PLASA Focus Leeds unveils its 2023 seminar programme

Jan 22, 2024

By AV Magazine in Industry events, UK&I April 26, 2023 0

The event, which takes place at the Royal Armouries museum on 9-10 May, will feature a range of seminars and panel discussions for professionals from the audio, AV, rigging and lighting sectors.

PLASA Focus Leeds has unveiled the programme for this year's event, which takes place at the city's Royal Armouries museum on 9-10 May.Vectorworks, the seminar programme sponsor, will present two sessions on its market-leading solutions: ‘Vectorworks ConnectCAD’ will walk attendees through AV workflows, while ‘Production Design for Sky Sports Boxing’ will unpack the full design journey for a major TV event.Audio and AVAudio professionals will hear Holoplot address the question ‘what does immersive really mean?’ in its ‘The Future of Storytelling’ session. This seminar will take a look behind the scenes of London's latest immersive venue, Lightroom, and its opening show David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away).The Association of Sound Designers will present the ‘Creating a Sound Design for a Content Based Theatre Show’ session, which will feature a demonstration of computer-based audio tools.Riedel will walk attendees through how it supported the Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party with a comprehensive signal transport and communications backbone.KV2 Audio will be running live audio demonstrations throughout the show, featuring the UK launch of the ESR 106 and ESD 8. The demos will give visitors a full-on experience of the latest sound systems being used in theatres and concert venues around the world.

Lighting Lighting designer Durham Marenghi will present ‘Lasers as Light’, showcasing his work on the opening ceremonies for Leeds Year of Culture and the World Cup in Qatar, and the ‘hidden’ New Year's Eve celebrations in London.In ‘The Balance of Power’ session, ETC will share considerations for new LED fixtures and how power control infrastructure could save your show.White Light will be joined by representatives from Leeds’ City Varieties Music Hall, Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre and the Storyhouse Theatre in Chester to explore the issue of sustainability in venues.ChamSys will run workshops throughout the show, allowing visitors to get hands-on with pro consoles, and to learn about MagicQ, timecode and audio timeline, and group-based programming. Lighting designer David Howard, meanwhile, will demonstrate how to set up a show file for live busking.Electrical and technical safetyJames Eade will present two sessions at the show. ‘PAT is Dead! Long Live ET!’ will explain PAT testing, while ‘BS7909: 2023 – What's New?’ will see Eade share his expertise on equipment such as RCDs, battery storage and generator earthing.The Association of British Theatre Technicians will host the ‘Technical Standards for Places of Entertainment’ session, during which the organisation will share the amendments introduced since 2022. Production manager Tom Goode will explore the relationships between safety, health continuity and resilience.Rigging and skills shortageUK Rigging will address the skills shortage by showcasing its latest scheme, Project X, which aims to support freelancers keen to join the entertainment rigging industry. In addition, the National Rigging Advisory Group will provide the latest updates and answer questions from the audience.Elsewhere, the Power of Events will lead a panel on ‘Picking the Best Pathway’ for the next generation of event professionals. Production Park and Backstage Academy will team up to discuss how to train and nurture industry newcomers.

The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union will host a seminar discussing issues facing freelancers, while a PLASA-led panel of industry charities and organisations will provide an update on their latest wellbeing initiatives.

To register for PLASA Focus Leeds, click here.