Remember all the brouhaha that erupted just a week or so before the NAB 2011 FCPUG SuperMeet when Apple took over the event to preview Final Cut Pro X, thereby kicking out all the other presenters who had planned their own demos and paid for sponsorships? Here we are six months later and it’s time for another SuperMeet, this time scheduled for September 11 at the The Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam during IBC.
The lineup scheduled for the IBC SuperMeet looks very much like the one booted from the NAB version. All those big A’s that had to scuttle their presentations will be represented as presenters: Adobe, Autodesk and Avid (along with the B of Blackmagic Design showing DaVinci). Add to that the other Big A of Apple—at least, unofficially—and you’ve got what must be a first: Final Cut Pro X presented on stage alongside Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro. Michael Wohl, who, according to his bio on the SuperMeet site, is “one of the original designers of Final Cut Pro, when Macromedia started developing the application in 1995,” will attempt to clear up the confusion surrounding FCPX. While Wohl isn’t really working in an official capacity for Apple, he is a leading Apple trainer, and it is important to have FCPX on stage. It’s about all we’ve been talking about since late June.
To me, the best thing about this SuperMeet is the fact that all those companies that didn’t present during the infamous NAB SuperMeet will be back together on stage. After talking to several of those companies following NAB, I found most weren’t happy with what went down, so it’s nice to also see them not just presenting but sponsoring the SuperMeet.
I think this also points to a real sense of community among companies making post-production software. It really is a small community overall, even if Apple doesn’t always play along with those companies that produce the tools so many of us use. Though it began as a gathering of Final Cut Pro users, SuperMeet has evolved into rather a unique event in that it can bring all these primary competitors together under one roof, on one stage. It’s obviously a great time for competitors to grab this audience’s attention, particularly after FCPX’s controversial launch. Plenty of other vendors that still play well with FCP will also be there, and many of their products will be raffled off during the event (as will copies of Media Composer and Production Premium CS5.5).
This is all just a few days away, so if you’re in Amsterdam for IBC, or you happen to be on location in Europe, grab a ticket. Kudos to both the event organizers and event sponsors for making another SuperMeet possible … with or without Apple’s participation.
Topics: Blog fcpx final cut pro IBC nab Post-production
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