NAB 2026 Updates: See the Latest News and it’s impact on your classroom
Pre-NAB Show 2026: The Essential Tech Takeaways for Media Educators
NAB Las Vegas is the annual pilgrimage of AV professionals from around the world to meet, see new technologies, or have their eyes opened to old technologies and their changes in the last year. It’s one of the events that I wish I could attend every year. I think its something that teachers should attend every five years. It know it would be tough to do because of the cost, timing, and perceptions about what would actually happen in Vegas.
NAB is not for the weak though. I arrived yesterday after a 4 hour flight. Got checked into my hotel and got rolling. Last night after 6 miles of walking, multiple meetings, a keynote presentation, and a plate of mediocre nachos, I ended my 23 hour day. (only to be awakened at 3am this morning by house of worship clients who were having trouble with Tricaster licensing…)
That said, I believe NAB is perfect for educators. Its a great way to stay involved in the industry of your choice - TV, film, radio, sports, streaming, etc. It’s all here. It’s a great way for you to make real connections with manufacturers. It shocked me the first time I attended NAB how many of the manufacturers not only cared about what was happening in the classroom but who wanted to be engaged in the conversation about what will help teachers.
At NAB 2017(-ish), I met Hank Landsberg from Henry Engineering and after a year of conversations, tests, and work on Hank’s part, the Henry Engineering Sportscaster was released. I still think that is the absolute best tool for schools when it comes to teaching and practicing to be on-air talent for sports broadcasts.
Now to this year…
I spent some time at the JB&A Pre-NAB and Ross Video Keynote events and had some great takeaways:
Invest in NDI Infrastructure Now
I remember the day I actually figured out what NDI will do and how I could use it in my classroom. It was life changing. We tried a ton of stuff: live interviews on the other side of the building, esports, car rider door opening at the elementary school, teaching from a laptop (2020), and more. I still believe that once you get it, you are hooked. My entire studio was NDI. There were 0 cables running from my studio to our production area - it was all over the school network. (It only failed me once in 4 years.)
Why you should start pushing for NDI workflows in your school now - NDI is trying to take over the AV world. At the JB&A meeting, “Dr. NDI” broke down the new stuff that available to be run over NDI and it never ceases to amaze me. NDI is no longer just video signals. It’s now everything - Audio, KVM (keyboard, video, mouse), DMX (used to control lights and other hardware), and more.
If you aren’t aware of NDI, first don’t be intimidated. It’s not as complex as you think. At its root, it’s connecting a device to a network, getting it’s address, and telling something else how to interact with it. (We will do a whole series on NDI soon)
Long story short: if you want to maximize what you are doing in the studio and around the building, learn NDI. More to come…
Simplify Production with Bitfocus Buttons
I haven’t dug in a ton yet but Bitfocus Buttons looks to be very promising. Bitfocus is the same company that built the companion app for the Elgato stream decks so you could control sophisticated tools with a button.
The thing about Buttons that interested me the most was the ability to use RF cards to assign roles with the buttons tools. While it is designed for user specific roles, I immediately thought about how it could be used to set up different shows for a school. For example, Your news show has a specific card that you swipe and how you have access to the tools that are needed for that show - camera controls, video routing, graphics tools, etc. Then that night, you have a sports broadcast, swipe the sports card, and boom now you have a different set of tools.
I am going to spend some more time on this but I have to say, it has a ton of potential for the classroom . It’s one of those little things that once it’s in place, you can save a ton of time and hassle with a couple of button pushes or swipes.
Ross Video's Evolving Ecosystem: Indigo and 5 M/E
The Ross Keynote was a great example of a company with it’s eyes on serving clients and creating cool stuff. Earlier in the day, I saw Matt Morgan from Ross share the 5 pillars that Ross Video is working in and the biggest for educators is obviously the broadcast video pillar though I think that Architainment could be something fun for the schools with a great budget and looking to make a huge impression (probably colleges more than secondary schools).
Ross has always been creative with their new tools and implementations. They love a lot and as we all do want “one more (insert).” The biggest takeaway from the session for me was the new 5 M/E control panel. If you aren’t aware, the biggest control surfaces for the last 40 years have been 4 M/E which are HUGE. While I haven’t seen it yet, my mental picture when they announced it was that when it’s not being used for a production, a well built cover could be placed over it so the JV basketball teams would have a place to practice. I am excited to see it in person because it reminds me that no matter how much of something we have, we want “one more…”
I’m also digging in on the new control room software that was announced last night, Indigo. Indigo combines all of the elements of production management into one tool - ingesting media, writing, editing, planning, and producing - into one tool. I’m really excited to dig in on Indigo. I am probably going to do that on Tuesday so I can spend more time on it.
Make sure you come back to see what we dig up at the show as it officially opens today (Sunday).
Meet the Author, Tom White
Tom White is the director of business development at Amitrace. Tom's role is to help educators build better programs through better training, planning, and equipment. Before joining Amitrace, Tom was the Broadcast Engineer at Grady College of Journalism and Communication at the University of Georgia. Prior to that role, Tom taught at Morgan County High School and Rockdale Career Academy where he and his student produced thousands of live streams for sports, news, and community events. Tom is a member of the SkillsUSA Georgia Board of Directors and also serves as a contest tech chair for SkillsUSA Alabama and Tennessee.
If you're a school administrator or CTE director, you know the drill: it's early spring, and there's money in the budget that needs to be spent by May 31st. The challenge isn't whether to spend it—it's where to spend it wisely so your investment actually makes a difference for students and staff.