This year’s PLASA Show welcomed a 6% increase in overall attendance, with visitors from over 63 countries. PLASA has also announced that the show will move to London Olympia’s larger ‘Grand Hall’ for 2020 allowing a greater number of stands and show features, all on one level.
“PLASA Show has clearly been improving year on year with 2019 being the best one yet,” commented Johan Gunsing, international sales manager for Adam Hall Group. “We have started to see a wider geographic audience attend the show, which brings with it new opportunities, new business and increased brand awareness.”
“Once again PLASA did not disappoint,” said Gareth Collyer, Nexo’s UK sales manager. “We were very pleased with the overall number and quality of the visitors that visited our booth and we look forward to seeing the show grow again next year when it moves to the Grand Hall.”
Grant Bales-Smith, sales manager EMEA for Vari-Lite & Strand added: “The show has really re-built itself, which is a great thing to see. We’ve met with international customers from France, Spain, Germany and Scandinavia, representing the whole industry from theatre to concert touring.”
Coda Audio exhibited for the first, and the company’s director of global marketing, David Webster commented: “Because we’re relatively new to the market it’s been great for us to give people the opportunity to come and see our new patented technology. We met rental companies, installers, consultants, contractors – all of the people we want to see. We had a very good show.”
The show saw an array of new brands and features, including Stage to Studio – an opportunity to watch legendary engineers Simon Todkill and Jamie McEvoy’s mixing sessions with live musicians – an immersive AV installation on living with bipolar called ‘Blackout’, and double the amount of live audio demonstrations including three dedicated ‘audio lounges’ for L-Acoustics, Sound Technology and RCF.
RCF’s UK sales director Dean Devoile said: “Our Audio Lounge worked wonderfully well. Virtually all of the sessions we ran were full and we probably could have done with doing even more! This has been the busiest and best PLASA Show we’ve done in a long, long time.”
“This year marked a step forward for us” added Mary Beth Henson from L-Acoustics. “With the addition of demo rooms, we welcomed an impressive crowd of people interested in hearing our A Series – PLASA’s flexibility is without a doubt the driver of the show’s continued growth each year.”
Robe’s Back to the Future-inspired stand showcased their PLASA Award-winning Esprite fixture with regular performances complete with rain, fire, dancers and an authentic DeLorean car. “It has been the most ambitious production we’ve done to date,” said design duo Nathan Wan and Andy Webb. “During the show we smash through over 550 cues in eight minutes. It’s been an absolute delight to see it all come together.”
Exhibitor’s represented all corners of the entertainment technology industry, from audio, lighting, staging and rigging to broadcast and AV, each sector commenting on the quality and range of visitors attending the show.
“PLASA Show is an invaluable fixture in our calendar,” said AED Group’s business development manager Ryan Stromski. “It enables us to connect with so many of our existing and potential customers under one roof. Without PLASA we simply wouldn’t be able to generate those vital touch points with our valued clients.”
Peavey’s operation’s manager James Kennedy added: “We met a whole range of customers, and were particularly encouraged by the amount of end-users. Overall, we had a great few days.”
PLASA Show 2020 will take place from 6-8 September at Olympia London.
