This first-ever AES Convention to be held in Poland was co-chaired by Bozena Kostek and Umberto Zanghieri, and featured a keynote address by ORF (Austrian TV) sound engineer Florian Camerer, as well as the Heyser Memorial lecture given by Genelec Chairman Dr. Ilpo Martikainen.
Other highlights included the popular Project Studio Expo stage, several unique Tech Tours of local Polish audio production facilities, and a wall-to-wall exhibition area, where attendees were given a first-hand look into the latest professional audio equipment and services from leading manufacturers.
Additionally, as part of the Tech Programme events, the Best Peer-Reviewed Paper Award was presented to Frank Schultz, Florian Straube, and Sascha Spors for Convention Paper 9323 Discussion of the Wavefront Sculpture Technology Criteria for Straight Line Arrays. The Student Technical Paper Award was presented to Florian Klein for Convention Paper 9281 Auditory Adaptation of Spatial Listening Tasks.
"The Warsaw convention exceeded our goals in many areas, and I'm extremely grateful to everyone who came and made it happen," stated Bob Moses, AES executive director. "Attendance was higher than we dared hope for, considering it was our first international event in Poland, and we were following a very successful show in a thriving city last year. The calibre of research and training sessions was excellent, and it was gratifying to see people in the hallways and lounges discussing the day's topics late into the night.
"I'm loving how the audio community continues to gel at our events, with the next generation of leaders questioning how we can make things better and soaking up the wisdom of the old timers. The exhibition was the largest we've had in Europe in years, and the response from businesses was overwhelmingly positive, with many asking how they can sign up for 2016 and get more deeply involved in AES activities.
"It seems that we are really finding our groove in Europe. It's not about trying to match what the larger commercial trade shows are doing in the retail sector; rather, it's about incubating innovation that fuels growth in our market, supporting a professional community that is struggling to keep up with the changes, and making sure audio quality is not forgotten in an age of disposable products. I wish I could bask in the glow of this great event for awhile, but our next convention in New York is right around the corner, and we're pulling out all the stops to take it to an even higher level."
The Audio Engineering Society is holding the AES 139th International Convention in New York City, NY, 29 October - 1 November, 2015 at the Jacob Javits Center.
(Jim Evans)
