UK - The Technical Theatre Awards, which celebrate the outstanding achievements of people working behind the scenes, have announced that this year's awards ceremony will take place on Tuesday 7 October at 5pm on The Theatres Trust TheatreStage (R40) at PLASA London.

The Technical Theatre Awards (TTAs) will also have their own stand during PLASA, S30, which runs 5-8 October at London's ExCel.

The TTAs, which debuted at PLASA 2013, were established to give due credit to the often unsung heroes and heroines that work backstage to make the theatre magic happen.

With the guidance of TTAs co-founders and organisers Ian Taylor and Olivia Dermot Walsh, the event has attracted immediate support from some of the biggest names and companies in the industry, including Philips Entertainment, PRG, and Triple E, all of which are sponsoring the awards again this year.

The TTAs announced n

USA - PLASA Events has announced the cancellation of PLASA Focus: Austin 2014, scheduled for 9-10 September. The show, returning to Austin for the third time in three years, was experiencing location saturation. Even with the prior success in Austin, it was clear the Events team would not be able to deliver the high quality experience exhibitors and attendees have come to expect from this celebrated series.

However, the PLASA Focus 2015 show series will hit the sunshine state once again, bringing the world's latest entertainment technology to Orlando on Tuesday, 17 February and Wednesday 18 February, 2015 at the Rosen Plaza Hotel.

Companies already signed up to exhibit at PLASA Focus: Orlando 2015 include: The Light Source, GLP, Ushio, Altman Lighting, CHAUVET Professional, TMB, Barbizon, Elation Professional, Harrington Hoist, Group One, Ultratec, A.C.T Lighting, and many oth

UK - Hire company, Point Source Productions, and event production company, Light Motif, have entered into an exciting new partnership to service the events industry.

Founded by Rob Mills, Light Motif is a young company made up of creative individuals with extensive experience in the events industry.

Light Motif specialises in the creation of vibrant, bespoke designs that determine the look and feel of an event. Strong emphasis is placed on the advance presentation of visuals to the client and high levels of pre-planning to ensure every event delivers the 'wow' factor and meets the clients' expectations.

The company is expanding rapidly and has recently appointed Kelly Yeomans, previously of Fisher Productions, as Business Development Manager, to drive forward its business with venues, agencies, clients and other event suppliers.

Part of this exciting growth includes the ne

China - ROE Visual Co., Ltd, a leading manufacture in creative LED display industry, has launched Black OnyX P3.47 HD LED display.

The Black OnyX is ROE Visual's new high-performance indoor HD LED display incorporating professional industrial design. Magnesium alloy panel makes it lightweight and strong. The module uses Multi-Color's newest anti-glare black LEDs to get a high contrast ratio. Driving IC MBI5153 supports a high refresh rate and great image quality at a low brightness.

The Black Onyx is powered by ROE visual's new control system - Evision. It supports a max. resolution of 2560x1024. Real-time brightness adjustment by knob and real-time configuration by LCD monitor. All calibrating and operating parameters are stored. You don't need to reset the display after replacing a module.

The innovative and friendly design supports a convenient installation for both hangi

UK - Two important sessions have been announced for this year's PLASA Rigging Conference, adding further weight to the event's standing within the rigging community. The new one-day format will host a discussion from Michael Anderson about the revised CDM Regulations and an update on the International Code of Practice for Entertainment Rigging (ICoPER) led by Lori Rubinstein.

The PLASA Rigging Conference 2014 takes place on Monday 6 October 2014 at ExCeL London. For the first time, the whole event will be packed into a one-day schedule, meaning delegates can attend the full conference at a reduced cost.

PLASA's director of international programmes, Lori Rubinstein, will moderate the first session of the day, which will look at how the ICoPER has developed over the last 12-months. Prior to last year's conference, PLASA commissioned a review of the various codes of practice from

UK - ACC Liverpool has welcomed five new starters to its production and technical department, taking the team to 19.

Rich Neale has joined as production manager for entertainment and sport. He joins from Saville Audio Visual where he was conference and live events manager for six years.

Tom Kaye has been recruited as senior rigging technician while Greg Chapman, Anthony Cowley and Mark Anderson join as production technicians. Their roles include preparing, installing, operating and dismantling of production equipment, from small conference breakouts to large scale arena set-ups, to ensure the smooth and effective delivery of events.

The department has provided a series of in-house productions for conferences this year such as NHS Confederation, the British Association of Urological Surgeons and Accelerate 2014. The National Cancer Research Institute in November is among fort

UK - Chauvet Professional is exhibiting at PRO which will run alongside the successful BPM show at the NEC in Birmingham, 13-15 September 2014.

LED wash fixtures, powerful and versatile LED moving head lights and an easy-setup pixel mapping display system are among the products in the spotlight on stand G42 at PRO, and in the neighbouring BPM Arena, sponsored by Chauvet Professional.

On display will be an array of luminaires, including the Nexus line with Nexus Aq 5x5 and Nexus Aw 7x7 narrow beam panels, ÉPIX Bar 2.0 and ÉPIX Strip 2.0 pixel-mapping fixtures, the Legend 330SR Spot powerful moving yoke and the feature-packed Rogue Spot and Beam fixtures that bring great value and performance.

Chauvet Professional is making it easier for users to create professional video and pixel-mapping displays with its groundbreaking ÉPIX Series. Included are two one-

USA - The 137th Audio Engineering Society Convention (9-12 October, 2014, at the Los Angeles Convention Centre in downtown Los Angeles) will feature a High Resolution Audio (HRA) programme Friday, 10 October.

The direct result of a collaborative effort between the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, the HRA programme will include a number of panels and sessions that address the current and future direction of HRA from various perspectives, including content creation, digital distribution, licensing of hi-res music files, archiving, subscription models, marketing/promotion of hi-res music, compatibility of playback devices and more.

These panels and sessions will feature some of the brightest minds in the business as they discuss some of the most current and controversial issues concerning the rapid adoption of high-resolution audio across

Australia - In only its second year Entech Connect continued its focus on education, training, networking and the opportunity to see the latest products for the very first time in Australia and its already exceeding expectations.

This year, 1374 visitors came through the doors for Entech Connect, which was a 20% increase on the attendance over the two days, with an additional 15% increase on interstate visitors on 2012. Visitors got to experience the Live Audio Demo Zone, take advantage of the onsite manufacturers training, and gain exclusive access to some of the industry's leading names that were presenting at the show.

The education programme continued to be a draw card as seminar attendance was up by staggering 28%, which saw over 60 of the biggest names from around the world, involved in over 40 sessions covering all aspects of the industry. This year's programme was head

UK - Pearce Hire has announced its first time sponsorship of the 2014 Technical Theatre Awards. The Technical Theatre Awards were launched in 2013 as a way of formally recognising the outstanding achievements and dedication of the backstage 'unsung heroes' of the technical theatre industry. The awards are presented annually at the PLASA London exhibition at ExCel each October. The nominees are shortlisted from individuals elected by their industry peers at the beginning of the year, and then voting conducted between June and September decides the final recipient of each award.

This year there are a total of 17 awards and Pearce Hire is sponsoring the 'Outstanding Achievement in Stage Crew' award. This award highlights an individual within any role of the Stage Department, who is renowned for their dedication and effort to this discipline and respected amongst the technical theat

UK - The latest addition to the Vari-Lite range, the VL4000 Spot, is set to take this year's PLASA London by storm where it will be showcased on the Philips Entertainment stand L80 at ExCeL exhibition centre.

PLASA London visitors will be able to see the VL4000 Spot in action during the twice daily light shows at the Philips stand, getting to grips with all its exciting features, including its high-resolution optics, which ensure remarkable centre-to-edge focusing and an unprecedented contrast ratio, and a 5:1 zoom covering an amazing 9 to 47 degrees without sacrificing output or clarity.

The VL4000 Spot also boasts an entirely new colour mixing system, which is ultra smooth whether operating in a slow fade or instant snap, as well as variable CTO colour temperature correction and dual five-position colour wheels. The dual opposing fixed colour wheels achieve unique colour eff

UK - PLASA Media, sponsor of the PLASA Awards, has announced the shortlist of nominees for this year's prestigious Gottelier Award. The winner will be announced at the PLASA Show in London (5-8 October, ExCeL London).

Named in honour of the late Tony Gottelier, the industry innovator and commentator who passed away in 2006, the Gottelier Award is for our industry's product developers who have made significant and sustained contributions to the advancement of entertainment, presentation or installation technology - whether in audio, lighting, rigging, staging, or any other related field.

The nominees for 2014 are:

Richard Belliveau

As one of the co-founders of Texas-based lighting manufacturer High End Systems, and still leading the company's product developments today, Belliveau has been behind a long line of successful products from the company, from the Color Pro,

UK - If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? It's time to start dreaming of faraway places! Enter the Behind the Scenes UK raffle at the PLASA London show in October and you could win the grand prize - a £2500 travel voucher. Second prize is a £1,000 Amazon gift card, and third prize is a £500 voucher with Mr and Mrs Smith hotels.

Raffle tickets are just £10 each and will be available throughout the show at the Behind the Scenes stand M65. The draw will be held on Wednesday afternoon, 8 October but you do not need to be present to win.

The raffle is to help raise funds for the new UK charity Behind the Scenes which will provide financial assistance to entertainment technology professionals, or their immediate family, who are seriously ill or injured. Grants may be used for

UK - The Theatres Trust, the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres, has announced booking is open for Building Better Theatres, its Workshop Programme Autumn 2014 - Spring 2015.

The Workshop Programme offers a series of six day-long, practically-based sessions on the capital development of theatre buildings, led by individuals with real experience of the issues, and specially tailored for people responsible for theatre buildings who want practical and detailed advice.

Workshops include: 28 October 2014 - Theatres and the Heritage System; 27 November 2014 - Fundraising for a Capital Project; 21 January 2015 - Planning a Capital Project; 12 February 2015 -Theatre Maintenance; 5 March 2015 - Delivering a Capital Project; 26 March 2015 - Theatres, the Planning System and Local Government.

Each course includes relevant and up-to-date case studies, provides direct access to t

UK - Avolites is going down the 'size matters' route at this year's PLASA London, showcasing new wings to enlarge its industry-leading consoles, and unveiling a brand new, compact console aimed at the touring market.

The Avolites team will be on stands M10 and M20 at London's ExCel for PLASA, which runs from 5-8 October 2014. First up, they will be offering hands-on demos of the new Quartz console.

"Quartz is the newest addition to the Titan Mobile family, complete with on-board processing and a bright, vibrant 12.1" screen," says Avolites sales manager, Stephen Baird Smith. "Super compact, measuring only 42.5cm wide, the Quartz is positioned as the ideal companion for lighting projects ranging from touring and festivals to clubs and one-offs. It is Avolites' smallest fully-featured console.

"Featuring the same high quality faders and hardware you've

UK - uTRAC returns to PLASA London to give attendees a preview of uTRAC 2.0. The workforce management application for event services companies has received a significant re-design, with a number of new features facilitating more efficient organising and tracking of labour for events.

Visit uTRAC at PLASA on stand K03 where the team will be giving tutorials on how the software can best be utilised for your business. In addition to the re-designed interface, new features on show include safety certification management, automated scheduling and GPS tracking.

This summer uTRAC has invested significantly into the development of its team, and the uTRAC system, positioning itself as the go-to workforce management application for events. The comprehensive system improves efficiencies in all aspects of managing labour for an event, with operations managers finding an easier way to co-o

The Netherlands - ETC is getting ready for the IBC show in Amsterdam this week, with fixtures, system- and power control to be highlighted on their stand (A62 in Hall 11).

Available for demonstration in the integrated system control area of the stand will be the ETC Unison Paradigm control system. Paradigm provides presenters, technicians and camera operators with the tools to control lighting in all studio situations. It has been used in an increasing number of remote studios, including at BBC News' Westminster studios, where the presenter or reporter can operate the small studio's lighting from a touch-panel on the desk, out of sight of the camera.

Also on display will be the latest Source Four LED Series 2 developments, which are especially suited for broadcast use. Visitors to ETC's stand will get the first glimpse of the new fixtures.

ETC's seven colour LED mixing syste

UK - The Theatres Trust, the National Advisory Body for Theatres, presents its TheatreStage at PLASA London from 5 - 8 October at ExCel London. Following the success of the TheatreStage at last year's PLASA London, it will once more provide a focal point for members of the theatre industry to gather and network throughout the show.

The TheatreStage will be a hub for awards and announcements from leading theatre industry trade bodies and organisations including the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), BECTU, the Technical Theatre Awards and USITT - with the presentation of the Michael Northen Bursary Awards by the ALD, and an introduction of works by USITT's Young Scenic Designer 2014 - Patrick Rizzoti. We are also delighted to announce that for a second year running TheatreStage will host the Technical Theatre Awards.

The Theatres Trust also invites you to have coffee and

UK - Bookings for PLASA Rigging Conference, running at ExCeL London, are up by fifty percent compared to this time last year, providing a clear indication that the new, one-day format is proving popular with the rigging community. The news comes as the conference announces two important additions to its programme - Matthias Müller's Raising Your Game and The Piece Rather than the Rigging presented by Alan Bartlett.

Raising Your Game will consider the role of the chain hoist as the industry's workhorse and address questions that are often overlooked when making an appropriate choice for a given task. Hoists are an integral part of almost every show or event these days, which makes these decisions more relevant than ever. The session's presenter, Matthias Müller, will look at why specification should be an informed and holistic choice, rather than simply bei

USA - ETC is committed to mentoring students who have an interest in lighting and stage technology. One way the company achieves this is through its annual LDI Student Sponsorship, where a select group of students is awarded an all expenses paid trip to the LDI tradeshow as a way to help launch their careers.

The students have the opportunity to go the behind the scenes with ETC, to learn about the latest technologies, and to network with some of the industry's key figures. The sponsorship also pairs the students with industry luminaries who serve as mentors, offering advice, inspiration and encouragement as they transition into the working world.

ETC is proud to announce the winners of this year's LDI Student Sponsorship:

Kristen Geisler is on her way to earning a master of fine arts in lighting design from the University of Tennessee. She holds a bachelor of art fro

UK - Reproduced Sound (RS) celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with a two-day conference at the NEC, Birmingham, on 14-15 October.

Organised by the Electro-Acoustics Group of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA), the event partially coincides with the Institute's 40th anniversary conference at the same venue, which is being held on 15-16 October.

Paul Malpas, RS chairman, said, "We are really excited to have the event integrated into the IOA 40th anniversary event. Not only does this mark two important milestones in acoustics and electro-acoustics, but it also gives our regular and new guests and speakers at RS the opportunity to see into the breadth of fascinating areas also covered by IOA members and conferences.

"Perhaps even more exciting is the prospect that IOA members and other experts from across the acoustics fields will have a chance to explore where th

UK - Luton-based Cadac Holdings Ltd is showing its CDC eight-32, CDC eight-16 and CDC four digital consoles, as well as the LIVE1 compact analogue desk, at this year's PLASA London, on stand B50. The company is launching the latest V2.3 CDC eight software, which brings a host of new features to the flagship concert sound console, as well as exhibiting the CDC MC Router and MC MADI Bridge - integral components of the high performance MegaCOMMS network.

Notable highlights of the new CDC eight software update include a Waves interface card integrated within the console, providing connectivity to the Waves MultiRack server and control via the console touchscreens. This allows up to 64 channels of Waves studio-grade processing tools to simultaneously run alongside CDC eight's own native effects options. The Waves GUI is displayed for viewing and editing on the CDC eight touchscreen.

UK - Although absent for PLASA London's move to ExCel in 2013, Yamaha Commercial Audio returns to the show this year to help fly the flag for the professional sound industry.

Exhibiting on Stand B85, Yamaha will be highlighting its new RMio64-D Dante/MADI converter for broadcast and live sound applications, as well as the new Version 3 software for CL and QL digital mixing consoles. Both launched at IBC Amsterdam on 12 September, PLASA London will be their first showing at a UK trade event.

The RMio64-D allows audio from a CL/QL (or other Dante-equipped) mixing system to be converted to MADI and fed to an OB vehicle or other recording facility. Alternatively, it can allow a MADI-based console to be easily integrated into Yamaha's Nuage system for audio post-production.

Bringing a range of enhancements to CL and QL consoles, Version 3 software will be of particular interest t

UK - Source Distribution is set to host the European debut of key products from WorxAudio and PreSonus at PLASA 2014 in London.

Newly acquired by PreSonus, WorxAudio has been at the forefront of loudspeaker development for the US pro touring and contractor markets for over 30 years. The WorxAudio range boasts a comprehensive line-up of more than 20 loudspeaker models that feature integrated rigging hardware for streamlined installation and pack-out.

Source will be joined at PLASA by WorxAudio's Hugh Sarvis, who will be showcasing for the first time in Europe a selection of the company's compact line array and subwoofer products - including the V5, X2, X115 and TL118 models.

Also new for PLASA is the PreSonus RM-series of rack mount digital mixers, which offer complete recallable touch control. Based on the proven StudioLive AI-series mix engine and controlled with battle-rea

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