Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018: Gaining traction Features 18/06/2018 InAVate APAC reports from Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018, where a range of products and educational programmes were provided for attendees.Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018 was held in Guangzhou, China from May 10 to 13, 2018 at the China Import and Export Fair Complex. This year’s iteration of the exhibition was stated to be the largest in its history by the organiser with a total of 75,993 visitors attending which represented an increase of 2.7% in attendance from last year. The growing visitor figure for this year also came with international presence. According to the organiser the top registered visiting countries were India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, USA, Russia and Singapore. Two specific buyer delegations, the Entertainment Equipment and Digital Communications Technology Association from Taiwan and the Broadcasting Equipment Industry Association from Korea, also attended. Growth was achieved with specific steps undertaken by the exhibition. Judy Cheung, deputy general manager of Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai), was delighted with the outcomes of the 2018 edition and commented: “With the show’s refined approach in product zoning and offerings, it is very encouraging to see the growth in visitors and exhibitors this year.” The zoning definitely paid dividends as exhibitors responded positivly to the move. Vica Huang from Taiden said: “With a dedicated hall for conference and communication we felt there was an added advantage to exhibiting at Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018. For Taiden, it was important to be at the show as all major global brands and our competitors would also be present. The show gives us a great chance to reinforce our message and to showcase our product range.” Taiden’s focus was on the third generation of its G3 system which had previously been showcased at ISE 2018 and InfoComm Beijing 2018. Taiden also has 32 partners in China, to manage its business across the expanse of the country, and the show provided the manufacturer an opportunity to liaise with them directly. Another highlight from the conference and communication sector came from Bose. Joyce Tang, marketing manager at Bose Professional, Bose Electronics Shanghai, said: “We are showcasing our ControlSpace Ex conference solutions products, which is part of a market we are proactively trying to penetrate here. Total solutions in audio and visual are a clear trend for the industry in China, and the offerings at the show help demonstrate this future direction of the industry.” Dowson Yu, VP and general manager at JTS, also highlighted the importance of the install market. JTS’ CS-4W wireless conference system was showcased to the Chinese market for the first time. The system now features new charging capabilities and is more suited for installation applications. Cameron O’Neill, director APAC for Riedel, stated that the number of international brands at Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018 had increased fom previous versions. Riedel in particular found the show to be beneficial as it plans to establish its presence in China. O’Neill stated that the show also provides an opportunity for manufacturers to engage in educational pursuits. He felt that for the Chinese market in particular, more education with regards to the quality of audio as well as with regards to industry and tehcnology standards is required. O’Neill commented: “The country (China) has a big and ever-changing market, and they are looking for products with more advanced technologies and more features. Prolight + Sound Guangzhou is crucial in bringing companies from different countries together in one place, to help everyone learn what quality means to different people.” From the world of audio, Yamaha was present at Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018. The highlight of Yamaha China’s booth was the Rivage PM7 system which is based around the CSD-R7 digital mixing console and comes with built-in signal processing for mixing and effects. Interestingly, the PM7 was debuted at Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018. Karen Liu, product manager at Yamaha China, said: “We exhibited at InfoComm Beijing 2018 but our focus for that show was more on our system integration range of products like the CIS series. At Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018 we are focussing on our audio range and we thought this was the perfect show to unveil the PM7 to China.” Mei Hong, marketing manager at Ezpro, a Chinese distriutor, also commented on Prolight + Sound Guangzhou’s unique proposition for exhibitors: “This is our third year participating in Prolight + Sound Guangzhou. We used to exhibit at GETT but feel that Prolight + Sound Guangzhou has become better. InfoComm Beijing is a show that is more targeted at solutions and the integration market. But Prolight + Sound Guangzhou allows us to meet players in the touring and rental sectors which are also an important part of our business.” Keeping in mind the audience, a range of audio products for the touring and audio industry were showcased at Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018. Antelope had its range of Discrete MP 4 and 8, Discrete MP and Edge amplifiers and microphones at the show. While the products had been showcased at other exhibitions, Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018 was the Asian debut for many of Antelope’s products. Fani Angelova, brand manager for Antelope, said: “This is the second year for Antelope participating in Prolight + Sound Guangzhou and this year we decided to take up larger booth space. We feel that the show allows us to meet potential resellers and also end users from small to medium studios who attend the show. Expanding our dealer network in China is an objective for us so exhibiting at Prolight + Sound Guangzhou was an easy decision.” Educational pursuits In addition to the exhibition, Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2018 offered a number of educational pursuits under the umbrella of audio and visual integration. One of the highly attended programs was the PLSG Annual Training Course. The conference covered technical skills for large-scale outdoor events, techniques for system designers and engineers, concepts for music festival production and much more. With the entertainment and rental market gearing up for a busy summer in Asia Pacific, there was increased interest in the education endeavour. Tim Roberts, director of The Event Safety Shop who was a speaker for the PLSG Training Course, said: “In terms of event safety, places like the UK generally have more experience and opportunities to deal with large- scale events in the safest manner possible. In the past, they have been forced to deal with more potentially dangerous situations. However, gravity works the same all over the world, and mistakes come at the same cost everywhere. This means that educational programmes such as the PLSG Training Course are vital for the Chinese market to learn how to avoid disasters during public events. It’s great that we have the chance to teach the audience here in Guangzhou how to provide the safest possible situations for the entire entertainment industry.” Keeping in mind its target audience, Prolight + Sound Guangzhou also offerred an extensive program on lighting for broadcast. Kyoung Il Lee, TV technical operations, lighting designer and lighting director, Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), was a speaker of Lighting Technology for Television Forum 2018. He commented: “Currently, with more and more advanced technologies, lighting design should move beyond hardware and equipment to focus more on the human elements. It’s not about how we deliver a message; it’s about what we deliver and the actual content. I think the audience here are professional and pay a lot of attention during my speech, so I would say the event is a success.” Another unique offering from Prolight + Sound Guangzhou was the Outdoor Line Array, which gathered 34 international and domestic professional audio brands to showcase the qualities of their audio systems in real time. Visitors were able to sample first-hand the audio technology in the market. Helping visitors more easily compare the performance of audio products is a key objective of Prolight + Sound Guangzhou. Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2019 will be held from February 24 to 27, 2019 once again in Area A of the China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou.