over all of it is, you guessed it: AI, running stealthily underneath. It stretches across every hall - North, Central, West -baked into demos, panels and conversations. The show itself, though, felt different. Attendance was down - reportedly around 30 percent - and you could feel it. I spoke with several exhibitors. Some were dismayed, others surprisingly upbeat. But the overall takeaway was clear - this was a smaller, more measured crowd. Active, yes. But not the wall-to-wall density of previous years. Still, the diversity held strong.
Broadcasters. Filmmakers. YouTubers. Creators from everywhere. I spoke to someone from Russia, another from Greece - even a guy with a parrot on his shoulder. Yes, a parrot - all part of what passes for the content creation scene at NAB. Startups and legacy companies dueling side by side. A full-spectrum ecosystem.
AI everywhere, whether you want it or not
The biggest takeaway: AI isn't confined to a booth. It's everywhere. Editing, audio, color, workflows - it's part of the conversation at every level. Even the renowned DP Roger Deakins (pictured) addressed it directly during a two-day session around his book Reflections, emphasizing the need to understand it, or risk being left behind. That sentiment carried across the floor. Not fear. Not hype. Just inevitability.
Big players and new voices
As always, the heavyweights weighed in. Sony, Canon, Arri, remained at the forefront. But the shift toward platform-driven storytelling is undeniable. Sony leaned into it, alongside a wave of maverick creators building content specifically for TikTok, YouTube Shorts and beyond. Here it was hooks, speed, engagement.
Controlled chaos
The floor itself is classic NAB - controlled chaos. Massive displays. Constant demos. Noise everywhere. One moment, you're watching a pristine image on a high-end monitor. The next, you're standing next to a 20-something creator shooting a social clip - with a parrot on his shoulder - interviewing people with a setup that costs less than a night out in Vegas. A basic DSLR, a gimbal and a mic that runs about 40 bucks all in. And it works. That's the show.
Engineers explaining codecs. Marketers pitching solutions. Creators chasing the next edge. Conversations that can quickly turn into collaborations. And beyond the floor, the energy spills into the city - events, parties and chance encounters. At one point, I even found myself watching a guy who may or may not have been Elvis holding court. (Overall, he sang a good Blue Hawaii) That's Vegas. That's NAB. They're not just looking for gear. They're looking for something elusive, something intangible - something missing from their workflow, their business, their creative process - that they think they might find here. And well, sometimes they do.
Blurred lines
Well, call it blurred lines. Broadcasters are speaking like creators now. Creators are working like mini production houses - sometimes with nothing more than a single camera and a $40 mic. And somewhere in the middle, that distinction between "professional" and "creator" isn't disappearing - it's realigning. Some of it is rough. Some of it is genuinely sharp. But all of it is moving. A professional is still one thing. But the creator now has access to tools and workflows that once belonged to full-scale productions. That shift is changing everything.
The real takeaway
If there's one thing this year made clear, it's this: It's not about the equipment anymore. You don't need $150,000 worth of gear to create something compelling. You can do it with a fraction of that - $2,500, give or take - and get remarkably close. Not identical. But close enough. The story is no longer the gap in gear. The story is speed. Adaptability. Execution. Not just, "How does it look?" But, "How fast does it land?" The whole dynamic has altered. The ability to move from idea to finished product with minimal resistance.
Final thought
AI isn't replacing the human element. It's amplifying it. The tools are better. More accessible. More powerful. But they still require direction, taste and judgment-things that are still very human. NAB still stands at the forefront, where you see it all happening at once. Faster workflows, smarter tools, and new voices emerging across every platform.
You have the majors - Canon, Sony - but you also have the up-and-comers pushing into new territory. At the same time, the backbone remains. The old guard is still there, steady as ever. And everywhere you turn, creators - YouTubers, influencers, storytellers - each chasing that next piece, that next level, that next opportunity to move forward. Because at the center of it all, one thing hasn't changed: Storytelling drives everything.
NAB just makes it easier to get there.