PERG General Membership Meeting at NAB 2018

| PERG News: May 2018 | 

Over 150 attendees turned out for PERG’s General Membership Meeting on Tuesday April 10th during the NAB conference in Las Vegas. NAB is the world’s largest conference focusing on media and technology. This year attendance was estimated around 103,000 attendees and 1,800 exhibitors. It is an important annual event for PERG as it attracts a large number of members from across the continent and around the world and brings them together in one location. The General Membership Meeting is part social event and part membership meeting where we update everyone on PERG activities and hear from experts on topics of interest to our members.

This year the social hour took place in the atrium of the Embassy Suites hotel, an open, airy space with a great party atmosphere. With a jam-packed agenda, PERG allotted a little over an hour for people to chat over drinks and food before moving the assembly into the ballroom. One attendee I spoke with, who snapped some photos from the balcony above the party, told me how impressed he was with the number of great companies present. Attendees enjoy the opportunity to see their colleagues and competitors at this event. In fact, more than one guest commented it seemed a shame to break up the party!

The event raised $2250 to support RENTAL GUARD. This year PERG offered attendees an opportunity to make a voluntary contribution by selling tickets with a $25 minimum suggested donation amount. Thanks to everyone who contributed! The proceeds go to offset the large outlay ESTA made in 2017 to upgrade the industry-wide fraud and theft prevention platform. We are still some distance from our goal. To make a contribution please go to: www.gofundme.com/rentalguard

Derrek Hammer (Hammer Lighting and Grip, Indianapolis), the PERG Council Chair, acted as MC for the evening. The nearly two-hour presentation included speakers on a variety of topics.

• Scott Taylor (Taylor & Taylor Associates) introduced PERG’s new DOT compliance document. 
• DOT compliance experts Oliver Palomares (Motion Picture Compliance Solutions) and Leigh Miller (DOT Production Consulting) described how their companies see the compliance issues of our industry. See Got Trucks? PERG Releases Guidelines for DOT Compliance.
• Taka Mitsui, Global Chief Engineer of Cinema at Panasonic, gave a complete demonstration of ground-breaking security features Panasonic is adding to their VariCam professional cinema cameras. See Panasonic Varicam to Offer New Theft Deterrent Feature.
• The marquee event for the evening was a moderated panel discussion featuring leaders from the two largest e-commerce rental platforms for production cameras and equipment, KitSplit and ShareGrid as well as panelists from two rental companies and a panelist who is a DP and end-user. See NAB Panel Discussions on e-commerce Rental Platforms.

Lori Rubinstein, executive director of the Behind the Scenes Foundation, closed out the meeting describing a recent recipient of a Behind the Scenes grant. The charity provides financial support to industry professionals, working behind the camera, behind the curtain, on the road, or for companies who supply entertainment technology products and services who become seriously ill or are injured. The Moore family received a grant that helped pay for repairs to their car. Mrs. Moore explained “My husband starts another round of chemo on Monday and to know we will be fine traveling back and forth to appointments in our car because of the assistance from this organization really takes some of the stress out of a stressful ordeal. THANK YOU.” 

Rubinstein also recognized 14 companies who have pledged to support Behind the Scenes by donating a percentage of profits from the sales of designated products or services to the charity. She encouraged those present to support these companies with their purchases and to consider joining them in the program.

PERG is now looking forward to the CineGear Expo, held in Los Angeles in June 1st, where PERG will be hosting a Rental House Breakfast event. 

Sponsors for PERG’s four annual events are: Allianz; ARRI, Inc.; CORE SWX; Panasonic; Panavision; Taylor & Taylor, Ltd.; and Vitec Videocom. 

Event sponsors for PERG’s NAB General Membership Meeting include: Abel Cine, A.C. Lighting, Codex, Dynamic Rentals, LiteGear, NFP, and The Camera Division. 

The PERG Council also thanks ARRI, Inc. for supporting PERG by providing a space for the council meeting, which took place on Sunday, April 8th.