Not only will companies be at LDI, many have reported that they will indeed be expanding their presence this year. AC Lighting, Arriflex Corporation, Bandit Lites, Color Kinetics, Le Maitre Special Effects, Martin, Tracoman and Vari-Lite are among those who have announced that they have planned for their largest showing at LDI to date, and many more are preparing to unveil brand new product at the Show. Visitors are travelling far to see those new wares at LDI. Eckart Steffens of Soundlight commented. "Contacts from Australia, Brazil, and Norway have already made appointments for visiting our booth at showtime, which means the international audience will be there."
As always, many exhibitors, such as Leviton and Rosco, are also using LDI as a forum for connecting with their dealers and clients in national sales meetings and elaborate training events. Nor have LDI exhibitors pulled back on their usual spirit of spectacle and entertainment: Doug Fleenor Design’s booth will double ingeniously as a life-sized mirrored maze, Goddard Design is doing something creative with fish(?), and Lex Products are bringing a two-hole putting course to their booth. In addition, traditional entertainment activities including ESTA’s Annual Dinner (the largest ever), the annual TMB/Wybron/ETC/Barbizon fishing tournament, the High End Systems-sponsored golf tournament and numerous customer parties will also be taking place as usual.
Summarizing the attitude of the exhibitor group, Alan Crawshaw, president of ACT Enterprises, says: "We’ll be there because there is no better forum for demonstrating the creative, innovative and inventive talent that this industry has to offer. From our perspective, participation in our industry’s tradeshows will demonstrate our resolve, strength and vitality that represent us as an industry, as a people and as a nation. We hope to see you in Orlando!"
