The Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) is a

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. Through collabor ...

headquartered in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Its membership is made up of companies involved with the events and entertainments technology sector.

History

PLASA was originally known as the British Association of Discothèque Equipment Manufacturers (BADEM), a name used between 1976 and 1983. In 2010 PLASA merged with the Entertainment Services and Technology Association. and demerged in 2015. John Simpson, the PLASA Governing Body Chair at the time, said "This has been a difficult period for PLASA but it is also an opportunity for us to refocus. PLASA has a chance to reassess its role in this industry, its relationships and communications with its members, and the future directions of its commercial activities." Also during this tim
PLASA Show
was relocated to Earls Court and CEO Matthew Griffiths left his post. Peter Heath took the role of CEO in April of 2016. In the same year PLASA Show move back to the West London venue London Olympia. Since then, PLASA Show has steadily regained popularity with the 2018 edition of the show being the “busiest and most vibrant show in recent history”.

Activities

PLASA's activities include

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

, organising trade show events (including the PLASA Show),

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

both technical and industry news products (such as Lighting & Sound International and Lighting & Sound America), developing industry

standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object t ...

and developing industry certification schemes. PLASA performed lobbying of

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

and other

British Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

entities in the late 2000s when users of radio microphones and similar devices complained that their equipment would be rendered unusable as a result of proposed plans to auction the

radio spectrum The radio spectrum is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum with frequencies from 3 Hz to 3,000 GHz (3 THz). Electromagnetic waves in this frequency range, called radio waves, are widely used in modern technology, particula ...

utilised by many of such devices as part of the digital television switchover. After merging with ESTA, PLASA took on the role of maintaining the industry standards for

DMX512 DMX512 is a technical standard, standard for digital communication networks that are commonly used to control lighting and effects. It was originally intended as a standardized method for controlling stage lighting dimmers, which, prior to D ...

and RDM. PLASA have also been responsible for the development of a UK National Rigging Certificate, which launched in 2007 for individuals working in the entertainments rigging industry.{{cite web, title=The PLASA National Rigging Certificate (NRC), url=http://www.ukrigging.net/trainingplasa.php, work=UK Rigging Website, publisher=UK Rigging, access-date=16 May 2013, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121004730/http://www.ukrigging.net/trainingplasa.php, archive-date=21 November 2012, url-status=dead Each year, PLASA hands out PLASA Awards for Innovation and Sustainability Award. The PLASA Awards for Innovation aim to emphasise this focus on true innovation. The procedure ensures that all nominated products are vetted to show that they offer something new to the industry. PLASA has been a part of the European Ecodesign Coalition which includes prominent industry bodies from across Europe. The purpose of the coalition has been to campaign against Ecodesign lighting regulations and propose exemptions for stage lighting. In 2018 PLASA collaborated with Hamish Dumbreck of JESE Ltd, Peter Willis of Howard Eaton Lighting and Wayne Howell of Artistic Licence to present Plugfest, a three-day residential event in Gatwick, UK for lighting technicians and developers to test the interoperability of their products. This event returns in 2019 taking place in Lille, France.

References

External links

plasa.org

esta.org

plasashow.com

estafoundation.org
1976 establishments in the United Kingdom Audio engineering Eastbourne Lighting Organisations based in East Sussex Organizations established in 1976 Trade associations based in the United Kingdom

History

Activities

See also

References

External links