Thinking about going to NAB 2017? Here's everything you need to know to have fun at the world's largest video conference.

As a motion designer NAB isn't just a conference, it's really a rite of passage. With over 100,000 attendees there is no bigger platform to network with people from around the industry. So if you’re new to motion design or simply looking to have a good time at NAB we put together a podcast and article to help you have a great time at NAB 2017.

What to Expect at NAB 2017

NAB is the world’s largest gathering of video professionals and companies. Unlike some of the other conferences found here on School of Motion, NAB doesn’t just focus exclusively on motion graphics, rather you’ll find a collection of video disciplines from filmmaking and TV production to motion graphics and gaming. In short, if it’s on a screen you’ll find it here.NAB takes place on the north side of the Las Vegas Strip making it a prime location to host an epic conference. The conference takes place in 11 separate buildings in and around the Las Vegas Convention Center.

So What Badge Do I Need?

At NAB not all badges are created equal, but you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to have a good time. Here’s a quick breakdown of the badges you should get as a motion designer:

EXHIBITOR BADGE

Price: Free - $50

An exhibitor badge gives you access to the Exhibits, the Show Opening, and a few predetermined sessions. Most NAB attendees have a standard exhibitor pass so don’t feel like you will have a bad time if you just get a standard pass. While the normal price of an exhibitor pass is $50 there are tons of free coupon codes going around the internet that can get you in for free. Just do a simple search and you’ll find one. Hurry though! Codes tend to expire as we get closer to NAB.

POST | PRODUCTION WORLD

Price: $510 for 3 Sessions, $1,295 for a Full-Pass

The second badge that you as a motion designer should be interested in is the Post | Production World Badge. The badge gives you access to sit in on sessions taught by professionals from around the video editing and motion graphic industry. If you want to see any of the sessions Joey is teaching you’ll need to have a Post | Production World badge.

Things to Do at NAB

NAB is literally a non-stop barrage of events and programs designed to cater to you the motion designer. This year NAB has 1,926 different booths, each one trying to grab for your attention. Needless to say it can be quite daunting to navigate all of these booths without a plan. As a motion designer the main building you will want to focus on is the South Hall, but that being said the entire place is full of interesting hands-on exhibits.Here are a few of our favorite things to do at NAB:

1. WALK THE FLOOR

Location: Las Vegas Conference Center

The best thing to do at NAB is simply check out the exhibits and meet new people. At NAB you’ll find motion designers and editors from around the world along with companies that produce amazing products and services. If you just walk around you’ll find the biggest names in the video editing world. Here’s a few booths you have to see:AdobeMaxonThe FoundryGreyScalegorillaWacomBlackmagic DesignCanonGoProRED

2. BOOTH SESSIONS

Location: Various

Larger booths like Maxon and Adobe put on sessions at their booths featuring professionals from around the industry. The best part is you don’t have to pay extra to see them. For example, Maxon's booth this year willfeature Cinema 4D legend EJ Hassenfratz and Nick Campbell along dozens of other celebrity speakers from around the industry. Last year Adobe had Andrew Kramer speak at their booth so we wouldn't be surprised to see him at the booth again. These sessions are also a great opportunity to take selfies with your favorite software celebrities. Seriously, Nick Campbell is a walking god at NAB.

3. GIVEAWAYS

Location: Various

Almost every single booth at NAB will be giving away something. We recommend filling out every entry form you can get your hands on. The odds of winning are actually pretty good and you will get to learn about a new products while you fill out the form.

4. COLLECT SWAG

Location: Various

Virtually every booth no matter how big or small will be giving away free swag and goodies as you walk around the floor. Don't feel any shame to walk up to a booth and leave with breath-mints, flash drives, or whatever else they are giving away. It's just like trick-or-treating and all you have to do is dress up like a nerdy motion designer which shouldn't be a problem at all if you're reading this article. Also, every year Filmmaker IQ does a review of the best candy at NAB. Be on the lookout for that!

5. POST | PRODUCTION WORLD

Location: South Hall Meeting Rooms

A training event with over 250 sessions focusing on all-things post. Post Production | World features celebrity professors from around the industry. If you’re looking to learn something new or refresh your skills this is the place to go. Keep in mind you will need a special 'Post | Production World' badge to get in.

6. HANDS-ON TRAINING

Location: Various

In addition to the normal sessions and courses at Post | Production World there are some advanced hands-on sessions that give motion designers the chance to take a crash-course on a specific topic. This year notable training sessions include:Audio FinishingPhotoshopAdobe After EffectsAudio FinishingColor Correction

Hands-On Training sessions start at $495 and go up from there.

7. CAREER FAIR

Time: Tuesday, April 25 / 9am - 3pmLocation: Westgate Pavilion 4-8

Try to land your dream job at the 2017 NAB Career Fair. NAB’s career fair is one of the most robust in the industry. Notable recruiters include Nickelodeon, CBS News, and More. If you're looking for work or just want to network with big companies in the industry this is a great event to go to. We recommend bringing a stack of resumes and business cards to the Career Fair to give to your potential employers.

8. PARTIES

NAB is a fantastic place to meet people just like you and after-hour parties are a great way to break the ice. The two best parties for motion designers include the Media Motion Ball and the SuperMeet, but there are literally dozens of parties hosted by mograph companies from around the industry (more on this below).

9. THE PLUGIN PAVILION

Location: South Hall

The Plugin Pavilion is where you can meet folks from your favorite plugin companies. This year's exhibitors include Digital Anarchy, RE:Vision, and more. Be sure to stop by their booths. Who knows? You might get some sweet NAB coupon codes while you're there.

10. AERIAL ROBOTICS AND DRONE PAVILION

Location: Central Hall

The Aerial Robotics and Drone Pavilion hall features the latest in drone technology. The drone pavilion is complete with a drone park where you can fly the newest drones on the market. Sure it’s not exactly mograph related, but it is super cool.

11. VR AND AR PAVILION

Location: North Hall

Talk with VR and AR innovators around the industry and try out the latest entertainment technology. If you want to try out a lot of the VR experiences make sure you arrive early so that you can reserve your spot. While you’re there you can talk with VR Motion Graphic companies like Mettle.

Where's Joey?

Future Media Concepts has kindly asked Joey to present at a few sessions at NAB 2017. All of Joey’s sessions will be at Post Production World. In order to see any of the sessions listed below you need to make sure you have a Post Production World badge which starts at $510. The price may be steep, but let’s get real you’re probably going to blow more than that at the blackjack tables anyway.

1. DESIGN HACKS FOR NON DESIGNERS

Location: S224

‍Day: Mon. April 24

‍Time: 2:00 - 3:15 pm

Becoming a great designer doesn’t happen overnight, but luckily for us there are a few simple things that you can do to quickly up your designs in only a matter of minutes. In this helpful session Joey will show you how a few of his favorite design hacks for creating beautiful graphic design projects fast. This session is a based on our Design Bootcamp.

2. ADVANCED EXPRESSIONS WORKSHOP

Location: S224

‍Day: Mon April 24

‍Time: 5:00 - 6:15 pm

Expressions can be scary. Especially if you don’t have a background in javascript. But you don’t have to live in silicon valley to get started with expressions in After Effects. Learn some of Joey’s favorite expressions and animation techniques in this advanced-level After Effects workshop.

3. ANIMATION BOOTCAMP: THE CRASH COURSE

Location: S224

‍Day: Tue April 25

‍Time: 9:30 am - 12:00 pm

The Animation Bootcamp here on School of Motion is one of the best ways to learn how to become an animator in After Effects. However, if you’re not sure if you should pull the trigger just yet, check out this crash-course at NAB. While the course won’t cover everything found in the Animation Bootcamp it will cover some of the most important topics like follow-through, anticipation, and timing & spacing. If you’re an aspiring animator this is a can’t-miss session.

4. THE CREATIVITY COLLECTIVE: AFTER EFFECTS POWER TIPS FROM TOP EXPERTS

Location: S220

‍Day: Tue April 25

‍Time: 5:00 - 6:30 pm

After Effects is an incredibly deep software. You could literally spend every day working in After Effects and still learn something new each time you sit down. To help us get up to speed with some of the latest innovations and tricks inside of After Effects NAB has put together an After Effects rockstar panel to discuss the ins-and-outs of After Effects. Here’s a list of the experts on the panel:

Eran Stern - SternFX.com

‍Chris Converse - Codify Design Studio

‍Nick Harauz - Future Media Concepts

‍Paul Murphy - Motion Designer

‍Joey Korenman - School of Motion (you might have heard of it…)

5. ADVANCED KEYING & COMPOSITING IN AFTER EFFECTS

Location: S224

‍Day: Wed April 26

‍Time: 2:00 - 3:15 pm

Keylight is just the beginning. To really sell your scene it will take a healthy balance of tracking, compositing, color correcting, and more. In this advanced lesson Joey will show you how to key and composite in After Effects. If you’ve ever wanted to take your skills beyond a simple green screen key this is the course for you.

After Hours Events

Once the conference center doors close the party has just begun. There are motion design events literally every night with (probably) more booze than you could ever drink. Here's a few of our favs:

‍1. Media Motion Ball

Location: Monte Carlo Hotel

‍Time: Monday, April 24 / 5:30 - 9:45 PM

‍Price: $55 or $105

One of the best after-hours events for motion designers is the Media Motion Ball. There’s no single event all year that puts together as many After Effects celebrities and developers in one place. Despite the name the Media Motion Ball is really just a hangout and dinner sponsored by companies from around the industry. Here you’ll find reps from Adobe, Maxon, RedGiant, Frame.io, Video Copilot, and More. It’s a great place to meet your favorite mograph artists and make some new friends.

2. SUPERMEET

Location: The Rio Hotel

‍Time: Tuesday, April 25 / 7-11 PM

‍Price: $15

The SuperMeet is to editors what the Media Motion Ball is to motion designers. At the SuperMeet you will meet with hundreds of video editors from around the industry. It’s a great opportunity to learn something new and network with like-minded artists. This year’s SuperMeet will feature Oscar Nominee for Sound Editing, Dody Dorn ACE. Like the Media Motion Ball the SuperMeet has a small expo with booths at the beginning of the event where you can talk with software and hardware companies from around the industry.

3. PARTIES GALORE

NAB is definitely a great place to learn the latest in industry concepts and network with professionals from around the industry, but at the end of the day there’s a reason why they host this thing in Vegas. Almost every single sponsor at NAB has their own private party and there is a slew of public parties each night. BroadcastBeat has kindly put together a list of 2017 NAB parties. If you know of any more let them know and they’ll add it to the list.

Places to Eat

The food in Vegas is ridiculous. You won’t be hard-pressed to find tons of great eats in and around the strip. Here’s a few of our recommendations:

1. SECRET PIZZA AT THE COSMOPOLITAN ($)

The Cosmopolitan (or the Cosmo as the kids call it) is one of the trendiest hotels in Vegas. The place is usually slammed with millennials as far as the eye can see and they have one of the coolest nightclubs on the strip. But, the coolest part about the Cosmo is their super secret pizza bar. It is literally hidden down a hallway with no signage. The pizza is crazy good and a must-try if you’re in the area.

2. EGGSLUT AT THE COSMOPOLITAN ($)

Eggslut is one of the most raved about fast-food places in Vegas. Located on the second floor of the Cosmo it's a great place to get cheap late-night eats. At Eggslut you can 'cure' your hangover and eat the best egg sandwich you'll ever have for about $10.

3. BUFFETS! ($$)

This ain’t your Mom's Golden Corral. There’s a reason why Vegas is known for their Buffets. Vegas is a land of all-you-can-eat crab legs and ribeye steaks. The buffets are usually around $40-50 a person, but if you can afford it you won’t be disappointed.

Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace ($54.99)

‍The Buffet at ARIA ($37.99)

‍Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan ($42)

‍The Buffet at Wynn ($36.95)

4. NOBU AT THE HARD ROCK HOTEL ($$$)

Nobu is another great spot to hit up if you like asian-fusion cuisine. The food and decor is a lot more casual than Carne Vino (listed below) but no-less delicious. If you're a sushi lover this is the place to go.

5. CARNE VINO AT THE VENETIAN ($$$$)

If you just hit it big at the craps table (or just finished the second round of funding on your tech startup thanks to generous contributions from Jered Leto and Kevin Spacey) Carne Vino is one of the best places to eat at on the strip. The steakhouse has been named one of the best steakhouses in the world and they know it. Be prepared to drop at least $150 a person if you go for dinner.

Where to Stay

There are a ton of really great hotels and resorts near and around the convention center in Vegas. The best thing to do is use NAB's official hotel portal to book your room. NAB guarantees the lowest rates on the strip so there's no need to shop around on other hotel booking websites.One rookie mistake people make is thinking they need to stay next to the convention center. In all honesty as long as you are on the strip you can take the monorail to the convention for only a few bucks. You can see the exact monorail route on their website. You'll be exhausted from walking all day anyways so you won't want to walk back to your hotel.

NAB ProTips

Pace Yourself - NAB is a week-long experience. If you push it too hard on Monday you will be totally gassed before the end.

Wear Comfortable Shoes - It’s likely that you will walk at least 3 miles a day at NAB so leave the flip-flops at home.

Carpool from your Hotel - save some money on a cab ride and split the fare with a stranger. It’s a great way to meet someone new and save a buck.

Take an Afternoon Nap - NAB begins wrapping up around 4pm each day. Take this time to go take a nap and rest before the parties start.

Drink Water Too, You’re in the Desert… - Every year there are multiple people that pass out from dehydration at NAB. You can’t live on beer alone, drink some water and stay hydrated.

Bring Business Cards - You are going to meet hundreds of like-minded professionals in the industry at NAB. The best way to help them remember you is to give out business cards.

Write Business Card Notes - After someone hands you a card write a few quick notes about your meeting on the card so you can remember who they are and why they are in your wallet.

Take the Monorail - If you’re staying on the strip consider taking the monorail. It lets off right at the convention center.

Be Friendly - It can be intimidating to talk to anyone if you’re introverted, but in our experience everyone at NAB is super friendly. Plus, Everybody’s a Nerd. Just like You!

So What Have We Learned?

If you take anything away from this article know that you will never be able to do everything at NAB, but if you go in with a flexible plan your time in Vegas is going to rock. Look around for the School of Motion team. See ya in Vegas!

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Podcast Transcript Below 👇:

Intro (00:00:01):

He's about 455 yards. He's going to hit a button.

Joey Korenman (00:00:07):

This is the school of motion podcast. Come for the MoGraph stay for the puns. It's crazy how little face-to-face interaction is actually required in our industry. These days you can work remotely. You can reach out to clients via email and use video conferencing and essentially have a huge network of people in your field that you know, without ever having met them in person. But once a year, deep in the desert of Las Vegas, you have an opportunity to have in real life interactions with fellow MoGraph geeks, video professionals, software and hardware developers, and maybe even a MoGraph celebrity or two I'm talking of course about NAB folks or Rite of passage for anyone working in this industry. It combines the ridiculous scale and spectacle of Las Vegas with over a hundred thousand video geeks, nearly 2000 exhibitors and tons of learning sessions. And this episode of the podcast, I brought on two of my school, motion teammates, Amy and Caleb, to talk all things NAB Amy is actually headed to the desert for her very first NAB show this year. And it's also her first time in Vegas. So I thought it'd be cool to let her ask questions of Caleb and I, so we could give her the best chance of making it through this experience. Unscathed. We go over tons of very specific tips to get the most out of NAB and how to enjoy and survive the crazy party atmosphere of the convention. This episode also has a companion article on our site with even more info. So check that [email protected]. All right, let's hop in and talk about the NAB show.

Amy Sundin (00:01:48):

Hello everyone. This is Amy from school of motion today. You're not hearing Joey on the podcast first. Instead you are hearing me, um, I am the content producer here, and the reason you're hearing my voice first is because we're talking about NAB today and I have never been to NAB. So I'm here with Joey and Caleb, who is our newest team member. And I'm going to ask them all kinds of questions about what there is to do at NAB. What you know, all the stuff about Vegas. You may not know. So Caleb, do you want to introduce yourself really quick since you're brand new?

Caleb Ward (00:02:24):

Yeah. Thank you so much, Amy. Yeah, I am Caleb. My background is in doing video tutorials and motion design content, and I'm also a freelance motion designer and I am super excited about in AB 2017. I think it's going to be super cool and I think it's shaping up to be the biggest one ever. And that is super, super exciting. There's going to be like a hundred thousand nerdy video professionals all in one place and it is going to be amazing.

Joey Korenman (00:02:55):

And I want to say that the thing I'm most excited about is the fact that not only is this Amy's first NAB, she's also never been to Vegas before. And that can be an eye-opener. That can be, that can be a big shell shock when that happens. So, so what we're trying to do in this conversation is let Amy act as the voice of the rookie. Someone who's never been to Vegas, never been to NAB. Uh, Caleb and I have both been, I've been multiple times and Caleb, I think has only been one time. Uh, and so we're just going to try to help Amy through this difficult process of getting your feet wet in the desert of sands of Las Vegas. So Amy, why don't you just start, like, just, just what are you, what are you wondering about with this whole nav thing? Okay.

Amy Sundin (00:03:39):

Okay. So, so first of all, I'm from Michigan and I'm about to go into the desert. So this is going to be real interesting for me. I've never been this far out west, but we're going to start at the beginning here. I want to know what NAB is like, what is this conference about? I have been to [inaudible] before. How is NAB different from that type of a conference and what is NAB actually for the motion design industry?

Caleb Ward (00:04:03):

Yeah, that's a good question. So in a, B is its own B. So NAB itself is actually the national association of broadcasters. So in a, B doesn't necessarily stand for just the show and you'll see like every now and then you'll be reading an article. It'll talk about NAB and won't be referring to the actual show itself, but in the motion design world, when you're talking about NAB, they're talking about the gigantic conference out in Las Vegas. Uh, it is a collection of over 1900 different vendors, all coming together to talk about the industry. So, uh, at NAB you'll find people in the motion design world, you'll find people in television broadcasting, you'll find people that do VR and AR content. And essentially it is the largest video production gathering in the entire world. And so if you are a video nerd in any capacity, you will find thousands and thousands of people just like you.

Caleb Ward (00:05:03):

And maybe that's like one of the coolest parts about NAB is that, you know, normally in your day-to-day life, if you're talking about like, yeah, I was like working on this, like after effects project, most people probably haven't even heard of after effects, but literally almost every single person there has opened after effects knows after effects to some extent. And then, you know, whenever you start going to some of these side events, then you get really hyper-specific and, you know, going to places like the media motion ball or the post-production world sessions where people are really, really into the same thing as you, it's kind of like almost like a breath of fresh air, you know, to be able to talk to people about the things that you work on and work with every single day. And they're all in this one place for one week in Las Vegas, and it is absolutely nuts and super fun. And

Joey Korenman (00:05:53):

Add to that, Amy, cause you mentioned that you've been to F five before, and you might think that because you've been to F five, you're prepared somewhat for NAB. So first of all, let me talk about the differences between those two. I've never been to F five, but I have been to blend, which I imagine is kind of a similar vibe similar to something like Fitzy. Um, and those conferences, they tend to focus on the creative side. So you're hearing these really inspirational talks about specific projects and how creative problems were solved. And maybe you're getting into the techniques a little bit and the technical side, but it's really more about the art and the creativity behind really cool work. And NAB is not that NAB is the geeky side. So if you want to go and sit in front of the Maxon booth and watch cinema 4d tutorials all day long, that's what an AB is for.

Joey Korenman (00:06:45):

Um, if you want to go and play with a drone that shoots virtual reality, like that's what it's for. But if you want to go hear from an art director on the influences behind a certain project, that is not what it's for. Um, so I kind of think of it like the left brain, right? Brain thing, you know, like the left brain is a little more technical, more analytical, right. Brain, more creative F five and blend are a little more right. Brain and abs all left brain, which frankly, that's what got a lot of us into this business in the first place. Like that's, that's where I came from. I'm a big geek and I, and I love that stuff. Um, so I'd say that's the differences. And Caleb did a great job explaining what an AB is. I mean, it's a convention for people related, you know, working in any field related to broadcast video media. Really

Amy Sundin (00:07:32):

Awesome. Yeah. That sounds like an absolute behemoth. Like there's just going to be so much stuff to do. It sounds like, um, can you guys tell me about like, what should I be doing in NAB? Like what's important to me as a motion designer, where should I be during this huge conference?

Caleb Ward (00:07:50):

Yeah, that is a great question. I mean, I can't understate the word huge there because this thing is massive. Literally, literally the first time I went to NAB, I had to work at booth and I think my schedule started, uh, I was going to start working the booth at nine. I showed up at 8:00 AM. I didn't have a map to see how to get to my booth. And I didn't really know where it was at. I literally spent an hour and a half walking around in AB trying to find where my booth was. It's huge. It's super, super cool though, because there's literally that many companies in our industry that are there. Um, and so I guess with that, the coolest thing to do at NAB is to simply walk around. It is the biggest spectacle in video production all year. And so getting to walk around and go check out super cool boosts like Adobe, like max on, I mean, some of the other boosts that are like related to just video production are super cool.

Caleb Ward (00:08:45):

Sony has a booth where you can literally trout every single Sony camera. They have lenses that you can check out and just throw on a camera real quickly. Uh, it's super, super cool to like, get your hands on a lot of this equipment and these softwares that, you know, maybe in your day-to-day, you wouldn't normally want to like go out and try or rent. Uh, it's super, super cool. Uh, I guess the other cool thing at NAB is just walking around and networking with people. So again, there's a hundred thousand video nerds there. And so it's super cool to go around and meet people that are in your niche. You know, you're going to meet probably at the very least 2000 people over the course of the entire conference and have conversations with them. So meeting 2000 different people, uh, that have the same background as you can develop like cool friendships or cool work opportunities.

Caleb Ward (00:09:40):

It's a great way to network, especially if you're a freelancer looking for gigs. Cause there's lots of people out there that can send work your way. Um, I also think that like one of the coolest things to do is to treat it like trick or treating. So you can literally just go up to each booth and every single booth gives away something for free. So you can just walk up and take something and they'll scan your badge. And that just means that they're going to send you an email marketing stuff that they sell in the future, but you can just go up chat with some people, get something free and move on to the next booth. And seriously, by the time you're done with NAB, you'll probably have at least over $200 worth of free stuff in your briefcase, on the plane ticket, back home easily.

Joey Korenman (00:10:21):

Yeah. So, so you really, you spend most of your time, like when you're at any B and what people think of when you say NAB, it's really the exhibition hall of NAB. So NAB that the conference that we're talking about, there's a lot of pieces to it. There's actually events and there's after parties and some companies actually set up meetings with clients and this and that. There's a whole, there's a lot to it, but the main part, if it's your first time you're going to, you're going to go and you're going to walk around the exhibition hall. Uh, and Caleb was right. I mean, the scale of it is something that like a podcast cannot possibly like, you know, put across. Um, so, so, you know, you're walking around, you're seeing new technology, new software, a lot of it, you know, a lot of vendors bring stuff that's not released yet.

Joey Korenman (00:11:04):

So you're seeing tech demos, obviously there's booths like the Adobe booth and the max on booth where you're seeing demos of, um, you know, from, from great artists that use that software. There's also some parties that, uh, you know, if you've never been to NAB, you may want to try to go to the, I think the biggest ones and the ones I used to try to go to, or the media motion ball, which is kind of a dinner and usually like a raffle and kind of a hangout, um, with people in the motion design community. And I know max, sons' one of the sponsors this year, I think video co-pilot's one of the sponsors. Um, and you get to go and drink wine and hang out and stuff. There's also probably the craziest one I've ever been to is the final cut pro users group, super meat, which it's a mouthful and it's as geeky as it sounds, but it is literally like going to an old school revival.

Joey Korenman (00:11:54):

Like I, I'm not, I may have seen people Swoon at this thing before and they give out prizes. I mean, you can win like thousands of dollars of gear and stuff. It's really, really crazy. So that's like, that's typically what you think of when you're, when you're at NAB, that's what you're doing. Uh, but like Caleb said, really the, the most effective thing to do is to mix that in with trying to meet some people at the boot, you know, meet the people behind the software you're using. And also you're going to meet other aftereffects skis, just like yourself.

Amy Sundin (00:12:22):

Nice. So, so definitely bring like the stack of business cards with me. Like whatever I need to hurry. People they're like, remember me by basically. Yeah. That's a, that's a lot of people to meet. It's going to be awesome.

Joey Korenman (00:12:34):

You're lucky. And cause you have like one of the, I can't remember, what's called me, you've got the nose ring, like the bull nose

Amy Sundin (00:12:40):

Tattoos and like a septum ring and yeah.

Joey Korenman (00:12:43):

Were you like, it's, it's, you know, it's Kayla and I like, we're just like average looking guys, like what are we going to do? You know? No, one's going to remember us.

Amy Sundin (00:12:53):

Yeah. So, so super meat, media motion ball. I know I'm signed up for media motion ball. So I'll definitely be at that one. Those were the most notable parties to do. Like after the conferences over at night, are there like any other little things going on that I should know about happening in Vegas at night? Or it's like related to NAB or maybe otherwise like what else is there to do? Yeah,

Caleb Ward (00:13:14):

That's a great question. I mean, you're in Vegas, right? There's going to be parties. Come on.

Amy Sundin (00:13:22):

I mean, I imagine this is like one giant party, but I want to know where the cool parties are. Like, I don't want to just be like wandering aimlessly going, like getting sucked into like the lame, super touristy task, like, or the thing that's going on. I wonder where the cool stuff is. Right,

Caleb Ward (00:13:36):

Right. There are, I would say no less than 50 parties at NAB over the course of the week. Uh, virtually everybody who's big is going to be hosting their own private party. So Adobe has private parties. Maxon has private parties. Black magic design has private parties after the show each day. But in addition to those private parties, there are some public parties that anybody can go to. As long as you have a pass for an AB, uh, I think last year, one of the biggest ones was the Aja party. Uh, they had free booze and you get to network with people and have fun. The best thing that you can do if you just search, you know, in a, B 2017 parties and a Google, there's an article that broadcast beat does every single year. And they update with the parties that are going on during the week.

Caleb Ward (00:14:24):

It's the, it's the most useful in AB article you'll find all year. And they will tell you where the parties are. If it's a private party or if it's a public party, that's the best way to figure out what's going on throughout the week. But at the same time, as you're walking around to all these boosts on the exhibition floor, people will start inviting you to stuff. You know, there'll be like, Hey, we're having a happy hour today from like six to eight, or we have a party today at nine. And honestly, if you start asking around while you're on the show floor, you'll have no problem filling your entire schedule with parties and happy hours.

Amy Sundin (00:14:58):

Yeah. When you're like shaking people's hands, you're just like, where's the party at man? Like where am I going? Yeah,

Joey Korenman (00:15:04):

Yeah. Word spreads fast. And I'll add to that too. So, uh, so Caleb's right. Like all the big players will have their own parties. Some of them require an invite. Although if you go up and you start talking to the people, Manning these boots and you're asking good questions and they can tell that you use their product, or you're interested in it. A lot of times they'll just invite you because frankly, these parties are kind of a sales tool, a marketing tool. Um, so you as a potential customer, even if you're just a freelancer or something, um, it might seem strange that, you know, Adobe might invite you to their party, but you know, you're their customer like that, you know, they, they, they probably will. Um, but also there's a lot of like kind of impromptu meetups too, that aren't like official. But what happens is, you know, everyone gets to Vegas and you're having a good time.

Joey Korenman (00:15:47):

And, uh, you know, like I can tell you that, you know, there's gonna be a lot of school of motion alumni there. And so we're going to be like on Twitter or on a private Facebook group testing each other and saying, Hey, let's meet up at this bar. Let's meet up for lunch. And there's just like a million little pockets of people. So if you, you know, if you're talking with a group of after effects artists, and there's five of you and you get on Twitter and you use the hashtag NAB show 2017, and you say, Hey, we're meeting for lunch at, you know, at whatever at like the Harley Davidson restaurant. Uh, if you're a geek, meet us there, you'll have 10 random people just to show up and meet you there. And you'll meet people. And it's really a lot of fun. I mean, it really is like, I've never been to burning man, but I'd imagine it's like the geek version of burning man. It's like, everyone's there for the same reason. Um, so pretty much every meal is an opportunity for like a party atmosphere and it's Vegas. So I mean, you can, you can literally party like, you know, starting with breakfast, if you want to.

Amy Sundin (00:16:46):

Nice. Nice. All right. So here's, here's something like I already know which pass I have. Like I know which badge I've got to get around in this place, but like for other people who might be attending the conference, maybe haven't gotten their passes together or whatever. Like what do you need to get around this conference? And how much are those passes going to cost you?

Caleb Ward (00:17:07):

Yeah, that is good. That can be kind of confusing if you are new to NAB. And really, if you're a motion designer, there's two passes that you need to worry about. There's the exhibitor pass, which is the most basic pass. And honestly, it's what the majority of people have at NAB. It essentially gets you access to all of the exhibition floor. And they're typically $50 if you show up at the gate and buy them, but there's free codes all over the internet. If you just search, you know, free in AB 2017 pass, you'll find dozens of free codes that will get you a free pass. Now that's for the exhibition. And, you know, you could spend the entire week on the exhibition floor. You probably won't see all of it. And you would have a great time and have a very full and rich and fulfilling in AB experience.

Caleb Ward (00:17:55):

But if you're wanting to go to NAB and learn a little bit and treat it a little bit more like a traditional conference where you go to sessions and maybe you want to learn a new aftereffect skill, you have to buy the post-production world batch. And those are a little bit more expensive. And when I say a little bit more expensive, I mean, a lot, bit more expensive. So you can buy one pass that will get you into three sessions for $510, or you can buy a full pass. That'll get you access to all of the post-production world sessions for $1,295. Now, obviously that's a lot of money and I totally understand if you don't want to throw down that kind of coin on a quick trip, especially whenever there's so many other things to do, but if you really work better in a in-person environment, it's a great way to learn something new. And I believe that Joe is actually going to be teaching a few courses or a few sessions at NAB. So you get to see his lovely face.

Amy Sundin (00:18:56):

I heard a rumor about Joey teaching some courses there. Hey, Joey, uh, w what sessions are going to be teaching it

Joey Korenman (00:19:02):

Maybe this year? Oh, just a few, just a few. And before I get into, like, what sessions, let me just say too, like, um, the, the cost of, you know, post-production world, um, it it's high, but the reason why it's high, uh, is because these are really, really in-depth sessions with like some heavy hitters aside from me, of course. Um, but you know, Chris DOE is presenting, uh, you know, um, they're there, Ryan Summers might be presenting. I mean, Ron stern usually presents, uh, Jeff Greenberg. There's some really, really knowledgeable people that run these sessions. You get a lot out of it. And if you work for a company for the love of God, make your boss pay for that, right. That it's a tax write-off, it's just a smart thing to do. I mean, I, you know, I would guess probably half or more of the people at these sessions, they are not paying for it.

Joey Korenman (00:19:52):

Their, their company is because it's just really smart. This is some of the best training, um, that you can get. And, you know, you're, it's also, it's fun. Cause when you go to these training sessions, that's, you know, you're in smaller groups and you get to meet people and then they kind of become your NAB buddies and it kind of has a summer camp vibe, you know, you'll become really close over those two, three days. Um, so anyway, so yeah, that is correct. I am running a few sessions at post-production world this year. Um, and, uh, my, my sessions include things like a very short crash course version of our animation bootcamp program. Um, I ran the same session at Adobe video world. It was a big hit. I'm also doing a design hacks for non-designers session, which is based on our design boot camp program.

Joey Korenman (00:20:39):

And that was a, that was very popular. Also, I'm doing an advanced king and compositing session and advanced expressions workshop. And then I'm also on a panel, uh, where I think the topic is after effects tips. And to be honest, I'm not exactly sure what, what I'm going to be doing on there, but I'll probably just be trying to like throw out as many after effects, tips as possible and appear, uh, to the public to know what I'm talking about. Um, but yeah, I mean, there, there's so many opportunities to learn at NAB post-production world is kind of the most structured and probably the most intense way to do it. And you can, you know, you can just Google post-production world NAB and you can see, uh, the schedule and there's different tracks and there's visual effects courses and there's production, and then there's editing and then there's motion graphics, which I'm part of.

Joey Korenman (00:21:26):

Um, there's also other ways to learn, even if you don't want to spend that money, though, if you just get the exhibition pass and you camp out in front of the max on booth, you're going to have Nick Campbell, you gonna have Chris Schmidt, you gonna have chat Ashley, you're going to have EJI. Um, you know, you're gonna have some, some really awesome artists over there just showing you stuff and showing you tricks for essentially just for the price of that exhibition ticket. And then you can walk over to the Adobe booth. And if you're lucky, if you get standing room only, you might even see the man, the myth, Andrew Kramer dropping knowledge bombs, you know? Uh, so yeah, I mean, and then the list goes on and on go to the Wacom booth and see a bunch of cool drawing demos, go to the Foundry booth, see some amazing nuc demos or Mari demos, um, you know, go to the Autodesk booth because even though we don't typically use tools like flame and smoke, some of the best compositors in the world do, and you can go watch them do breakdowns of like X-Men film shots and stuff like that.

Joey Korenman (00:22:21):

Um, so you can learn a lot even without doing the post production world.

Amy Sundin (00:22:23):

Very nice. Yeah. This is, this is a lot to take in right now. Yeah. You have to take a minute to like digest all of this stuff.

Joey Korenman (00:22:31):

[inaudible] you got to pace yourself, Amy, you're going to, you're going to want to binge, and then you're going to get a crash and burn. I've seen it. I've seen it

Amy Sundin (00:22:37):

Like a travel map in between all of this stuff.

Joey Korenman (00:22:42):

Yeah.

Amy Sundin (00:22:43):

So, so it sounds like there's like a ton of stuff going on constantly. So how can I get the most value out of NAB? Like it's only a few days, you know, I'll be there from like Sunday till like Wednesday or something. That's not a lot of time. Like how do I get the most value out of this conference? Great

Joey Korenman (00:23:02):

Question

Caleb Ward (00:23:03):

For me, the most valuable aspect of an AB is simply the networking. There is going to be over a hundred thousand people there. And so every single one of those people is an opportunity to meet someone new in the industry and possibly meet a new friend. And so I say, take a bunch of business cards and if you don't already have business cards, you can literally just go up to staples down the road. They'll print you out some business cards. They may not look pretty, but they'll at least have your name and contact information on them. Just go out and get some business cards and hand them out to people as you're talking with them. And then vice versa, take a business card from them. And once you get done meeting someone new, go in and write down information about the conversation that you had.

Caleb Ward (00:23:43):

So for example, if you go up and meet a new motion designer, he hands you his business card and he is a great compositor after you get done talking to him, write down, Hey, this guy is a great compositor, and then you can contact him whenever you get back home the next week. Uh, besides simply the networking. I think that it's super awesome to just walk around and just kind of feel the pulse of the industry. There are tons of new software and hardware innovations there. And so it's a great way for you to test out things that maybe you wouldn't normally get to test out anywhere else. I remember last year I was like getting real into VR stuff and they had a Nokia OZO booth. And so you could go and kind of mess with the OZO and demo some of the video from the ozone. I thought it was the coolest thing. And I ended up like making a few videos as a result of going to that booth. It was super, super helpful.

Joey Korenman (00:24:36):

Yeah. And I'd like to reiterate the networking part of the Caleb just mentioned because there's not that many opportunities to meet in person with this many people that could refer you work that could, you know, potentially hire you directly. Uh, or, you know, w I mean, one of my favorite things to do is just to go around and meet the vendors too, because, you know, if you use, you'd be surprised so, right? Like we all use Adobe software, right? Like the odds of you, a single freelancer or a small shop, really being on Adobe's radar are kind of small. You're not going to get like preferential treatment from Adobe. Um, max, sons' a very small company. And if you're doing really great work with cinema 4d, they want to know about it. And they might, you know, if, if, if they like you and you're really nice, I mean, who knows, maybe you get to be part of their beta program or something.

Joey Korenman (00:25:26):

And especially with really small software companies like plugin developers, especially they're dying to meet their end user. I mean, companies really like to meet their customer, get to know them, ask them questions. What could we be doing better? And if you'll just spend five minutes talking to someone, all of the sudden you now know the person behind that plugin that you use all the time. And if you have a feature request, guess what? They're going to listen to you because they met you at NAB. And hopefully you follow Caleb's tip and you take their business card. And as soon as you're done talking to them, you flip it over and you write something that you remember about the conversation, so that when you email them a week later, you can be like, Hey, it was really nice talking to you. And you know, I remember that you had three dogs, I have a dog too.

Joey Korenman (00:26:07):

Like, you know, you make that personal connection, right. This is all like freelance you stuff, by the way, it's like social engineering. Um, so yeah, so I think like it's, you know, networking, but not just with other motion designers and editors and people like that. Also network with the vendors that are there, because you never know when, when that's going to come in handy too. Um, and again, like for freelancers, you know, a lot of your business can come from referrals. Uh, and if you meet somebody and you guys trade business cards, and then later that night, you're back in your hotel room and you check out that person's real. Oh my God, they're pretty good. And then you run into them at a party and you guys are chit-chatting. And the next thing you know, you guys are each other work. Uh, so that is really like probably the best tip about how to extract the most value out of NAB.

Joey Korenman (00:26:49):

And then one simple tip I would say is there are far too many amazing, interesting sessions for you to possibly see. So, you know, if you'd like to see some of the max on sessions, some of the Foundry sessions, some of the Adobe sessions, um, look up the schedules now and try to make yourself a little calendar. Uh, and you probably are also going to want to look at the map of where all of these, all of these boots are because they might be literally a half a mile apart and you're going, yeah. And you're going to, they might, they might be more than that, depending

Amy Sundin (00:27:22):

Like a little segway or something to get through that.

Joey Korenman (00:27:24):

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I know. I w w we should probably talk about that actually. That's something, um, that's something that I think a lot of people who are new to NAB kind of underestimate, um, is just how much walking you're going to be doing at this thing. It's a, I mean, I don't know the square footage of the exhibition halls, but I'd say combined the total exhibition space at NAB, it's gotta be like a half a million square feet, at least it's it's miles and miles and miles and miles of stuff. Um, yeah, it's, it, it, you know, I know we're going to get more into that later in this conversation, but, uh, it's it, you know, it can't be said enough, bring, bring some comfortable walking shoes.

Amy Sundin (00:28:04):

I bought a pair of like walking sandals just for this event, because I knew was, yeah, I've been forewarned. Yeah,

Joey Korenman (00:28:12):

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Caleb Ward (00:28:13):

Well, Joey, to your point about networking, it is a crazy thing that we can talk with these software developers. So specifically at the media motion ball last year, I was just kind of walking around, chatting with people. I go and sit down at a table. I don't really know anybody's face because you know, there motion designers there, you don't really see their face. You only know your work. I sit down and then a bunch of other people sit down with me and we start chatting and it's the entire product team at Adobe. And so I'm sitting with the guy that created after effects, the current product manager of after effects, along with some of the developers. And we just go into this conversation about some of the bugs and after effects and the things that I want fixed and what it's like working on a motion graphics software, you don't get those opportunities anywhere else. And so it's, it's just crazy that at NAB, these things just happen and they happen all the time.

Joey Korenman (00:29:05):

That's awesome. Yeah.

Amy Sundin (00:29:07):

Very nice. All right. So we've covered the conference pretty well. I think at this point, like I'm feeling confident going into NAB itself. Like I know I'm ready network. I'm going to bring my business cards. I'm going to wear my comfortable sandals, make a schedule for myself, try to be as on top of stuff as possible. But now I want to know how do I survive Vegas itself? So like, let's start out with, you know, the most important thing is I need a place to sleep, right. So where do I want to stay? Do I want to stay like right on top of the conference center? Cause I know there's a couple of hotels around there

Caleb Ward (00:29:41):

Or do I want to stay like somewhere else entirely.

Joey Korenman (00:29:44):

I've got some thoughts about this. I've got some thoughts. So I, and I'm curious to hear Caleb's thoughts too. I've been to Vegas probably like 15 times. I'm a, I'm a, I'm an old jaded connoisseur of Vegas. Okay. And I've been to NAB, I think this'll be my sixth or seventh nav. Um, so I would recommend not staying near the convention hall. There are hotels right next to it, but the truth is, they're not that cool. There's not that much to do around them. Uh, and if you're going to Vegas, especially if it's your first time in Vegas or you haven't really had time to explore Vegas, I recommend staying on the Las Vegas strip, like where all the crazy stuff is. Okay. I'm getting to the convention hall is actually very easy. There's a lot of different ways to do it. I recommend the monorail.

Joey Korenman (00:30:31):

Um, but you know, there's, I mean, there are so many hotels in Vegas that you can stay at and what's crazy is all of them are amazing. Like it's hard to find a really, I mean, you can find them, but like if you're on the strip, it's hard to find a really crummy hotel. Um, and they're fairly inexpensive too. I mean, you're staying at like five star hotels. Um, during NAB it's a little bit more expensive. Maybe it's a couple hundred bucks a night or something like that. But I mean, if you go during the rest of the year, you can get it for under a hundred bucks a night. The reason is that those, those hotel rooms are lost leaders. They just want you to get you in so that you can gamble up the rest of your money away and like, you know, spend money on really overpriced boost.

Joey Korenman (00:31:09):

So I recommend staying on the strip, taking the monorail in to the convention center and, you know, I'll tell you some of my favorite hotels. Um, I think Mandalay bay is a really good value because it's one of the nicer hotels, but because it's at the end of the strip, people kind of like, don't like being that far down at the end of the strip. And so it's cheaper. So you can get rid of the good deal there. Um, I've also stayed at the MGM grand, which is usually less expensive, but you know, if you ever stay there, what you'll, you you'll realize that buildings can be so much bigger than you thought they could be. And you can literally, like you could walk for three miles and still be inside the building. I mean, it is so gargantuan and that can actually be a problem when you're going to be on the convention floor, like walking all day long anyway. Um, so, uh, so this year I'll be staying at Harrah's. Uh, and I know you'll be staying at the Mirage, Amy. Um, I mean, but you, you kinda can't go wrong if you're on the strip. That's my, that's my 2 cents. Awesome. Yeah.

Caleb Ward (00:32:04):

Yeah. I totally agree. You know, you can get hotels for, I literally just looked at Harrah's earlier, it's 35 bucks a night right now for nav and you can book it right now. So cheap, they'll slap on a resort fee, but I mean, at the end of the day, you're not going to be spending much more than $60 a night on a hotel. That's like totally fine, because honestly all you're going to be doing is going to your hotel, crashing showering, and then immediately leaving. Correct. So it's all super cheap. I would say, stay away from the super expensive hotel rooms there. The difference between the cheaper hotel rooms and the super expensive are not that significant. So I stayed in the Cosmo last year. It's kind of a little bit more ritzy. Honestly. I felt a little uncomfortable because it was so nice. And that's just like, not my personality.

Joey Korenman (00:32:50):

Yeah. I would agree with that too. Cause the, the, one of the times I went to Vegas, I stayed at the Bellagio, which is like the, you know, it's kind of an older hotel now, but it's like the luxury hotel Bellagio. Right. And it's wonderful if you're there on a romantic getaway with your wife or something, but when you're just there for NAB, it's really a waste of your money. Like get, just get a comfortable hotel room.

Amy Sundin (00:33:13):

All right. Good, good tips guys. This is, this is great. Awesome. So do you have any other like tips on surviving Vegas for like a first-timer who's never been out there? Yes. Yes. Please. Give me all of the tips right now that you can think of.

Joey Korenman (00:33:31):

I want Kayla to go first. I wanna hear Caleb's tips. All right.

Caleb Ward (00:33:33):

Okay. I'm not going to have as many tips because I'm not a seasoned veteran of Vegas like Joey is, but for me I get gassed super easily. So the biggest tip for me is like pace yourself. You could literally just go out all night on Monday night party and uh, you know, go to the media motion ball, drink a bunch of wine, go to an after party. And by the time you show up to the show floor on Tuesday, you are going to be ready to go home. So make sure that you're pacing yourself. Uh, you know, it's a week long affair. It's not a one night affair. So, uh, you know, the normal things that go along with that, stay hydrated, make sure you're eating food and not just drinking booze, make sure you're getting, you know, at least maybe five hours of sleep a night or at least, uh, you know, taking a nap in the afternoon. Uh, besides that, I mean really just treat it as a great opportunity to meet new friends and be willing to like be flexible, you know? Cause there are all these different events that you're going to want to go to, but don't just treat it like a checklist. Like honestly, if you feel like you're having a great conversation with a cool person, like continue having that conversation and don't feel any pressure to like make it to like 45 parties in one night.

Amy Sundin (00:34:47):

Good, good tip, man.

Joey Korenman (00:34:49):

That is really good advice. Yeah. Cause you can, you can fall prey to that fear of missing out, you know like we're oh, well, you know, I, I, in my head I was going to go to this party, but now I have to like, you know, get all the way to the other end of the strip because the parties are not at the convention center. They're usually like at, you know, a resort or at a restaurant or a bar or something like that. And they're usually on the strip. And so, and, and you know, the, the strip is only a few miles long, but it can take a while to get from one end to the other, if you have to do that. Um, so yeah, that's a really good tip. Caleb was actually just be open, you know, like be water and just flow we're Vegas takes you.

Joey Korenman (00:35:27):

All right. So, so Amy, you asked about surviving Vegas and you know, the, the truth is all of the sort of normal common sense things apply when you get to Vegas. Literally anywhere that sells anything also sells alcohol and probably has a slot machine. Um, so if, if you happen to enjoy those two vices, alcohol and gambling, you just need to take some precautions. Right? So, and you also need to remember that this is the desert, this is the, this might potentially be the driest air you've ever breathed in, in your life, your body. You're gonna, you know, you're gonna be jet lag, probably, you know, you're coming from Michigan, it's going to be like a two hour time difference, maybe three. And so, yeah. And so, um, your body's gonna just kind of have to adapt to this new environment. And if you all of a sudden start pouring drinks into it and you're, and most people that I know don't walk like eight miles a day, but you will be also walking eight miles a day.

Joey Korenman (00:36:25):

Um, plus you're, you're going to be kind of jacked. Your adrenaline is going to be jacked up because you'll be meeting new people. And unless you're just like a total extrovert, you're going to be kind of like on, um, at least I am, that's kind of how I get, you know, and then at the end of the day, I'm exhausted. Cause I like have to turn it off. Um, so you really, you really do have to pace yourself. I'll say this too. Okay. So first of all, my, my tip is water in between every single drink. Okay. You're going to, you're going to have a lot of free drink opportunities. Um, and a lot of times those free drink opportunities only last an hour. So you might feel a little bit of time pressure to like take full advantage of the free drinks. Always drink a water in between.

Joey Korenman (00:37:04):

All right, look, I'm 30, I'm 36. I'm an old man. I, you know, I feel silly telling you this. Um, but, but like that, that is definitely one tip. I would also say one thing I learned the hard way, and this is going to, this is probably the hardest thing for me actually is don't wear flip flops because that is literally like all I wear, I moved to Florida to wear flip flops and you're walking so much, you just mess your back-up like, you'll screw your legs up. Doesn't matter if you're 36 or if you're 23, you're going to get a bad back. If you don't wear comfortable shoes, you walk more than you could possibly ever imagine at this thing. Um, I would also say, uh, you know, try to, um, Vegas, there's this weird atmosphere to it. Where if for some reason, like I'm normally ridiculously lame, like at night I go to bed at like 10, 10 30 latest.

Joey Korenman (00:37:54):

Right. Um, if I'm up past that I'm exhausted the next day, but in Vegas, there's something about it's the energy and it's the lights. And I don't know, the rumor is that they pump extra oxygen into the casinos to keep you awake. So you gamble more. I don't know if that's true, but it's easy to stay up till three, four in the morning and then be like, oh shoot. I have somewhere to be tomorrow at nine. And you're like, now I'm doomed. You know? And now you're just going to spend the rest of the day just in this fog. And um, so you know, if you've never been to Vegas before, you know, go a little crazy, have a little fun, but just know that like hangovers aren't any easier in Vegas than they are everywhere else.

Amy Sundin (00:38:33):

Good to know this.

Joey Korenman (00:38:35):

Yeah. Oh and sunblock. Oh yeah. Oh my God. Put sunblock on.

Amy Sundin (00:38:39):

Yeah. I like my tattoos. Like I'm used to putting on the sunblock, but yeah, if you're not used to putting on sunblock, it's the desert. Um, I can only imagine the searing sun pain that I would feel without the sunblock. You have 50 guys,

Joey Korenman (00:38:55):

It could be a hundred degrees and you could, you know, if you're walking the strip, it's just this giant concrete jungle and the buildings all have like reflective glass that like focuses on the sun. And it's literally, it's like walking inside of an oven sometimes. I mean, NAB, you know, being kind of at the end of April, it's not the peak of, of the desert heat. It gets much worse, but it's already pretty hot, especially

Amy Sundin (00:39:19):

The weather for next week already. And they're saying like 93 on Monday for the high, I'm not adjusted 93 with 6% humidity. I don't think I've ever seen that low of humidity.

Joey Korenman (00:39:33):

Yeah. Yeah. Mean, you're coming from Michigan. It's gonna, it's going to feel different. It's going to feel a little different for you. So just be ready for that. Um, and then I'll give you my, uh, just, we haven't really talked about the gambling part yet. Everyone knows you can gamble in Vegas. That's kind of a big thing to do. Um, I, my, my suggestion is to not just, don't just don't do that. Vegas is not as big and glitzy as it is because people when, when they, when they gamble, um, just re just remember that. Uh, but he, this is a tip actually that the first time I ever went to Vegas and I was playing blackjack and I was having a lot of fun. Um, and my boss told this to me and it was like one of the best piece of advice I've ever gotten.

Joey Korenman (00:40:13):

If you're going to gamble, we should do is like go to the ATM, take out however much money you are willing to light on fire. Okay. Let's say a hundred bucks, take that a hundred bucks out, go back to your room and put the ATM card, like in the safe, in your room and then go back downstairs without it, because you could lose that a hundred bucks in like two hands of blackjack. Like, it doesn't matter how cheap of blackjack you play. Like, you know, you'll split, you'll split again, you'll double down. And all of a sudden you just lost 40 bucks. Right. Um, and when that happens and you haven't even gotten a free drink out of this thing yet you're tempted to chase it. You're tempted to, you know, it's that sunk cost like, well, I already lost a hundred bucks if I put another a hundred and I'll probably get it back. It's like, that's where you get into trouble. And if you throw a little bit of booze on top of that and make some real bad decisions. So I say, leave the ATM card in your room before you gamble. Uh, and I'm not telling you this from experience. It's just a friend of mine, a guy I knew one time, he like lost more than he wanted to. Cause he carried his ATM card around stupid stupid guy.

Caleb Ward (00:41:15):

Yeah. That's the crazy thing about Vegas. It's like money has no value in Las Vegas. You know, I'm like a pretty frugal guy, but like I would play like $20 hands, $20 hands at blackjack and like $20 in regular life. Like that's a lot of money. Like you're not going to just throw that away, but I would lose 20 bucks. I'm like, oh, you know, forget it. I'll put down 40 on the next hand. And it's just like that everywhere. Like food is like a hundred dollars a person on average, if you go out to like just one of these ritzy restaurants in any of the hotels or resorts around the strip, and if you're not careful, I mean, you could very easily spend $500 in a night and not even know where the money went. So I say be very, very cautious and frugal with your money.

Amy Sundin (00:42:01):

So if you have to just take the cash out for that day, so you can visually see, this is how much I've got, like even for your food budget, if you're real, real spending with stuff. So be too loose with the debit card. Yeah. Awesome. So what about transportation? Like once I get to the airport, like, do I need a rental car at all? Or should I just be like grabbing a taxi Uber or something like that to get to my hotel and then get around town? How do I handle that?

Caleb Ward (00:42:28):

Yeah. I, whenever you're leaving the airport, you can take an Uber or a taxi to your hotel. From there, you know, Joey talking about the monorail, you can take the monorail. It'll literally link you up to most of the hotels on the east side of the strip, besides that, I mean, each hotel has their own restaurants. You can walk to the next hotel. You're going to walk a lot at NAB and in Vegas,

Amy Sundin (00:42:53):

It's like a total waste of money,

Caleb Ward (00:42:55):

A total waste of money. Yeah. I mean, between Uber and the monorail and just walking around, you can get to 90% of everything that you could possibly want to do in Vegas. Awesome.

Joey Korenman (00:43:06):

And the problem with the rental car too, because I've, I've been to Vegas with people who had a rental car and Vegas, the strip. Anyway, it's not like set up, these hotels are so big and there's so many people in them there, there's not like a parking lot around them that you park in. They all have these underground parking garages that are like, you know, 10, 15 stories into the ground. So you want to get your car out. You're going to have to like, you know, walk all the way across the hotel to the parking garage, then take an elevator, 10 stories down, then walk over to your car, then dry for 10 minutes to get out of the thing. And so it's, that's definitely not worth it. That's a lot of work. Yeah. It's not worth it at all. So yeah. Is right. Like from the airport, every time I get to Vegas, I just take a cab to the, to the hotel.

Joey Korenman (00:43:51):

And once I'm there, I like to walk everywhere. Even when it's a million degrees outside. And frankly, a lot of these hotels now they have their con, like some of the hotels are connected to each other and you can walk from, you know, you can walk like between four hotels without ever going outside. If you follow the signs, now they will funnel you past like 4,000 slot machines on the way to do that. Uh, but it's, you know, you can walk around and then yeah. Getting to the convention, the best way to get to the exhibition hall is the monorail. I recommend it to everybody. And the thing is not everyone knows about it. Um, Vegas has a monorail that I, I find most times of the year to be kind of useless and not worth it during NAB. It's really the best way to get around because you have so many people, Vegas is packed for this convention.

Joey Korenman (00:44:40):

And so you want to get an Uber. You want to get a taxi. You might be waiting a while and it's more expensive. The monorail, you get a ticket and I forget how much it is, but it's really inexpensive. I think a day pass, you know, it might be like 15 bucks or 20 bucks tops. Um, versus like, you know, an Uber might be like, you know, just one round trip. It might be that, um, and the monorail can get you between hotels and get you up and down the strip and it can get you back and forth from the convention center. And it runs really regularly. It's air conditioned, it's comfortable. It's the easiest way to do it. Um, so that's my recommendation and you can look online and find out which hotels actually have a monorail stop in them. Harris, for example, has a monorail stop. So I can literally like walk downstairs and, you know, win a thousand bucks at the craps table and then get right on the monorail and go to the exhibition hall.

Amy Sundin (00:45:26):

Awesome. Yeah. Very nice. Sounds pretty efficient actually to get around. So yeah, no rental cars. Good deal. All right. So another thing that happens, we are humans. We all need to eat. We need food to fuel ourselves, especially on an adventure, as big as NAB when you're walking miles and miles, where should I be eating in Vegas? Oh,

Joey Korenman (00:45:50):

What, what do you think Kayla

Caleb Ward (00:45:52):

Man, that's, that's a hard question because there are so many good restaurants in Vegas. So a few of my favorite places, uh, there's this place called secret pizza in the cosmos. It's incredible. So you're just walking around the Cosmo and you look down a hallway and it looks just like a regular hallway, except for there's a pinball machine at the end of it. And when you walk to the pinball machine, you get there and it's an incredible pizza restaurant and it's one of the best slices you'll ever have. And there's no signs you've got to kind of know about it. There's also another place in the Cosmo called excellent

Joey Korenman (00:46:30):

And egg

Amy Sundin (00:46:32):

Sounds dangerous.

Caleb Ward (00:46:35):

It is supposedly one of the best egg sandwiches that you can possibly have. And it's only about $10 for each sandwich, which, you know, we're already talking about how fake money is in Vegas. $10 is not that bad. If you want to just get some quick cheap eats. Now those are like, I'd say cheap options in Vegas. And there's that you have all of the normal, fast food places in Vegas. You have shake shack. McDonald's all those things. But if you want to start spending a little bit more, and I know Joey, you'll probably have a little bit to say about this, but the buffets you have to experience one of the buffets while you're in Vegas. It is honestly might be the reason why I'm the most excited to go to nav this

Joey Korenman (00:47:16):

I'm with you, I'm with you. And I will, I will. Second and third that so eating in Vegas is very special. It's a very important thing really. Okay. Because you know, if you're a foodie on any level, um, and I don't know, like I would S I would say I'm a foodie, but like, I don't really know a lot about food. I just like food. So like I like good food. Vegas probably has the, you know, the most amazing restaurants per capita of any city in the world. Maybe Paris is, has more, but like, I can't, I bet it doesn't. I bet Vegas has more, um, every single hotel will have probably no less than 10 restaurants in it. Like the big ones, you know, the Bellagio and the Mandalay bay. Um, and a lot of them have celebrity chefs attached to them. Um, you know, like there's Emeril, Lagasse restaurants in the MGM grand and there's Mario Batali restaurants and the Venetian.

Joey Korenman (00:48:12):

Uh, so you can, and, and any kind of food you want, you know, you want sushi, there's like five world-class sushi places. One of my favorite places. So, so I can talk about places I've been. So one of my favorite places to go at NAB, if you're into sushi is Nobu, uh, in the hard rock cafe. It for awhile, I went every single time I went to Vegas. Um, and the thing to do is go there and order the OMA, Casa, which is essentially the chef just brings you. Whatever's great that day. Um, yeah. It's, and, and it's better when your boss is paying it's better when it's being expensed. Cause it's kind of an expensive meal. Um, but that's really good. Um, you know, and then you can, you can go from there. If you have a really good night at the blackjack table, I I'd highly recommend carnevalino, uh, in the Venetian that's the Mario Batali steakhouse and it is a life-changing experience to go there, but you're look, you're talking 150 bucks a person, um minimum minimum.

Joey Korenman (00:49:04):

Like if you, then you, then you throw like, you know, wine and drinks and appetizers and, uh, you know, they have this octopus appetizers. Unbelievable. Um, so that's, that's again, that's your boss has taken you or it's like a, you know, a bachelor party or something. Um, and then if you really want to go nuts, you can like, if you, you know, if, if you're a baller, uh, you know, if you, I don't know if you're running a, if you're running a studio and you did 10 million in revenue last year, and maybe you want to go to the restaurant that I, you know, this was like a bucket list thing. Like, you know, w when school emotions acquired for a hundred million dollars or something, like there's a restaurant there. Um, that I, every time I go, I walk past it and I look at the menu and I just like, look longingly at it. And it's called [inaudible] [inaudible].

Joey Korenman (00:49:52):

I don't know if I said it right, but it's at the MGM grand and it's a T it's you go in there and there's just a tasting menu. I think that's the only thing you can order. Um, and it's like a four hour dinner and it's 425 bucks per person without drinks, without tip, without tax. So you go there with two people, you order, you know, the wine that accompanies every, every, um, every course. And you're probably looking at like 11, 1200 bucks for one meal. Now, on the other hand, the buffets, now this is, this is, Kayla was right. This is really where Vegas shines. So there are like the cheaper buffets. If you go to like the, sort of the less glitzy hotels, you know, if you go to like the luck soar or Harrah's, or, um, I don't like the circus circus, um, the stratosphere, the buffets at those hotels, they're probably still 30 or 40 bucks.

Joey Korenman (00:50:48):

Maybe, maybe, maybe a little less, maybe 25, 30 bucks. Um, but they'll, I mean, they're like, they're, it's not like going to the Luby's buffet. Like, you know, you're talking about like two football fields put together with gourmet food, just like filling them. So that would be like a tier one buffet. Now what Caleb's talking about and where we may have to find ourselves on this NAB trip are we're talking about the Wynn hotel buffet. And, and really in my opinion, the king of the buffets is the Caesar's palace buffet. Um, and I don't off the top of my head. I don't know how much it costs. It wouldn't surprise me if it was 50 or 60 bucks a person. But if you could think of some food, some exotic food that like you'd have to travel 1500 miles to go taste, they probably have it in this buffet.

Joey Korenman (00:51:36):

And it's probably, yeah. So, you know, if you want to go and have king crab legs, you can have that. If you want to have chicken and waffles, you can have that. If you want pizza with saffron on it, you can have that. It's like, it's absolutely ridiculous. Um, and I think nothing really gets to the core of what makes Vegas so weird than the buffets in Vegas. Like in one word, if you were going to describe it is excess and the buffet is really the epitome of that. I think. So that's also one of the things I recommend everyone try. If you go to Vegas and you're only there for one or two days or three days, like for NAB, make sure one of those mornings, you hit up a Vegas buffet, pick one of the good ones. It's worth the money. Think of it as not just like a meal, but kind of an experience and an eye-opener into the insane wealth distribution going on in Nevada.

Amy Sundin (00:52:30):

Nice. All right. I'm going to have to check out a buffet. You've convinced me, you've sold me on this one.

Joey Korenman (00:52:36):

The sad thing is Amy. I know that you're not going to go to that buffet and eat like 6,000 calories and really like, get your money's worth because you know, you're, you're just,

Amy Sundin (00:52:45):

I need like a day pass. I need to pay once to be able to eat like all day at the place.

Caleb Ward (00:52:51):

It's funny you say that. Cause a lot of these buffets set limits on the amount of time that you're able to spend in the buffet, because some people do that. They camp out all day eating food. And I mean, whenever Joey says king crab legs. Yes. They're king crab legs, but they pre crack the king crab legs to where literally your fork can just go directly into the meat and you can put it in your mouth. Oh my goodness. Yeah. It's, it's wonderful. It's

Joey Korenman (00:53:12):

Amazing.

Amy Sundin (00:53:13):

Awesome. So, so speaking of excess, all right, so you will, you go and you, you get real lucky, like you win like a ton of money playing some in some casino. What do you do with this sudden excess of money? Like what's the dream in Vegas to do with this money?

Joey Korenman (00:53:32):

So many things, so many things. Well, I know what I would do. I wanna hear what Caleb would do?

Caleb Ward (00:53:38):

Well, uh, I guess first I would put it in my, to my savings account.

Joey Korenman (00:53:43):

Yeah, yeah. You and everyone else in Vegas.

Caleb Ward (00:53:48):

I think if it was me, I would go to that fancy French restaurant. It's all about those food experiences for me and the thought of eating a $400 meal, just like,

Amy Sundin (00:53:59):

Yeah, I'll be right there with you, man. I'm not going to lie. Like anything else, just know it's gotta be the food. Joey, how about you?

Joey Korenman (00:54:06):

So that, I mean, that would definitely be at the top of my list, but there's a couple other things I can recommend. So, um, first of all, in Vegas, there's not just like crazy food experiences, but there's just crazy experiences like all over the place. Um, so one of the things I would recommend if you ever get a chance to do it, and it's pretty pricey, I think, you know, it's probably starts at like, um, you know, three, 400 bucks a person is you can take a helicopter trip into the grand canyon from like just outside of the Las Vegas strip. So you essentially, you wake up a shuttle, picks you up, takes you to this, like hella, hella pad out in the desert, you get on a helicopter and you literally fly for like 45 minutes and you go over the Ridge of the grand canyon, you fly over the Hoover dam, you go into the grand canyon, you land, you get out, you're walking around in the frigging grand canyon and then, and you're there for awhile.

Joey Korenman (00:54:56):

And then you get in this helicopter and you fly back and it's like, and then you're back at the hotel by like, you know, 1231. O'clock. I mean, that's the level of experience you can have. Also, I think it's right across from the, um, not the Bellagio, there's a hotel next to it. I, I can't, I, my biggest, geography's a little rusty. I haven't been in a couple of years, but there's actually a car rental place right on the Las Vegas strip, kind of in the middle where you can rent exotic sports cars for the day. So you can rent, you know, probably three, 400 bucks for the day or something. You can rent like a Lambo, a Ferrari Maserati, and you'll see these things driving up and down the strip. And they're like bright, they're all bright green or bright orange and ridiculous looking. Um, but that would be really fun to do too. So, I mean, I would say like, um, you know, I would spend the money on either a food experience or some kind of crazy experience that you can only get in Vegas because let's face it. Like we all leave NAB. We go back to our hometowns, which I'm sure are very nice and have fun things in them, but there's nothing to do like a helicopter trip to the grand canyon in Florida where I live.

Amy Sundin (00:56:00):

Yeah. No, I think that one definitely like tops the experience list right there. So it doesn't get much better than that. Yeah. All right. Awesome.

Joey Korenman (00:56:10):

I would also say too, like, let me throw this out because it, NAB is not necessarily the best time to do this, but there's, um, there are some of the most incredible shows in the world in Vegas and you know, like you might say to yourself, oh, I'm not really a show person. I don't want to go see a play or something like that. That's not what these are. Um, and as someone who's into the field of production and I'm into lighting and staging and stuff like that, to go see like a Cirque du Soleil show, there's a show at the Bellagio called Cirque de Solei. Oh, um, there's another one at MGM called CA and these are like, I, I can't possibly describe how crazy they are and the level of amazingness and the production and the sets and the acrobatics and like the music and everything.

Joey Korenman (00:56:54):

Um, it's literally like the best shows in the world. And there's one on every street corner in Vegas. Um, and the tickets can be very expensive if you go during a period like nav, if you go in the off season, um, you know, the middle of summer, for example, you can usually find a cheaper tickets, but if you go during NAB and you try to fit that in, you might be spending a hundred bucks a ticket on some of that stuff, but there's also like the magic shows at the Tropicana and stuff like that, that maybe you're only 35 bucks a person. And you can, you know, there's some really interesting little fun Vegasy things you can go see, you know, if you there's other places you can go spend money. If you're into that sort of thing that I, you know, I don't need to, I don't need to, you know, we know what I'm talking about. That's another way. That's another way. That's another way that like, you may want to go through, you know, I mean, those people got to eat too, but, um, yeah, I would, I would recommend, you know, try to try to find the legitimate performers, you know, the, uh, the Chris angels and the David Copperfields and give them, give them back. Some of that blackjack money.

Amy Sundin (00:57:52):

I forget you just think casinos when you're thinking of Vegas, but yeah, you're right. There are a ton of shows out there and just other stuff to do. And I actually heard, there's like a zip line that you can take, like, it goes like completely down the strip. So you can like zip line, the whole strip. Yeah. Joey's eyes lit up real big.

Joey Korenman (00:58:10):

I didn't know about this. Well, I'll tell you if you're like, okay. So I, if that's, if that exists, I'm doing that a hundred percent. Uh, but there's also, so there's a hotel in Vegas called the New York New York hotel, um, which is another one of these spectacles. You just got to go look at it. You cannot believe that they built this thing. You go inside. And it feels like you're outside in like New York, you know, 150 years ago, like, like gangs of New York era, New York city, right. And inside of that hotel, there's a rollercoaster that you can get on. It's like pretty decent one and it goes outside and then it comes back inside. If you go to the, uh, I forget which end of the strip, but there's this giant space needle looking thing. It's called the stratosphere and it's a hotel, it's a casino.

Joey Korenman (00:58:53):

But if you go up to the top of it, there's rides up there and there, you know, and you're, you know, really high up in the early, you probably thousand feet up in the air or something. And they have like a reverse bungee ride where you go up really fast and you're looking out over the desert and you want to puke, but it's awesome. And you're like Vegas. Yeah. So like, there's a lot of like neat stuff like that. Um, there's also, I think it's called the Richard Petty driving experience. I don't know if it's still there, but you can like drive cars around a race. I mean, there's so much insane, crazy stuff to do there. It's like, you know, so yeah. So yeah. I don't know. Maybe we should gamble and like, you know, maybe, maybe I should change my team. Maybe you should gamble. And if you win, go do something crazy. And if not, just make sure your ATM card is not in your pocket when you lose. Yes.

Amy Sundin (00:59:41):

Good Tim. There you go. Awesome. All right. Well, I am now feeling like way more confident about going to Vegas at this point. I'm sure a bunch of our listeners are also feeling way more confident too. So thank you guys so much for the tips. This was absolutely awesome. Um, yeah, just thanks

Joey Korenman (01:00:02):

Right on. No problem. You can probably tell, I enjoy Los Vegas just a little bit and come on. What's not to enjoy, but NAB, it's really a special experience. It's not often that every single person in the room with you understands what you do for a living. And even more than that, they give a crap. You get to meet the people that are building the software. You pay your bills with you get to network with other artists and you might even get to learn a whole bunch of new tricks. So I really hope to see some of you at NAB. If you see anybody from school motion, please come say hello and make sure you check out the companion article to this [email protected], which has even more info about NAB and all things Vegas. That's it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. And now I'm headed to the crap stable.

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