When LDI was founded in 1988 in Dallas, there were just over 300 booth spaces. This year, at LDI2000 in Las Vegas, booth space is nearing 1,330, making the show floor at the Sands Expo Center more than four times bigger.
This year's show will be held from October 20-22. Those are the dates the show floor will be open, but LDI2000 is much more than that. The intensive training courses at the LDInstitute start as early as Monday, October 16, with four full days of in-depth professional training (through Thursday, October 19). Classes will take place in meeting rooms on the 26th floor of the North Tower at Bally's Las Vegas and other area locations, such as the headquarters for PRG and Cinema Services, the hosts of the High End Systems/Wholehog training courses this year.
The Institute also includes the annual AutoCAD three-day intensive and a one-day 3D Design studio taught by Rich Rose of UCLA, back once again by popular demand. Also back are John Huntington and George Kindler for a three-day course on show control problem-solving. New to the Institute this year are two courses: the first is NSCA's Audio Hardware Applications, taught by Ted Uzzle, editor emeritus of S&VC magazine; second is a full-day look at using automated rigging. This will be taught in the recently built Theatre des Arts at Paris Las Vegas.
On the days that the show floor is open, there are three tracks of workshop sessions, including Lighting Design and Production Techniques, Light in Architecture, and Sound in Entertainment. These will feature a range of topics, from the lighting of Las Vegas to the latest projects in the UK. There will be solo sessions by such top names as Patrick Woodroffe (LD for the Rolling Stones, among other projects), themed expert Tom Ruzika (currently working on the lighting design for Universal Studios Japan), and top Broadway sound designer Tony Meola (sound designer for Disney's The Lion King).
There are also a series of tutorials at LDI that range from a High End Systems fixture overview and Hog Clinic featuring Christian Choi and Arnold Seraame, to hands-on training at Martin University and in the introduction of Vectorworks taught by Frank Brault of Nemetschek North America (formerly Diehl Graphsoft). They will also be on the show floor (booth #2849) and will be holding a drawing for a copy of VectorWorks FOCUS, a new add-on module that plugs into VectorWorks.
If you are an early riser, be sure to join us at the New Technology Breakfasts. Technical editor Bill Maiman will be back as MC, with Nat Hecht, editor of S&VC, sharing the duties for the audio breakfast. This year, the new lighting product event has been expanded to two hours to try and meet the demand for companies that would like to participate.
You can also network with the power women in the industry at the annual Women in Entertainment Technology breakfast, moderated by Marge Romans, and this year LD Ted Ferreira of City Design Group in Pasadena, CA is introducing a lighting designer roundtable at 9:00am on Sunday.
"Discussions will feature projects, equipment, and problem-solving techniques employed in a myriad of different specialties ranging from theatre to theme parks and everything in between," says Ferreira, who has pulled together an impressive list of designers. Those who have agreed to participate to date are: Norm Schwab and John Featherstone (Lightswitch); Steve Brill and Dennis Size (Lighting Design Group); Richard Hoyes (Fisher Dachs Associates); and Brad Bouch (Spectrum Lighting).
"I think this session will be useful for all professionals, from our peers among lighting designers to those in other disciplines who collaborate with us," notes Ferreira. "I would also like to strongly encourage participation by students and young designers and technicians who can really benefit from a networking and information-sharing opportunity like this. We'll examine the design process and development of projects such as the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Radio City Music Hall, Universal Studios CityWalk, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Bellagio Hotel Art Gallery, and the Seattle Experience Music Project, to name just a few."
For complete details on all LDI2000 workshop sessions and online registration, check the website at www.ldishow.com or call (800) 601-3858 or (732) 885-6723 for a fax-on-demand version of the LDI2000 brochure.