The 2024 NAB Broadcast Engineering & Information Technology (BEIT) Conference schedule is out! It’s always great to finally hit publish on the schedule so that industry technologists can start planning out their time in Las Vegas at NAB Show.

Industry engineers and media technologist find themselves behind the scenes in their jobs, and they understand what goes into something before it’s finally ready for public consumption. It’s a familiar feeling for all of us as we work to bring the conference to life.

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers President Renard T. Jenkins delivered the 2023 NAB BEIT Conference keynote followed by a fireside chat with NAB CTO Sam Matheny.

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers President Renard T. Jenkins delivered the 2023 NAB BEIT Conference keynote followed by a fireside chat with NAB CTO Sam Matheny.

The BEIT Conference Program Committee of industry experts, chaired by Ling Ling Sun, chief technology officer at Nebraska Public Media, began its work back in August when they first met to discuss the topics most pertinent to the industry. Those discussions focused on the broad areas that engineers, technologists and researchers are working in and what they will be working on in the future. The final list included themes like broadcast radio and TV, digital operations, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and position, navigation and timing (PNT) with broadcast signals.

In September, the call for papers was announced, and the proposals started pouring in. It’s incredible seeing the different examples of research, experimentation, testing and innovation happening throughout the industry. As the November proposal deadline approached, we knew the committee’s decisions about proposals to accept wouldn’t be easy. But we were also certain that the result would be powerful conference in April.

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers President Renard T. Jenkins delivered the 2023 NAB BEIT Conference keynote titled, “New Tools, New Opportunities: Preparing Engineers and Technologists for Longevity.”The committee reviewed all proposals in November and December, paying close attention to all ideas presented, discussing the relevancy of each, and coming up with the list of presentations for the 2024 BEIT Conference. We sent acceptance notices and created the four-day schedule that was released on February 7, 2024.

Now the presenters and authors are busy crafting their presentations and writing their papers that will be included in the BEIT Conference Proceedings this April. We can’t wait to host this gathering of experts and sharing of knowledge in Las Vegas at NAB Show.

In addition to the conference presentations, we’ll catch up with all our colleagues at the BEIT Conference/Connect Happy Hour at the end of the first day of the BEIT Conference on Saturday April 13 thanks to cosponsors Cisco and Resilio.

I’d also like to thank our partner organizations which also host a sessions during the BEIT Conference: IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (IEEE BTS), North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) and Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE).

SBE Ennes WorkshopsAnd be sure come out a day early and register to attend the SBE Ennes Workshop in the West Hall of the Convention Center. This two-day workshop on Friday April 12 and Saturday, April 13 features two tracks: RF 101 and Media-Over-IP.

There something for every engineer, technologist and researcher at the NAB BEIT Conference. We look forward to seeing you there.