UK - At this year' ABTT Shows, XL's touch screen media delivery systems will be highlighted on the stand. These are designed for easy and quick visualisation during a performance, where manual operation is appropriate. The operator simply touches the chosen icon to start 'play' of a sequence or single clip of media. The system can be used with or without audio.

Recent tours for this system have included Tony Robinson and Mitchell & Webb - and it has proved to be particularly appropriate for comedic performances.

Also prominent at the show is XL's high brightness projection equipment. This will be displaying custom electric masked projected shapes above the XL Video stand - from a distance of 35m - complete with the new generation of Barco CLM quiet running 10,000 ANSI Lumen projectors.

(Jim Evans)

Singapore - Leading line array manufacturers are being invited to go head-to-head in a shoot-out at this year's PALME Asia show, (previously known as PALA) in Singapore, 12-14 July, Singapore Expo.

The opportunity for visitors to make their own evaluation on a large scale is a development of the idea piloted at PALME India last year - on a much larger scale. As a result, PALME Asia's associate partner, UnUsUal Productions, will build the special infrastructure for the Event 360° segment of the show to support this in Hall 5 at Singapore Expo (which will now operate in parallel with the integrated exhibition in Halls 3 and 4).

"This is a major breakthrough for PALME Asia," said the show's sales manager, Hanslee Azhar. "We will be offering a maximum of 12 manufacturers the opportunity to participate - and the response has been overwhelming."

To date, DA

Dubai - Awards recognising outstanding use of lighting in the GCC territories, were presented at the Middle East Lighting Design Awards (MELDA) gala dinner, which took place during the recent PALME Middle East exhibition in Dubai.

The standard of this year's entries reflected the remarkable pace of development and scale of new commercial projects in the region.

The difficult task of adjudication fell to a panel of top lighting professionals, including Barry Hannaford of the IALD, and director, dpa Lighting Consultants; Yahya Jan AIA, vice president, design director, Norr Group Consultants; Riad Saraiji, associate professor of architectural engineering at UAE University, and Paul James, Editor, Mondo*arc magazine.

Paying tribute, James said: "There is a general feeling in the design community that lighting, particularly in Dubai, is becoming increasingly 'Las Vega

UK - ISCE's revised Training Initiative got off to a flying start. Already nearly 50 attendees have been trained and accredited with their certificates, in the Measurement & Certification of AFILS Systems, to the newly revised IEC60118-4 Standard. This is a vital course for anyone involved with Induction Loop Systems.

Regional courses have already been held in Watford, Warrington, Washington (Tyne & Wear), and Northern Ireland and, with places filling fast for course venues at Bristol and Crowborough on 9 and 16 July respectively, there is no time to lose if you don't want to miss out on this essential training and accreditation, says ISCE.

Future courses being planned include Design and Installation of AFILS; Commissioning, Balancing and Equalisation of Sound Systems; Implementation of the new EMC Standards; and courses specifically for Voice Alarm Systems. For those new to

UK - Selecon is offering visitors to next week's ABTT Theatre Show the opportunity to win one of four top of the range Leatherman Charge TTI hand tools.

Entry forms for the promotion can only be obtained at the Show; either at the Selecon Stand or keep an eye out for someone in a bright yellow 'Get a Grip!' t-shirt and collect one from them. Fill it in, pop it in the tombola at the Selecon Stand and you are in the draw - the earlier you enter the more chances you have to win, says Selecon. There will be a total of four draws with one winner per draw.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Lighthouse Technologies will once again be showing its giant video displays at InfoComm from 19 to 21 June in Anaheim, California. The company will have its three leading products on display: R4, R6-III and R10-II.

R4 is a 4mm pixel pitch display, Lighthouse's finest pixel pitch to date. Its ultra-high resolution addresses the continuing demand for high definition screens and it includes remote monitoring of LED failure, power failure and temperature. R4 adopts the fanless approach of the super-quiet R10 screen and this, along with its lightweight, makes it ideally suited to networked five-star boutique applications, says the company.

R6-III's 6mm pixel pitch display incorporates Lighthouse's proprietary Uniformity Control, developed to guarantee that the colour balance of every pixel and the brightness of every LED lamp is identical, ensuring uniformity to "an exce

UK - Mojo Barriers was the barrier supplier of choice when George Michael played his recent concert at the new Wembley Stadium, supplying the touring barrier system from their Netherlands facility, supplemented by over 600m of barrier from the Mojo Barriers UK office.

The Mojo Barriers UK office supplied 617m additional barriers for the concert, installed by a team of nine staff on the Friday evening and removed immediately after the show. They also supplied promoter Marshall Arts a further 345m surrounding the mix position and delay towers.

Kevin Thorborn, Mojo Barriers UK manager said: "It was great to be involved with the first show at the new Wembley Stadium. There were a few areas we all learned from, but it is a great venue and we're looking forward to working at many more shows in the future."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Avolites will highlight its new Pearl Expert console at the ABTT 2007 (13-14 June, London). With 200 shipped and 300 currently on order, it looks set to be the popular choice for the busy summer season ahead, says the company. Avo will also feature its Diamond 4 Elite, Pearl 2008 and Azure consoles at the show.

On the dimmer front, the Art2000 Touring dimmer - as featured on all the recent UK blockbuster movies - will be on the stand, along with the Art2000 installation dimmer.

• A D4 Elite console and an Art2000 dimming system have just been installed at the Bournemouth Opera House. Originally opened in 1895 as the Boscombe Grand Theatre, a multi-million pound refurbishment project has seen the 2000 capacity venue restored to its original Victorian splendour, complete with top notch contemporary production facilities.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Lightfactor Sales will be showing a variety of its core theatre and performance orientated products available from Italian manufacturers SGM and LDR and LightProcessor from the UK, at this week's ABTT Show (13-14 June, London).

This will include Giotto Synthes's moving lights, PALCO LED wash fixtures, Pilot 300 and Studio lighting desks and the complete Idea range of products from SGM; a wide selection of theatre lanterns and accessories from LDR and LightProcessor's cost-effective range of lighting consoles, dimming solutions and DMX accessories.

New from LightProcessor is a range of location dimmers, specifically designed for the portable dimming market, suitable for film and video shoots and all types of special events. These offer local control and are available in 1 x 63A, 3 x 25A, 6 x 16A and 6 x 10A versions - all as complete 'ready-to-go', out of the box, plug-in-

China - UK lighting designer Durham Marenghi gave a presentation about his lighting design for the 2006 Winter Olympics at the 5th China International Entertainment Technology Forum in Beijing.

The Forum attracted major interest and was attended by over 200 invited guests including lighting and sound designers, programmers, operators, technicians and consultants from all sectors of the Chinese lighting industry - from television to live entertainment - and organisers and managers from large performance teams.

"Obviously it was very exciting and a great honour to be invited to China to speak about this work," says Marenghi. "There is intense interest in the skills, knowledge and technology involved in producing monumental shows and events ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008."

Marenghi's interactive 35-minute presentation detailed the evolution and execut

UK - Even the inclement conditions of the Bank Holiday weekend couldn't dampen the spirits of the participants in Sue Ryder Care's Beat the Baton, a 5km run held on 28 May in London's Battersea Park.

Beat the Baton attracted over 800 participants, who ran the course around the Park to the accompaniment of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, to raise money for people suffering from multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke and cancer.

Logistics for the event were taken care of by London-based Absolute Events, working closely with Wandsworth Council's events manager for Battersea Park, Alison Smith.

Formed in 1998 by Jonathan Price, Absolute Events' experience stood them in good stead to handle this occasion. "Not only was this the first Beat the Baton Sue Ryder Care has held, but it was the first time the Royal Philharmonic

International - The July-August issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine will include the first instalment of Preview information for this year's PLASA Show.

The Show is close to being sold out, promising one of the busiest shows in the event's history, and paving the way for possible further expansion of this year's event. One of the most radical changes this year will be the show's new layout, which will transform PLASA07 into a two-hall, single-level exhibition thanks to expansion from Earls Court 1 into the adjacent Earls Court 2. PLASA has invested heavily in the new-look event, creating new meeting and presentation areas, a wireless internet zone, VIP hospitality suite and a separate fast-track entrance on Brompton Road. With pre-registrations growing daily, record numbers of visitors are expected at this year's

The Netherlands - Alcons Audio is scheduled to show its products at three imminent trade shows - the ABTT Show in London, MediaTech in Johannesburg and the Cinema Expo convention in Amsterdam.

Emphasising its fast growing presence in the theatre market, Alcons will be exhibiting at the coming ABTT show in London with all three theatre sound system philosophies: point-source (VR, SR), line-source (QR) and line-array (LR) systems.

At the same time, on another continent, Alcons' Pro Ribbon Partner Matrix Sound from South-Africa, will be exhibiting at the Mediatech show in Johannesburg. Also here, the three system philosophies will be present. Matrix offers visitors a sneak preview of the Phitom large-format line-array design study, as showed at the Frankfurt ProLight&Sound show in March.

Alcons' key words at the Cinema Expo convention in Amsterdam will be "the only digit

UK - BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend free festival in Moor Park, Preston, was reinforced through Turbosound Aspect loudspeakers.

Britannia Row was the main audio provider for the event, with Turbosound's head of R&D Dominic Harter managing the set-up of the Aspect system which comprised six TA-890H mid-highs, nine TA-890L lows and four TSW-218 subs per side, all ground-stacked. QLight TQ-425 subs along with Turbosound monitor wedges were deployed as monitors for the DJs. Amplification was via eight T-25 and 12 T-45 amplifiers, with control by two XTA DP448s and an XTA D2 for any added dynamic equalisation required.

"The decision to have an outdoor arena - and to use Aspect - was quickly proven right, as it was a stunning success, with a huge crowd enjoying the superstar DJ sets on each day. I have never known such an immediate and enthusiastic response to any system from everyo

UK - Matt Chisholm, winner of the Stage Electrics NSDF 'Contribution To Sound Award' in association with Sennheiser was presented his prize by David Bell of Stage Electrics last week outside the Sennheiser Theatre at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA.)

The National Student Drama Festival (NSDF) is held in Scarborough each year, students some of which have never touched anything technical in their lives, have the opportunity to attend seminars and training sessions, meet industry experts and showcase their often newly discovered talents.

Stage Electrics has been involved with the festival for the last seven years, supporting the NSDF since 1999. The company supplies the festival's technical requirements and helps to deliver the workshop programme.

Chris Patton from Stage Electrics explains, "We have run various courses from basic moving lights workshops to sou

UK - Scattered Media has been set up by former IIR Exhibitions executives, Darren Brechin and Iain McLean - who launched and masterminded the PALME Middle East and PALME India exhibitions, and managed IIR's entire Entertainment and Installation Technologies Group of events.

With 20 years' experience in the events industry, the UK-based company plans to serve the entertainment and installation technology markets through a series of dedicated B2B networking forums. The first of these will be evenTech Scotland, which is scheduled for 20-21 February 2008, at the Marriott Hotel, Glasgow.

Says Darren Brechin, who leaves his present post at the end of July following the PALME Asia exhibition, "We have long recognised the need for an entertainment technology forum in the North of the UK, and Glasgow is the ideal location as Scotland in particular is cu

UK - Lifting and flying specialists, Lift-Turn-Move, launches two new products at ABTT 2007 this week - the Carbon Cub winch and the Kinolift PHC 1000 S person lift - both of which are designed for theatre applications of all types.

The Carbon Cub is a compact, portable, 'plug-and-play' mini hoist system. It is suitable for a variety of lifting applications and is perfect for theatres, broadcast studios, museums, sporting productions and worship and retail venues, says the company.

It features a matt black finish with black lifting cables and weighs only 41Kg. It has a travel speed of 4.3m a minute and can lift loads up to 136Kg to a height of 7.5m.

The Kinolift PHC 1000 (made by Alplift in Germany) is billed as a cost-effective telescope type person-lift and a quick, safe and easy way of reaching and working roofs and ceiling spaces. It makes changing lamps and other equipm

Germany - Meyer Sound will make its first-ever appearance at Showtech in Berlin (19-21 June), the international trade show for stage and convention technologies professionals. Through demonstrations and displays, attendees will have the opportunity to experience a full complement of products, including the new UPJunior ultracompact VariO loudspeaker, LCS Series Matrix3 audio show control system, and the M'elodie ultracompact high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker.

Meyer will host demonstrations of Matrix3 with SpaceMap multichannel panning, Wild Tracks hard disk playback, and the CueMixer compact control surface. Matrix3 is used in a broad variety of productions and attractions, including numerous Cirque du Soleil shows. UPJunior and the M1D-Sub ultracompact subwoofer will also be in use in the demo room.

"We see Showtech as being an important international event

UK - This week at ABTT, Selecon debuts several new luminaires including the long throw Toru 4º-8º followspot, the third and final model from the Performer Series range of followspots. Previously seen in pre-production mode and now in full production, the Toru 4º-8º Followspot features a comprehensive control suite with CTO filter, 24-leaf iris, cutters, dowser and diffusion frost; built-in universal 100V-250V electronic power supply and integrated 6-colour changer.

Sporting a fresh new look, the updated Acclaim Fresnel and PC introduce heat management to 500W / 650W luminaires - a feature which ensures operators can focus these stage lighting workhorses without the need for gloves. The new Acclaim luminaires also include the integrated safety bond design feature alongside Selecon's well known mains power isolation solution ensuring full compliance with European Standards for

UK - The winners of this year's Annual Awards and the Technician of the Year, were presented with their Hook Clamp trophies - jointly sponsored by Andolite & Triple E - at the Annual Awards Dinner, sponsored by PRG Europe and held at London's Commonwealth Club.

Chairman of the judges, Robin Townley, ABTT Hon. Secretary, remarked that there were again more nominations this year than ever before and that nominations continued to arrive from the ABTT Theatre Show floor, well into the morning.

Judging took place throughout the day, with the final decision made shortly before the start of the Awards Dinner in the evening.

The ABTT Sound Product of the Year 2007 went to Orbital Sound for the Zaxcom digital radio mic system which the judges described as "very impressive, forward thinking application of digital technology".

Other awards included: Lighting Product of the

UK - PLASA has relaunched its prestigious Awards for Innovation, which will be joined for the first time this year by the new Gottelier Award, named in memory of Tony Gottelier - the leading designer, innovator and industry commentator who died in 2006.

Designed to reflect excellence in new products in lighting, sound, engineering, AV and staging - the PLASA Awards for Innovation were first established in 1992 and have since been presented annually during the PLASA Show, which this year runs from 9-12 September at Earls Court in London. The Awards have a justly deserved reputation for identifying high quality, innovative new products early in their life and many previous winners are now firmly established in their fields.

Judged by a panel of respected industry professionals, products nominated for the Awards compete for one of eight Innovation Awards, plus an additional troph

UK - The Willow Foundation is a charity that works with seriously ill young adults, offering them a range of 'Special days' which aim to provide a chance to escape the pressures of their daily routine and share quality time with family and/or friends. The charity was founded by ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson and his wife Megs, in memory of their daughter, Anna, who died of cancer aged 31.

Every special day is of the young person's choosing - it could involve fulfilling a lifelong dream or it could simply offer an opportunity to bring some much-needed normality back into their lives. The Foundation will endeavour to fulfil the special day request however imaginative and, if possible, exceed expectations.

To date the charity has organised and funded special days for young adults living with a wide range of serious conditions including amongst others; cancer, motor neurone dise

Sweden - Three leading Swedish companies in the media technology industry - Prisma Outside Broadcast, Massteknik and Primetec - are to join forces under one name, MediaTec Group.

The merger creates one of Europe's larger media corporations with a combined turnover of 80 euros and a specialist workforce of 230 employees. A management statement declares, "With operations in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the UK, the MediaTec Group will have an immediate pan-European presence, supplying equipment and personnel to customers and events worldwide. The new company has a clearly defined strategy that puts the focus on growth, both organic and through strategic acquisition.

"The media technology industry is undergoing swift development in a number of areas, not least through major out sourcing activities. The growth potential within the sports, entertainment and event i

UK - J&C Joel's new fabric binder not only won over the company's customers at the ABTT Show 2007, but also made the stand look so good that it won the prestigious ABTT Best Stand award.

J&C Joel sales director James Wheelwright said: "We were thrilled to receive the award. The stand was designed specifically to showcase the new binder and it's terrific to receive public recognition for the months of hard work. This is the second time we've won the best stand award, and it's testament to our great staff and business partners that the judges saw fit to give us a second beautifully polished presentation Hook Clamp."

(Jim Evans)

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