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After Such an Extraordinary Year, We Can Still Reflect on So Much.

December 21, 2020

Having  a great SMPTE community has certainly made 2020 a lot easier for me to digest. We are so lucky to be a part of an organization that is comprised of 6,000 #SMPTEPeople from around the globe.       

This year you undoubtedly experienced challenges. We all did. And yet, there were so many things to celebrate about all of YOU. Here are just a few in no particular order:  

  •  #SMPTEPeople worked with haste to move their companies’ workflows to the cloud as quickly as possible. Congratulations! Your expertise allowed media companies to continue their business, informing and educating during trying times. And you did it within SMPTE.
  • Our Sections do so much to educate, train, and steer the technological and creative advancements specific to their region’s needs with little disruption. This year, with the virtual format, Section events were available to media professionals from around the globe.
  •  #SMPTEPeople “paid it forward” during the SMPTE 2020: Game On technical conference so that those in less optimal financial situations could still attend. And as a “remote conference experience", SMPTE 2020 welcomed 47% first-timers. I am so impressed by the content and roster of speakers we had. Congratulations on showing the best of SMPTE to new audiences this year! 
  •  #SMPTEPeople involved in Standards development have been busy, too. They electronically published machine-readable metadata with our friends at MESA, developed the public Committee Draft that allows for comment before final publication, and formed a Study Group to focus on AI in media. They are also on track to produce the industry’s first media microservices.  
  •  Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion have a renewed focus as the committee by the same name is currently rolling out an action plan to make SMPTE even more inclusive.  
  •  #SMPTEPeople worked closely with our Education team to develop more webcasts than ever before! Not only did the total number of webcasts break records, so did the number of attendees. Can you believe that nearly 10,000 people attended a SMPTE webcast this year? Congratulations and THANK YOU to all who continue to help us develop educational opportunities that drive our industry.
  •  SMPTE emerged as the home of Media Professionals, Technologists and Engineers, with a new logo and website launched in October. The reimagined SMPTE is here for all media professionals who want to find career success and a community.  
  •  In a global entertainment industry built on ever-changing technology, #SMPTEPeople are better positioned than most to see these changes as an opportunity rather than a threat. I look forward to continuing on this journey together with you. 
I wish you and your families continued good health during this holiday season, and all the best for a better New Year!

Barbara H. Lange 
Executive Director 
SMPTE 


 

Tag(s): Featured , News

Barbara Lange

Barbara Lange joined SMPTE as Executive Director in January 2010.   Founded in 1916, SMPTE is the global professional association that supports the technical framework and professional community which makes quality motion imaging available to consumers in a variety of media formats.  Ms. Lange’s portfolio includes executing on the SMPTE Board of Governors’ strategic vision and to ensure the Society’s continued relevance in an ever-evolving media ecosystem.  Under Ms. Lange’s leadership, membership has grown by more than 30% globally, more than 200 leading-edge industry standards have been published -- including industry game-changers such as Interoperable Master Format (IMF), High Dynamic Range (HDR), and Video Over IP -- and the Society has educated thousands of professionals on critical technical topics.  Today, Ms. Lange’s focus is implementing a 3-year strategic business plan that will further SMPTE’s visibility and relevance with an emphasis on attracting a younger and more diverse membership demographic.  In 2015, Ms. Lange led the acquisition of the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA), a leading trade association focused on the application of technology in the creation, distribution and consumption of professional media content; she now also serves as HPA Executive Director.  Ms. Lange holds a BA in Chemistry and German from Washington and Jefferson College, and completed the Executive Development Program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.  Prior to joining SMPTE she held executive roles in scholarly publishing at highly respected organizations including Springer-Verlag and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Ms. Lange has been recognized by IEEE, Washington & Jefferson College, and honored with TVNewscheck’s 2020 Women in Technology Award for her role in “making a difference in the media industry”.

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