PLASA Has Its Eye on Innovation

	PLASA Show floor 2017

Innovation is the focus of the PLASA Show and audio features highly, with the stands of distribution companies making a particular impact through their mix of complementary products, which is making them a particular draw for visitors.

On the SSE stand, visitors can see products from DiGiCo, L-Acoustics, Sennheiser, d&b audiotechnik, Avid, Link, DPA Microphones, Medialease, and QSC Q-SYS.

"We've been exhibiting at PLASA for around 10 years and have built our stand as an audio village. We feature a selection of the manufacturers we work closely with and they all bring their latest technology to the show," says SSE managing director John Penn. "By sharing a big space and resources, we can display a good cross section of products. We show both competing and complementary technologies, allowing our customers to see the differences between them and no one feels they're getting the hard sell. It works very well."

This approach is echoed across the aisle on the Autograph stand, which features amongst others DiGiCo's SD12, S31, and its new DMI-MIC pre-amp card, Meyer Sound's new Lina compact line array, and Shure's Axient Digital microphone system, as well as the XDante-1 Network Audio Changeover System from Autograph's own Signature Series.

"Our Signature Series is robust and unique in its simplicity," says Autograph's Peppe Mallozzi. "The latest in the Series is the XDante-1, which is a simple and efficient way to switch between dual-redundant Dante sources at the push of a button, which gives a designer/operator incredible peace of mind."

"As well as product, we offer knowledge," adds Autograph's Duncan Bell. "People want to come to us because we have the people who know how to make things work and who can fix them when they go wrong, which makes our driver a philosophical solution."

The SFL stand also features Sennheiser's Digital 6000 Series, as well as a selection of Neumann and DPA microphones, DiGiCo's SD12 console and d&b loudspeakers, while the new audio demo room features 15 minute demos from Aura Audio, Bose Professional, KV2, Sherman Audio, and TiMax.

"Having the opportunity to let people hear our recently released ESD 25 as well as the phenomenal ESR 2.15 system that is currently taking the theatre industry by storm has been particularly beneficial for us," says KV2's Tom Weldon.

Also new for this year is the Knights of Illumination (KOI) lighting designers' showcase. Situated on the Gallery floor, this special collaboration between KOI Awards, Hawthorn, and the PLASA Show has been specifically created to showcase the shortlisted and winning designers of the 10th annual Knight of Illumination Awards, which took place on Sunday evening at the Eventim Apollo Hammersmith. To close the evening, industry charity Backup was presented with a check for £5,000 from KOI headline sponsor Claypaky.

The seminar theatres on the Gallery floor were also in full swing. In the Audio & AV Theatre highlights from day two include: "Where does audio stand within today's corporate environment?" Hosted by AV Magazine, it took a look at how audio has often played second fiddle to the visual in the AV world and how this scenario is changing rapidly. During "Was Le Corbusier Deaf or What?" the tricky relationship between audio and architecture was explored with the panel revealing how to make the negotiations go as smoothly as possible while secretly getting your own way. "Preparing for the loss of 700MHz - what you need to know," discussed Ofcom's November 2014 decision to reallocate UHF frequencies 694 - 790MHz (the 700MHz band) to the mobile sector. With the clearance scheduled for May 2020, it explored the wider implications for our industry and how attendees can best prepare to meet the ongoing challenges.

In the Lighting, Staging and Rigging Theatre "2057AD: what will theatre be like in 40 years time?" took a leap into the future and stood time on its head, looking back over the last 40 years from 2057 all the way back to 2017 and what exciting technology has been introduced to change the way we make theatre. "Improving our approach to mental health" focused on the joint effort between the PSA and PLASA to improve our industry's approach to mental health, encouraging companies and key individuals to invest in mental health first aid training, while in "Can Pigs Still Fly?" the three original founders of Flying Pig Systems -- Nick Archdale, Nils Thorjussen, and Tom Thorne -- were joined by Simon England, with whom Archdale created Wholehog's forerunner the DLD6502, and Peter Miles of SpotCo, who helped to fund the Flying Pig venture, to discuss the context of the creation of the Wholehog in 1991-2, the challenges they faced, and whether such a disruptive lighting control technology could -- or should -- happen in today's market, or whether the barriers to entry are now too great.

"We're continuing to cover every aspect of the industry on the show floor and in our seminar program, where we've covered a lot of the industry hot topics," says PLASA managing director Peter Heath. "The initiatives we've put in place, such as the Audio demo room and the Product training theatre, are proving to be successful and the feedback from exhibitors and visitors has been very positive. We're looking forward to more of the same for the show's final day."

For the full program and registration, please visit the URL below.