The NAB Show, organized by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), is a premier annual trade show that focuses on the media, entertainment and technology sectors. 

This year’s show is rapidly approaching, taking place on April 5-9, 2025, in Las Vegas. Believe it or not, the time to start arranging these interviews is coming up quickly. Before diving in too deep, let’s first see if your company should attend the show. Follow the below frequently asked questions to understand if it’s worth it for you to invest in public relations efforts at the show.

Getting the lay of the land – FAQs

Who attends? 

NAB 2024 saw over 61,000 attendees, including 1,000 press contacts. It also has over 750 sessions featuring more than 1,200 speakers, so it can be hard to break through the noise to make your message shine.

Why should my company be there on-site? 

The NAB show provides great opportunities for networking, trendspotting and industry analysis. If your company is looking to be the top among your competitors, investing in a tradeshow such as NAB, where you can talk to other industry professionals, see what talent is out there, hear what’s next for the industry (and see how your technology holds up against it) and position yourself as an expert in the field via media interviews holds value for your growth and prosperity.

What is the value in exhibiting over just attending?

The additional investment in an exhibitor booth at the show typically gives you insider access to a few critical things: an attendee list (or media list, depending on the size of the show), space to host meetings or interviews, and a meeting place to connect with an attendee or reporter you’re planning to work with.

NAB offers special opportunities for startups with the StartUp Loft, a special attraction designed to give new businesses a one-time opportunity to showcase products to the NAB audience. This is also located in the Innovation Pipeline, setting your new business apart in an area spotlighting future-focused technologies.

I’ve decided to attend, but will not have an exhibitor booth. How can I maximize my presence at the show?

A great way to maximize your presence at the show is to arrange for media interviews ahead of the event to position yourself as the go-to expert in the industry for your specific area of excellence. For example, last year we supported the team at Diversified with their NAB presence and arranged for more than 15 media interviews to be completed on-site at the event or via pre- or post-event Zoom calls. The experts we elevated remain available  online in live interview links which can be referenced time and time again so long as the website keeps the interviews up.

If you aren’t into media interviews, you can still approach the booths to hear about what others are doing and learn about their products and more. The show draws those from outside of the typical broadcasting field, such as companies focused on sectors like houses of worship, Esports, education and more, and may be open to discussions on partnerships and more, depending on their business needs.

What else is there for me to do besides exhibit or simply attend the show?

NAB also offers speaking opportunities for those with a unique perspective or expert insights on relevant topics. Oftentimes, this is also available through sponsorship opportunities, as well as traditional earned media, where your team can submit an application for the speaking engagement and compete with other experts for the spot. Applications for the earned section officially closed in December, but sometimes, show organizers will reach out to companies like Bospar to help fill additional spots that applications didn’t cover. We can also handle sourcing the opportunities and support completing the award application for clients on a retainer contract.

Navigating the challenges of interviews at the show

If you’ve ever arranged for in-person trade show interviews, you know how difficult it can be to navigate logistics, especially if you don’t have a home base in your company’s booth. There are a few key challenges to be especially aware of heading into trade show season.

1. Things happen, and sometimes, a reporter or spokesperson goes to the wrong location or need to shift an interview at the last second. Having someone on-site dedicated to ensuring both parties can connect helps mitigate this problem. With a visual on the interview, we can ensure it occurred and overall went well.
2. Interviews may be scheduled back to back during a short window when the spokesperson or reporter is available. It’s essential to keep track of how long the interview goes if there is a hard stop, prioritizing answering the questions succinctly while getting your message across. Having a dedicated person to support the interview keeps things moving along nicely.
3. Days can blur together and be overwhelming for spokespeople who are doing more than one media interview. Developing a briefing book, as Bospar does for each interview a client attends, will help mitigate unnecessary stress. We also offer media training for those who are especially nervous heading into interviews.

While you don’t always need a dedicated person on-site to staff media interviews, it’s always going to be recommended by your public relations team that you invest in that. Bospar will always recommend that a PR or communications person staff each interview to take notes, be aware of follow-up needs, and generally understand how the meeting went. Often, a reporter will indicate the next steps, potentially even their planned publishing date at the interview, and it’s best if we are privy to that information sooner rather than later.

Bospar has attended and arranged for media interviews at many tradeshows across the globe, including at NAB, Infocomm, HLTH, CES and more. There is immense value in bringing your PR team with you to these events, and even more value in exploring what can be done with your PR budget, especially with a politely pushy agency to do your heavy lifting.

Looking ahead at next steps

We’ve found that the sweet spot for arranging media interviews is 30-60 days before the show. For NAB, we’ll be looking to kick off this outreach in early February, continuing throughout March and into April as well. Once interest is secured and we work with the in-house PR/marketing team to decide if we want to pursue the interview, we’ll lock in date, time and location with the reporter. A week or so before the show, we will share a fully developed briefing book with reporter information, talking points, logistical details and more with each spokesperson so they have ample time to prepare. We’ve found success in this method as Bospar has attended and arranged for media interviews at many tradeshows across the globe, including at NAB, Infocomm, HLTH, CES and more. 

There is immense value in bringing your PR team with you to these events, and even more value in exploring what can be done with your PR budget, especially with a politely pushy agency to do your heavy lifting. Not sure what would be best for your PR plan? Take Bospar’s quiz to outline how we can best support your efforts.

Registration for the 2025 NAB Show will be open in January. We hope to see you there!