THE JOURNAL OF THE ENTERTAINMENT …ia346.org/images/documents/spring2014_prot.pdfSPRING 2014 Q VOLUME 19 Q NUMBER 2 PROTOCOL THE JOURNAL OF THE ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY 26

SPRING 2014 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 2

PROTOCOLTHE JOURNAL OF THE ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY

26

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plus:

It’s more than just roofs, and other revisions in ANSI E1.21-2013

Revised OSHA Hazard Communications Standard: 2012 HCS

I hate to sell, but I have to sell

California implements sweeping reforms to

their energy code

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43 PROTOCOL

in every issue

PROTOCOLSPRING 2014 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 2

features

PUBLISHER’S NOTE 4

NA DIRECTIONS 7

EU DIRECTIONS 9

LOOKING AHEAD 10Upcoming Industry Events

OUT OF THE WOOD 20Photopic curves—the old and the new

SHADOW, LIGHT, AND TRUTH 30Gig success starts with electrics prep

STANDARDS WATCH 42European entertainment gets standardized

TECH TIPS 52

BIZQUESTIONS 58“What keeps you up at night?”

TSP NEWS 60

SOFT SELL 64Effective time management skills pave the road to success

PERG NEWS 66Theft and fraud

ETCP NEWS 70Certification strengthens our industry

THE ESTA FOUNDATION 72

NEW MEMBERS 92

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX 94

It’s more than just roofs, and other revisions in ANSI E1.21-2013 14

Revised OSHA Hazard Communications Standard: 2012 HCS 26

I hate to sell, but I have to sell 36Lessons for the reluctant salesperson

California implements sweeping reforms to their energy code 48

Moving forward with eSET 54eSET (Essential Skills for Entertainment Technicians)—is now a USITT initiative

PLASA Golf Day 2014 in Support of Behind the Scenes 56

PLASA members receive processing fees as low as 2.6% from American Express 69

PLASA Focus: Nashville—Ducking the sun 75

Prolight + Sound 2014: Success, however you spell it. 79

The International Event Safety Conference: Finding answers 84

USITT 2014: Big in Texas 86

Dana Taylor received the 2014 Distinguished Achiever in Education Award from Tom Kopatich, District Superintendent, at the recent USITT Conference and Stage Expo. 86

PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014, held at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, featured over 60 brands showing the latest technology. Attendees also packed the 17 Professional Development Seminars offered during the show. 75

On the Cover:An outdoor event using a large custom structure, even though it is not an overhead roof, now falls within the scope of ANSI E1.21-2013. 14PHOTO COURTESY: GEIGER ENGINEERS

Protocol is now available free for the iPhone, iPad, and now Android devices—check it out!

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4 SPRING 2014

Group PublisherJacqueline Tien+1 212 244 1505 ext. 716

[email protected]

EditorBeverly Inglesby+1 503 291 5143

[email protected]

Welcome to the Spring 2014 issue of Protocol.

Thank you to Keith Bohn for sharing “It’s More

Than Just Roofs, and Other Revisions in ANSI E1.21-

2013”—a must read as the outdoor event season

is upon us. Peter Rogers informs with “California

Implements Sweeping Reforms to Their Energy Code”

and Jerry Gorrell recaps the changes in “Revised OSHA

Hazard Communications Standard: 2012 HCS”—both

share critical information to stay on top of our industry.

Plus, don’t miss Peter Coombs excellent primer for those whose job description

includes sales in “I Hate to Sell, But I Have to Sell!”

This issue’s technical columns are enlightening—check out Mike Wood’s

“Photopic Curves—The Old and the New,” Richard Cadena’s “Gig Success Starts

with Electrics Prep,” Michael Lichter’s “European Entertainment Gets Standardized,”

and Christine Sheridan’s “Certification Strengthens Our Industry.”

Plus, learn about PERG’s work addressing “Theft and Fraud,” PLASA Golf

Day, and the new American Express member benefit. It’s all here with the regular

columns, show report updates, and feature articles.

We hope you enjoy your hard copy, online at http://plasa.me/protocolonline, or

on your smartphone or tablet. Follow us on Facebook to receive regular updates.

Finally, it was great to see those of you who joined us at our PLASA Focus:

Baltimore event in May. Mark your calendars for Focus: Austin, September 9 – 10

and register early to receive all the updates

at http://www.plasafocus.com/austin/. Our

next stops are ABTT and ITEAC in London

and InfoComm in Las Vegas. See you along

the way!

Publisher’s Note

PLASA Governing Body:

ChairEd Pagett, Panalux

Vice ChairBill Groener, 4 Wall

TreasurerScott Hoyt, Heartland Scenic Studio

SecretaryMartin Hawthorn, Hawthorn’s

At Large MembersAdam Blaxill, Stage Electrics

John T. McGraw

Eddie Raymond, IATSE Local 16

John Simpson, White Light

Steve Terry, ETC

PLASA North American Regional Board:

ChairEddie Raymond, IATSE Local 16

Vice ChairBill Groener, 4 Wall

TreasurerScott Hoyt, Heartland Scenic Studio

SecretaryDinna Myers, Musson Theatrical

Dealer/RetailerDavid Schraffenberger, Production Advantage

DistributorFred Mikeska, A.C. Lighting

ManufacturerTracey Cosgrove, Rosco Laboratories

Production ServicesEvan Williams, Riverview Systems Group

Professional ServicesJules Lauve, Theatre Projects Consultants

Rental CompanyMarc Stephens, MPS Studios Dallas

OrganizationalBrian Lawlor, IATSE

IndividualDana Taylor

PLASA European Regional Board:

ChairEd Pagett, Panalux

Vice ChairAdam Blaxill, Stage Electrics

TreasurerMartin Hawthorn, Hawthorn’s

SecretaryDuncan Bell, Autograph Sound

Dealer/RetailerMalcolm Burlow, Highlite

DistributorPeter James, Shure Distribution UK

ManufacturerMatt Lloyd, Global Design Solutions

Production ServicesMark Surtees, Outback Rigging

Professional ServicesLee Dennison, Sound by Design

Rental CompanyNoreen O’Riordan,Entec Sound and Light

OrganizationalSteve Macluskie, RSAMD

IndividualEd Manwaring

Matthew GriffithsCEO Shane McGreevyCOO and Finance DirectorLori RubinsteinDirector of International ProgramsJacqueline TienGroup PublisherChristopher ToulminDirector of EventsKacey CoffinDirector of Membership

North American Office:630 Ninth Avenue, Suite 609New York, NY 10036www.plasa.org, [email protected]+1 212 244 1505Fax: +1 212 244 1502

Karl RulingTechnical Standards ManagerMeredith Moseley-BennettCertification ManagerHarry Box PERG Manager Frances ThompsonOperations Manager, EventsKatie McCullohMarketing Executive

European Office:Redoubt House, 1 Edward RoadEastbourne, BN23 8AS, United Kingdomwww.plasa.org, [email protected]+44 13 23 52 41 20Fax: +44 13 23 52 41 21

Norah PhillipsMembership ManagerMichele EnrightQualifications Project ManagerKate FurssedonASPEC Manager

Jacqueline Tien, [email protected]

Art DirectorJohn J. [email protected]

[email protected]

PhotographyBeverly InglesbyJohn T. McGraw

PLASA is the lead professional trade association representing the worldwide entertainment technology, event, and installation industries. With more than 1,200 members worldwide, it represents one of the largest trade communities in the sector. The association provides advisory services to its members and a wide variety of programs in the areas of education, business resources, member promotion, reduced costs on business services, and credit information. Key programs in North America include the ANSI-accredited Technical Standards Program; the Entertainment Technician Certification Program, which certifies entertainment electricians, arena riggers, and theatre riggers; the Market Research Program for Manufacturers, which provides quarterly data on market size and share; and the Business Peer Group Advisory Program. In the UK, PLASA leads the development of qualifications and is an effective political lobbyist on industry issues.

PLASA also runs successful media and events divisions, responsible for the industry-leading magazines Lighting&Sound America, Protocol, and Lighting&Sound International, and major business exhibitions and events for the sector, including the PLASA London show and regional PLASA Focus events and industry-related conferences.

© 2014 Professional Lighting and Sound Association. All rights reserved. $3.00 per issue.

Senior Technical Editor Karl G. [email protected]

Technical Editor Richard [email protected]

Editorial AssistantElaine [email protected]

AdvertisingBeverly Inglesby

Advertisements appearing in Protocol are the sole responsibility of the advertiser. The views expressed are not necessarily those of PLASA or Protocol.

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NA DirectionsBY EDDIE RAYMOND

7 PROTOCOL

Planning for succession insures a smooth transition

THERE HAS BEEN A GREAT DEAL OF DISCUSSION among

those of us with more gray hair than dark—with any hair left at this

stage in life—about how to transition from our present positions

without creating a void that potentially damages years of hard work.

While everyone’s position is different, every such transition requires

a great deal of thought and planning to be successful.

Having just transitioned from the full-time position I’ve held

for many years, I have a fresh perspective on what can happen as

one moves through the process, particularly when it is the fi rst

transition in the history of the position. When I look around at the

industry professionals of my generation, I can see my experience is

not unique. Many of my colleagues in PLASA have, as the founders

of their businesses, created their positions, and transitioning

from those positions will be diffi cult on many levels. Beyond the

inevitable stress of leaving a (more than) full-time position and the

familiar, into a less structured and less familiar life, is the stress of

leaving a business or program that they have created, populated by

people they have mentored, and cared about for many years.

The fi rst step in planning for a successful transition is to fully

assess the roles you play, the complexity of those roles, and then to

realistically calculate the skills needed to assume those roles. Next

is to be realistic about the time it will take for a replacement (or

in some cases, replacements) to become familiar with the nuances

of their new position. Most of the skills that leaders possess are

learnable, but fi nding people who possess some of those skills and

a demonstrated ability to learn new skills will lead to a successful

transition. Learning the nuances and priorities of a new position

goes beyond the skills necessary to perform the job.

The second step is to create the process for choosing a successor.

Is it a sole decision? Are there others who must (or should) be

included? Are there requirements, legal or otherwise, that must be

met? Sometimes, the success of the new person is dependent on

their acceptance by those affected by the decision. The search is

bound to be easier if these fi rst two steps are taken care of before it

commences rather than during. (Or, worse yet, after!) Consulting

with counsel, governing boards, and others in advisory positions

will aid this assessment.

Once the potential successor is chosen, the training process must

be given all the time it needs to be successful. In my case, it was over

a year of communication, demonstration, guiding, evaluation, and

coaching, followed by the gradual handing off fi rst of duties, and

then of responsibilities. Understanding that there is a big difference

between doing tasks, and being held responsible for the outcomes of

those tasks takes some of the pressure off being perfect right out of

the gate. None of us were perfect when we started, and we learned

from our mistakes. By allowing our successors the same chance to

learn by falling short of the mark occasionally while insulated from

blame helps with the learning process.

The final stage in the transition comes with giving up the

ownership of the position so that your successor can make

it their own. A good successor will want to “own” their new

position and make it theirs. This can be difficult to accept, but is

absolutely necessary. The new person in charge cannot succeed

if they are looking over their shoulder for approval. This doesn’t

mean being unavailable for advice or consultation, but it means

waiting to be asked.

Succession can be the most important event in the history of a

program, an organization, or a company. It can mean the difference

between a future of growth and success or one of contraction and

eventual failure. The fact that there is something of value to pass

along is to be celebrated and respected. Try to enjoy the opportunity

you have created.

Edward L. Raymond i s Cha i r o f PLASA’s Nor th Amer i can Reg iona l Board . Edd ie i s VP o f IATSE Loca l 16 in San Franc i sco. He a l so se rves as a member o f the ETCP Cer t i f i ca t ion Counc i l .

Learning the nuances and priorities of a new posi-tion goes beyond the skills necessary to perform the job.“

“ [Succession] can mean the difference between a future of growth and success or one of contraction and eventual failure.“

“

007_PSpring14_NADirections.indd 7 5/13/14 11:55 AM

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EU DirectionsBY ED PAGETT

9 PROTOCOL

The benefits of being a part of an association

MANY BUSINESS LEADERS WOULD SAY that their work/life

balance has swung inextricably (and alarmingly) towards just

“work!” Adding other demands to an already busy work schedule

would seem like madness, so why should you try to cram yet

more time into your already-hectic schedules to join and actively

participate in a professional trade association such as PLASA?

I think the Pareto Principal (or 80-20 rule) may apply here,

named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. In the 1900’s he

identifi ed that “80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes” (it

was actually less enigmatic at the time, he actually observed 20% of

the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas—but, credit

where credit is due, he came up with the theory). This rule of thumb

appears to work in many areas of business. For example: 80% of sales

come from 20% of clients; 80% of profi tability comes from 20% of

products; 80% of a company’s sales are made by 20% of its sales staff;

80% of a company’s complaints come from 20% of its customers. So

couldn’t the same Pareto principal be applied to your time?

Could just 80% of your time be productive?

Which brings me back to my original question: Now that

you know you can free up some of your currently unproductive

time (20%!), why should you join and actively participate in a

professional trade association? Because membership in an industry

association offers numerous benefi ts and will keep business owners

on top of important, ever-changing issues, trends, and legislation

within their marketplace.

Here is another compelling reason: Statistics show that

approximately 85% of all business failures occur in fi rms that are

not members of their trade association. But, to reap the benefi ts of

membership, you must make an investment of time and effort in

association activities and become involved.

Networking is the number one benefi t—local participation will

introduce you to additional contacts, expand that to a regional, state,

or global level—new connections abound. PLASA Focus events

in North America and PLASA London are just such networking

events and they tick another key benefi t box—the seminar programs

encourage the exchange of information, education, and professional

development.

Market research is another important benefi t. Trade associations

conduct research and analyze statistical information in your market

to enable members to function more effi ciently and help to identify

critical new directions. Membership in an association can give

you a better sense of the market size, hiring trends, qualifi cation

requirements, and salary ranges. PLASA is about to conduct new

market research—but you have to take part if the results are to be

meaningful to you and your sector.

PLASA Media publications—Lighting&Sound America,

Lighting&Sound International, and Protocol are highly regarded

publications that educate and keep members up-to-date on what

is going on in the industry, inform you of evolving technology, and

make you aware of the major players through their editorial. Not to

mention the preferential advertising rates to members that will help

you reach your highly-targeted market.

Let’s not forget career opportunities through your association—

for employers with openings and job seekers alike. If networking

hasn’t opened a career door for you to fi ll a position or fi nd an

opening, then there is always the PLASA Job Board which has the

advantage of giving you access to opportunities in your specifi c area

of interest, versus other sources that have jobs but of less relevance

to your speciality.

Building your resume is also important. Volunteering to help on

a committee, sub-committee, or standards group is a visible way to

demonstrate your commitment and abilities to others. Eventually,

you may want to join the PLASA Regional Board or Governing Body

and take on a leadership role. The more active you are, the more

people you will come in contact with—and the more fulfi lling your

career will become. (See Rocky Paulson’s speech on “Volunteerism”

in the Winter 2014 issue of Protocol.)

Therefore, industry associations are a good thing, and your trade

association, PLASA, is there for you. So, allocate some of your spare

time to fully engage in all that PLASA has to offer you—it doesn’t

have to be all 20%!

Ed Pagett i s Cha i r o f PLASA’s Govern ing Body as we l l as PLASA in Europe. He i s the Manag ing D i rec tor o f Pana lux ’s Broadcas t and Events d iv i s ion , a lead ing prov ider o f l ight ing renta l equ ipment and fac i l i t i es fo r the f i lm and te lev i s ion indust ry.

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10 SPRING 2014

Looking Ahead

Upcoming industry eventsLive Design Master Classes 2014May 30 – June 6, New York City—This

year’s Broadway Lighting Master Classes

(BLMC) at Baryshnikov Arts Center,

May 30 – June 1, will feature legendary

lighting designer Jules Fisher (Lucky Guy,

Assassins) as creative consultant with

speakers including Kevin Adams (Hedwig

and the Angry Inch), Chris Akerlind (Rocky),

Mark Barton (Violet), Howell Binkley

(After Midnight), Jeff Croiter (Peter and

the Starcatcher), Beverly Emmons, Wendall

K. Harrington, Don Holder (Bullets Over

Broadway), Clifton Taylor, Japhy Weideman

(Of Mice And Men), and David Weiner

(Dead Accounts). Plus, a special appearance

by legendary choreographer/director Twyla

Tharp, sharing the stage with Don Holder.

BLMC includes a ticket to Rocky.

The Broadway Projection Master

Classes (BPMC) will run June 2 – 3, at

NYU Tisch School of the Arts, with host

projection designer Zachary Borovay (Evita,

Rock of Ages, Elf) as creative consultant.

Speakers include Peter Nigrini, projection

designer (Here Lies Love); Ben Pearcy of

59 Productions (War Horse); Local One

electrician Brian Beasley; lighting designer

Jason Lyons (Rock Of Ages); scenic designer

David Korins (Here Lies Love); Lars Pedersen

of WorldStage; and Dan Scully (Rocky).

BPMC includes a ticket to Here Lies Love.

The Broadway Sound Master Classes

(BSMC), also at NYU Tisch School of

the Arts, June 4 – 6, highlights legendary

sound designer Abe Jacob (A Chorus Line,

Evita, Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles) as

creative consultant. Speakers include Mark

Bennett (Vanya and Sonia and Masha

and Spike), Peter Hylenski (Bullets Over

Broadway), Lindsay Jones (Bronx Bombers),

Bob McCarthy, Dan Moses Schreier (A

Gentleman’s Guide To Love And Murder),

Nevin Steinberg (Cinderella), and Jon

Weston (The Bridges of Madison County).

There is also a very special appearance

by legendary composer John Kander, in

conversation with Nevin Steinberg. Includes

a ticket to Bullets Over Broadway.

ITEACJune 8 – 10, London, UK—The fourth

International Theatre Engineering and

Architecture Conference (ITEAC) builds

on the success of the three previous events,

which have all been well attended by US

delegates. Each day of the three-day event

starts with a signifi cant keynote address and

concludes with a stimulating collective wrap

up session. Between, the topics will run in

three or four parallel streams, presented

as lectures, quick fi re sessions, specialized

micro sessions, and panel discussions.

The program is based around the

themes of “The People, The Places, and

The Technologies” and these key issues are

refl ected in the varied and packed program,

designed so that delegates with a particular

interest can pursue their specifi c fi eld

throughout each of the three days, while

others can take part in sessions about a

variety of disciplines.

Credited by the Los Angeles Times as

“America’s most wired composer,” Tod

Machover—one of the brightest thinkers

about performance today—is the opening

keynote speaker on the Sunday.

Far reaching i nternational participation,

particularly from territories where there is

major capital development, is also secure

with confi rmed delegations attending from

major organizations in China, Indonesia,

and the Middle East.

Full information about the program can

be found on the conference’s website: www.

iteac.co.uk/, alongside details of how to

register. Members of USITT and American

Society of Theatre Consultants qualify for

an 8% discount on the published rate.

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411 PROTOCOL

Looking Ahead

Live Design Master ClassesMay 30 – June 6 | New York Citywww.livedesignonline.com/masterclasses

International Theatre Engineering and Architecture ConferenceJune 8 – 10 | London, UKwww.iteac.co.uk/

ABTT Theatre ShowJune 11 – 12 | London, UKwww.abtttheatreshow.co.uk

InfoComm 2014June 14 – 20 | Las Vegas, NVwww.infocommshow.org

CITT/ICTS Rendez-vousAugust 14 – 16 | Ottawa, ONhttp://citt.org/annual_conference.html

PLASA Focus: AustinSeptember 9 – 10 | Austin, TXwww.plasafocus.com/austin

EnvisionSeptember 11 – 13 | Monterey, CA

www.envisionsymposium.com

At a Glance

PLASA London 2014October 5 – 8 | London, UKwww.plasashow.com

PLASA Rigging ConferenceOctober 6 | London, UKwww.plasariggingconference.com

PLASA Focus: BrusselsNovember 3 – 4 | Brussels, BEwww.plasafocus.com/brussels/

LDI2014November 17 – 23 | Las Vegas, NVwww.ldishow.com

PLASA Focus: GlasgowDecember 2 – 3 | Glasgow, UKwww.plasafocus.com/glasgow/

USITT 2015March 18 – 21 | Cincinnati, OHwww.usitt.org/conference

Prolight + SoundApril 15 – 18 | Frankfurt, DEwww.prolight-sound.com

5-8 OCTOBER 2014 - ExCeL5-8 OCTOBER 2014 - ExCeL

ABTT Theatre ShowJune 11 – 12, London, UK—The ABTT

Theatre Show offers an exhibition, seminars,

workshops, and product demonstrations

with an opportunity for discussion,

discovery, and development including a

formal seminar room as well as a classroom

facility.

New for 2014 are the Test Bench and

the Theatre Challenge. This is a hands-on

demonstration area for exhibitors as well

as the competition area for the Theatre

Challenge, which is a light-hearted venture

that could easily end up being highly

competitive and deadly serious! The

simplest of tasks such as wiring a plug,

servicing a piece of equipment, or fault

fi nding can be second nature—unless

it is set in a competitive environment.

Participants may be quick, but how

accurate? They may be accurate, but worth

waiting until next year for the result? Join

the challenge! Who knows? Participants

might even learn a few tips and tricks.

The Theatre Challenge, special

offers, workshops, seminars, product

demonstrations, the caption competition

(with Real Ale voucher prizes), swap shop,

and probably more features will provide

the forum for interaction and a bit of fun.

ABTT wants to build up a community

which provides an all-year-round extension

of the Theatre Show through Facebook likes

to keep in touch at

https://www.facebook.com/abtttheatreshow.

The ABTT Theatre Show is at The Old

Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London E1

6QR June 11 – 12. Attendance is free to

those who pre-register.

AUSTIN | SEPTEMBER 10-11, 2014

GLASGOW | 2-3 DECEMBER, 2014

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12 SPRING 2014

Looking Ahead

CITT/ICTS Rendez-vousAugust 14 – 16, Ottawa, ON—The

Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology

(CITT) will hold its annual Rendez-

vous Conference and trade show at the

Ottawa Convention Centre from August

14 – 16. The conference offers three

days of sessions, workshops, backstage

tours, social events, and networking

opportunities. The CITT trade show

allows suppliers and manufacturers

to showcase new products and stage

technologies to the attendees with longer

visiting hours over a two-day span.

Pre-conference workshops will be

replaced with hands-on training. Some

of the workshops and seminars being

planned include: The DiGiCo audio

console; Hippo School; ETC Layers of

Lights; The Future of Stage Rigging:

Counterweight Rigging vs. Automated

Rigging; Using Special Effects and

Firearms On Stage: Rules, Regulations,

and Best Practices; Counterweight

Rigging: A History and Anatomy; Being

Sustainable in the Live Performance

Arts; Production Budgeting for Theatre;

Outdoor Live Event Safety; to name a few.

The regional section meetings, as well

as Education Forum and Roadhouse

Roundtable discussions, will be moved

to Saturday and the annual general

meeting will become an AGM breakfast

on Saturday. As usual, the New Product

Breakfast will kick off Friday morning.

For this year’s event, CITT’s national

board reviewed the conference delegate

fees and is proposing a substantial

reduction to the full conference fee

structure for both regular and student

members. For more information, contact

CITT at 613 482 1165, [email protected], or

visit our website www.citt.org.

PLASA Focus: AustinSeptember 9 – 10, Austin, TX—Held at

the Palmer Events Center, PLASA Focus:

Austin will showcase the very latest pro

audio, lighting, AV, and stage technologies,

much of which will be making its US

debut, fresh from international launches.

The trade show is free to attend and

includes a chance to take part in the

highly acclaimed PLASA Professional

Development Program, a free program of

educational sessions that run alongside

each PLASA exhibition. The sessions are

presented by entertainment technology’s

leading minds and provide an insight into

the most creatively ambitious, technically

challenging, or anecdotally interesting

projects and techniques. Case study

sessions are accompanied by “back to

basics” sessions and free product training.

Envision 2014September 11 – 13, Monterey, CA—

Envision 2014 is the second annual

symposium exploring what’s now and

what’s next in the creation, production,

design, and direction of theatre,

concerts, theme parks, gaming, digital

environments, and more. With Bran

Ferren and Bob Bonniol as creative

consultants, it’s a high-octane conference

that brings together the best and brightest

innovators and practitioners in creative

lighting, sound, video, gaming scenic,

projection, and production design, and

new media to discuss what’s happening

now and to share their views on what’s

next. Speakers include Butch Allen,

Surya Buchwald, Jasmine Ellsworth, E.M.

Gimenez, Peter Guber, Sandra Tsing Loh,

Alex McDowell, Peter Schneider, Neal

Stephenson, Amy Tinkham, and Bora

Yoon.

PLASA London 2014October 5 – 8, London, UK—Returning

to ExCeL London, planning for PLASA

London is underway. For information

about exhibiting and sponsorship

opportunities for this international event,

contact David Westbrooke at +44 (0)20

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PLASA Rigging ConferenceOctober 6, London, UK—The PLASA

Rigging Conference 2014 will take place

alongside PLASA London 2014, running

this year on Monday, October 6. The one-

day program will run 8:30 a.m. to 6:30

p.m., packed with relevant content, once

again curated by Chris Higgs of

Total Solutions.


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The line-up of speakers will be

announced in May but a highlight already

confirmed is Bill Sapsis, featuring as this

year’s key-note speaker. Other speakers

include Chartered Structural Engineer

Abigail Matthews, of Momentum

Engineering, who will present a paper on

safety factors from the point of view of a

structural engineer.

The day will also include sessions about

state of the art load monitoring in the

entertainment industry, the frequently

overlooked issues surrounding the

integrity of scenic or theming elements

that are suspended in theatre, exhibition,

and corporate events and a session on the

specification of chain hoists for use in the

entertainment industry. The impact of

the new CDM 2015 Regulations will be

the subject of a debate which promises to

be a challenge for the whole industry; in

October we will be looking at it from a

rigging perspective only six months before

it is entered in the statute book.

Full-day delegate rates as well as

individual session prices will be available

this year, to allow maximum flexibility for

attendees.

LDI2014November 17 – 23, Las Vegas, NV—

Celebrating its 27th consecutive year,

LDI has developed into the leading

trade show and conference for live

design professionals in North and South

America. Over 10,000 professionals

working in theater, concerts, houses of

worship, corporate presentations, clubs,

theme parks, and all other live venues,

as well as manufacturers, distributors,

and consultants, come to LDI from 72

countries to see the latest gear in action,

refresh their knowledge, and replenish

their creativity. More than 350 exhibiting

companies provide attendees with live

demos and the opportunity for face-

to-face discussions about equipment

including: lighting, sound, projection,

rigging, staging, and special effects.

The LDI2014 schedule includes:

Backstage Las Vegas, November 17 –

19; LDInstitute, November 17 – 22;

Projection Master Classes, PMC@LDI,

November 19 – 20; Electonic Dance

Music Master Classes, November 19 – 20;

Electronic Dance Music Pavilion, EDM@

LDI, November 19 – 23; LDInnovation &

Technology Conference, November 19 –

23; and LDI2013 Exhibit Hall, November

20 – 23. For complete details about all

aspects of LDI2014 visit

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It’s more than just roofs, and other revisions in ANSI E1.21-2013 BY KEITH BOHN

For any outdoor entertainment event with a structure that relates to the show, make sure you are well read on ANSI E1.21-2013 to implement all of the precautions, advice, and planning.

FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE

PLAYING ALONG, there has been a long

standing effort to write and publish ANSI

standards for entertainment technology.

In fact, there are many documents that

have already been published and some

of them have even been revised. ANSI

E1.21-2013 is one of those documents. The

fi rst publication of this standard was in

2006. With a lot of effort over the last few

years, a new revision has been published

that includes a number of changes that are

important to know.

Let’s start at the top. First, there is a

new title that is more appropriate to the

expanded scope of the document. The

originally published E1.21-2006, Temporary

Ground-Supported Overhead Structures

Used to Cover the Stage Areas and Support

Equipment in the Production of Outdoor

Entertainment Events, was narrowly defi ned

to focus on roof systems as indicated in the

title. The updated and simpler title of the

revision, E1.21-2013, Temporary Structures

Used for Technical Production of Outdoor

Entertainment Events, is clearly more

inclusive.

When we talk about more inclusive, let’s

list things that could now be considered

in this revised scope. This could include

speaker towers, front of house platforms,

spotlight towers, video walls, and custom

staging platforms. Additionally, it

encompasses systems that might be built

using lumber, aluminum or steel; use

hydraulics, winches, or chain hoists; and

. . . if a structure is required for the show, it is within the purview of this standard.Keeping a structure such as this upright, or assuring that no one is near it when a tornado moves

through, takes planning and site management.A

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be based on the use of towers, scaffold or

lumber framing. In short, if a structure

is required for the show, it is within the

purview of this standard. It’s not just for

roofs anymore.

Of course, this expanded scope is the

change that creates the largest impact,

but it was a clearly logical next step in the

evolution of the document. While overhead

roof systems tend to get the bulk of the

attention, a sub-standard spotlight or audio

tower in the midst of an audience could

be just as much a life safety problem. The

issues of wind and gravity, and the lack of

overhead support are the same for anything

outdoors; there are no invisible hooks in

the sky.

The next critical change is a seemingly

simple defi nition. In considering some

context here, one of the more distressing

fi ndings noted in the report published by

Witt and Associates regarding the incident

at the Indiana State Fair in 2011, was the

lack of clear lines of responsibility at the

event site. There are multiple entities

involved at any of these events that could

include venue owner, venue manager,

promoter, production company, labor

provider, stage rental company, artist

management, artist, security company, and

local government authority. The question is

simply who makes which critical decisions,

and when.

Anyone that has been involved in the

production of these events understands

that coordination of all of these entities can

be a great challenge, and there are various

times of the event that some of these groups

have varying levels of involvement. For

example, the security company might have

little or nothing to do during the setup of

equipment when there isn’t any audience.

However, as soon as the gates open, their

role in making sure the audience is safe

and that the appropriate perimeter is

maintained between the audience and stage

area becomes much more critical. While

they might have input into decision making

during an event as it relates to crowd

control, there would be little for them to

contribute during the setup.

This question can be more ambiguous for

the production companies. Without clear

. . . there has to be an OMP for every site and every configuration.

The responsible “user” must be defined for all phases of use including setup, showtime, and dismantle.

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contractual language, who is responsible for

the structure? Is it the promoter? They are

probably hiring the production company,

but are they knowledgeable enough to

make safety decisions? How about the roof

provider? They should be knowledgeable,

but are they given the authority to make

show stopping decisions? How about the

artist? They might have language in their

contract saying they have the authority to

stop or suspend a show, but do they have

the knowledge and understanding of the

limitations of the structure to make those

decisions? Aside from all of those questions,

the real issue is, Where does the buck

actually stop?

There isn’t any consistency from show

to show. In some cases, the promoter and

venue manager are the same entity. Or

perhaps, the venue is also the owner of

the outdoor structure but depends on

an external labor company to setup and

manage the structure. Frequently, the

scenario might be that the roof provider

sets up the structure and is responsible

for decisions during the setup process.

Once that is complete, the roof provider

relinquishes control of the structure to the

promoter or a third party stage manager,

but is it clear who is still responsible for

critical decisions? This common scenario

has just become cloudy, which is exactly

what the Witt and Associates report

highlights.

Once again, the variable nature of these

types of events make it nearly impossible to

establish a consistent clear line of authority

that would be the same for every event.

However, E1.21-2013 acknowledges the

challenges here as well as the potential for

confusion. While it is not given all of the

attention it deserves, this simple defi nition

that changed (you were wondering if I could

circle back, weren’t you) is that of “User.”

The revised defi nition for user is, “The

entity ultimately responsible for the

structure at a given point in the structures

temporary life cycle. Note that this entity

could be different during different phases

ranging from assembly, erection, use, and

dismantling. This entity must be clearly

identifi ed in accordance with section 5 of this

document of each given phase of operation.”

. . . the structure must be designed for a minimum design wind speed, which in many cases equates to 67.5 mph.

Anything attached to the structure that can’t be removed within five minutes must be considered in the wind analysis at the minimum design wind speed of no less than 67.5 mph.

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Once again, most people would want

there to be a clear guideline that never

changes, but that isn’t going to be possible

with all the different parties that may or

may not be involved. This new defi nition

doesn’t remove or assign responsibility from

any specifi c party, but it does point out

that the user can be any of those different

entities, and that this must be identifi ed “in

accordance with section 5.” That section just

happens to include an expanded section

related to the Operations Management Plan

(OMP), and specifi cally clause 5.2, which

addresses responsibility.

The Operations Management Plan is

probably the next most signifi cant revision

to this new version of E1.21. Previously,

references to the OMP originated in the

“Design and Engineering” section of the

standard. This is certainly appropriate in

the sense that the engineering analysis

and documentation must clearly state the

parameters of use and structural limitations.

However, where this starts to break down

is that the engineer may or may not be

knowledgeable of the site conditions at each

location that a structure is to be erected. So,

while the engineer must still have input, and

at the very least the OMP must be consistent

with the analysis and documentation

provided by the engineer, it is more

appropriate that the user must adapt the

OMP to the on-site conditions.

Starting in section 5, the revised

standard specifi es a requirement for

the user and the engineer to prepare

an OMP. Going beyond the minimal

requirements stated within the previous

version, E1.21-2013 provides some very

clear requirements regarding the OMP.

The fi rst of which is that the OMP shall

govern the operations of the structure. In

other words, the OMP and the designated

authorized person shall have the fi nal say

on all matters related to the structure.

Additionally, there are also specifi c

environmental monitoring procedures

required in the OMP. These include

on-site condition monitoring, qualifi ed

forecast monitoring, and immediate action

required upon publicly issued severe

weather warnings.

Once again, it is important to keep in

mind the varying sites and confi gurations

for these structures and these directly

impact the OMP. Action plans identifi ed

in the OMP must be practical for the site

and the confi guration of the structure.

For example, if the action plan is to lower

a portion of the structure in a certain

condition, but there is an obstruction that

would take an hour of work to remove,

then that condition has to be refl ected

in the OMP. In other words, there has

to be an OMP for every site and every

confi guration. Furthermore, it is likely

that the OMP will need to be revised for

each event, and in the case of multiple day

events like festivals, there may need to be

OMP revisions on a daily basis.

Lastly, regarding the OMP updates in this

new revision of the document, there is an

excellent example in the appendix. While

this example doesn’t include everything for

every type of structure, it is an excellent

place to start creating your own OMP.

One thing that needed clarity in the

original version of the standard was the

clause related to wind loading on items

that could be removed quickly, sometimes

referred to as the fi ve minute rule. This

clause seemed to get misinterpreted in

various ways, but the revision clarifi es

this. In essence, the structure must be

designed for a minimum design wind speed,

which in many cases equates to 67.5 mph.

However, any elements that are attached to

the structure that can be removed in fi ve

minutes need only be designed to resist

wind speeds of 40 mph. This does not

change the 67.5 mph requirement for the

rest of the structure. It only applies to the

rapidly removable elements.

Anecdotally from the fi les of Captain

Obvious, I have been asked more than once

that most of the time the audio or video

walls, or whatever else, can’t be removed

in fi ve minutes or less. Now what happens?

Well … um … design to 67.5 mph. Simple.

It might be inconvenient or require a

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different structure or changes to the

structure, but this ensures that the wind

capacity of the structure isn’t reduced so

far that it becomes unsafe. Reading section

3.5.2.5 and the accompanying appendix

section should make this particular

concept clear.

When reading the new version and

implementing its requirements, you also

will fi nd new information and updates in

a few other areas. Among these is a new

clause related to dynamic amplifi cation

of hoists on a structure that can be

found at 3.5.3.7. There is also a reference

to consider the potential loading from

personal safety devices in section 3.5.4.4.

And, the section on stability, section 3.9,

has also been expanded. The last example

of one of the many updates and revisions

is the simplifi cation of the inspection

requirements in section 6. The newer

version more easily accommodates the

variety of structure types and materials that

could be used.

Of course, there are a number of things

that may be worded a little differently but

still have the same intent and meaning. The

most widely discussed and debated of these

is the method with which wind forces are

applied. ANSI E1.21, both in 2006 and 2013,

allows for a 25% reduction of the basic

wind speed defi ned in SEI/ASCE 7-10 for

the location in which the structure is to be

erected. In most locations in the US, this

is 90 mph, so after the 25% reduction, the

minimum design wind speed on a structure

is 67.5 mph. It is important to note that

there are areas that the minimum design

wind speed is higher than 90 mph, so the

25% reduction will result in a value greater

than 67.5 mph.

Specifi cally, hurricane areas will

have greater basic design wind speed

requirements. However, a quick review

of section 3.5.2.4 considers that most

hurricane conditions have advance

warnings. Using these warnings, if a

structure can be suffi ciently secured to

resist 115 mph conditions within 48 hours,

then the structure can utilize the 90 mph

as a basis for engineering analysis. This

particular clause, while not explicit, directly

ties into the need of an OMP that is site and

confi guration specifi c.

As it relates to wind, it is important

to note that these reduction values were

not simply created to accommodate

entertainment events and outdoor

structures. Section 6 of ASCE 37-02,

“Design Loads on Structures During

Construction” has been regularly referenced

for exactly this type of temporary condition.

The reality of many of the environmental

conditions and their design factors is

largely derived from statistical likelihood.

Additionally, temporary structures built

within the parameters and requirements

of ANSI E1.21-2013 will include specifi c

monitoring procedures, risk assessment and

mitigation, and prescribed action plans for

safety. All of these factors justify the modest

and reasonable wind reduction.

So, if you are involved in any outdoor

entertainment event and you are building a

structure that relates to the show, make sure

you are well read on ANSI E1.21-2013 and

have implemented all of the precautions,

advice, and planning. Have a safe and

uneventful, outdoor event season!

Keith Bohn has been in the ente r ta inment indust ry fo r over 25 years, invo lved in the use, manufac tur ing , and des ign o f s t ruc tura l r igg ing so lu t ions rang ing f rom s imple t russ to complex permanent l y ins ta l led s t ruc tures. Ke i th

has a l so se rved the indust ry th rough PLASA as a p r inc ip le vot ing member fo r the R igg ing Work ing Group s ince 1998, and has cha i red the Task Group ass igned to c reate and rev i se E1.21-2013, Temporary St ructures Used for Technica l Product ion of Outdoor Enter ta inment Events . A found ing cont r ibutor o f the Event Sa fe ty A l l iance, Ke i th cont r ibuted on top ics conta ined in The Event Safety Guide . He has taught c lasses on the sa fe use o f t russ and outdoor s t ruc tures wor ldwide. Ke i th i s cur rent l y the Bus iness Deve lopment Manager fo r P roduct ion and R igg ing Resources in Da l las, TX.


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Out of the WoodBY MIKE WOOD

Photopic curves—the old and the new

This article continues and extends my

Winter 2008 article in Protocol on the

CIE photopic curve. We now have a partial

solution to the problems raised then. Some of

the earlier material is repeated here for ease of

reading. I’m allowed to plagiarize myself!

PHOTOMETRICS IS A STRANGE

BRANCH of physics measurement

science. Unlike most other measurements

that have an absolute reference, such as a

kilogram for mass, or a meter for length,

which everyone can point to, touch, and

agree on, photometrics doesn’t. Instead

everything is referenced through the

responses of a hypothetical ideal observer

and seeks to report what the average

human eye would see.

It is possible to measure light in

absolute units such as watts; we call

those measurements radiometric rather

than photometric. However radiometric

measurements tell us about photons and

energy, but nothing about perception or

how the eye and brain interprets those

photons. Instead, readings of the output

of a light in photometric units such as lux,

footcandles, or lumens are all based on

the theoretical response of the standard

human eye and brain, and, as such, are really

statistical results that include elements of

psychology as much as they do physiology

and physics.

For example, a luminaire can emit as

much energy as you want in the infrared

or ultra-violet regions of the spectrum

but, if we can’t see it with our eyes, then

by defi nition it has zero light output!

An infrared or ultraviolet source has a

power output measurable in watts, but

no light output measurable in lumens.

Moreover, most early testing of the human

eye was based on the assumption that the

light source has a continuous spectrum,

similar to that from an incandescent light

or the sun. Even today, just about every

modern light meter was designed with this

assumption.

Color matching functionsI’m sure you are at least somewhat familiar

with the curves shown in Figure 1.

These are the CIE 1931 Color Matching

Functions (CMF) and represent a way

of modeling human vision. They don’t

directly show the response of the human

eye receptors to red, green, and blue (or

long, medium, and short wavelength)

radiation, but instead show a mathematical

system that seeks to model the human eye

and brain. The actual cone receptors in the

eye have very different responses to those

shown here. This is more what it looks

like after the retina and the brain have

Figure 1 – CIE 1931 Color Matching Functions

That’s real lumens that your eye can see that are being dramatically underreported!“

“

020_PSpring14_OOTW.indd 20 5/13/14 1:35 PM

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processed the raw sensor information. The

green curve in this diagram, labeled the

y-bar value, is also the model curve that is

used to represent the human eye’s response

to brightness information alone: That is

how dark or bright a light source is with

no respect to its color. This response of the

light adapted human eye to brightness as it

varies with wavelength is called the photopic

luminosity function, or, more commonly,

the photopic curve. In 1931 the data used

for the photopic curve to create these CMF

came from a study published in 1924 by

the CIE, the Commission Internationale de

l´Éclairage. (The corresponding curve for a

dark-adapted eye is called the scotopic curve,

but that’s not relevant to this discussion.)

Photopic curveThe 1924 photopic luminosity function

V( ) was derived from statistical surveys,

primarily of college students who were

predominantly male, and was published

by the CIE as an international standard. It

represents the normalized level of response

of the human eye in well-lit conditions

to different wavelengths of light. We’ve

used that 1924 curve ever since, and just

about every instrument and light meter

on the planet is manufactured to the

1924 standard. Standards are great, so

Out of the Wood | Photopic curves – the old and the new

Figure 2 – CIE 2007 Color Matching Functions

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all should be fi ne, right? However, here’s

what the seminal work on photometry and

colorimetry, Color Science by Wyszecki and

Stiles has to say about this curve:

“The standard photopic luminosity

function is based on a curious combination

of luminosity data from several sources and

obtained by several methods. The uncertainty

surrounding it is illustrated by the fact that

the values from the different studies that were

averaged to defi ne it diverged by as much

as a factor of ten in the violet. The function

seriously underestimates sensitivity at short

wavelengths.”

Not only was it a poor statistical study

(predominantly young male observers,

which may have little to do with how

women, children, or older men see light),

but it seems that some of the methodology

was fl awed as well. It was a hard test to carry

out in 1924, and it’s a hard test now. How

do you measure and report how bright a red

light appears when you compare it to a green

one and ignore the effect of color? Also,

back in 1924, creating controllable narrow-

band light at extreme blue or extreme red

wavelengths wasn’t a simple task. Why have

we let this clearly fl awed standard remain in

use so long? It’s 90 years this year since this

was published; surely we could do better

with the testing and the statistics today!

Yes, it’s true, we can do better today.

However, until recently, it hasn’t really

mattered that the 1924 study was fl awed.

The CIE 1924 photopic curve and light

meters that use it are perfectly adequate

with continuous spectrum light sources and

give you answers within a very few percent

of each other. Thus, none of this matters

much with an incandescent source that is

continuous and has almost no light in the

blue or violet anyway. Bring narrow-band

LED emitters into the picture though, and

it’s a different story.

Narrow-band emittersAs I reported in the 2008 article, I

discovered that I was getting measurements

from my various light meters that varied

enormously when trying to measure

LED-based luminaire, particularly those

that used a mix of colored emitters such

as RGB. These errors aren’t small either; in

some cases I’ve seen differences of 10x or

more between meters when measuring a

blue LED. The reasons for this are twofold:

fi rstly, the CIE 1924 curve dramatically

underrepresents how much light we can

see in the deep blue, and secondly, because

the meter thinks this blue light is almost

invisible, errors in the meter can be very

high in this region. Any light source with

a discontinuous spectrum that has a high

component in the blue end of the spectrum

exhibits this problem to some extent.

For example, you get the same problem

with Congo Blue gel. Congo Blue always

looks brighter on stage than the very low

transmission fi gure in the swatch book

would suggest. It also looks brighter to our

eye than the light meter tells us.


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Improved photopic curvesFigure 2 shows a new set of CMF curves,

this time from 2007, overlaid on the original

1931 CMF.

You can see that this later set of functions

recognizes changes in all three curves from

1931. In particular our vision in blue and red

is more sensitive than fi rst thought, and also

we can see further into the deep blue than

was believed. There have been many, many

proposed versions of the photopic curve V( )

over the years, all showing signifi cant changes

from the old established 1924 version. Most

recently, a team of researchers has established

a new proposal that combines many of the

most recent studies and links them back to

known physiological structures in the eye.

This curve is scheduled to be adopted by the

CIE as CIE 2012, and is the curve embodied in

ANSI E1.48 – 2014, A Recommended Luminous

Effi ciency Function for Stage and Studio

Luminaire Photometry. Figure 3 shows the

E1.48 curve compared with the 1924 version.

You can see that vision in blue is

signifi cantly better than before. A

monochromatic blue light at 450 nm would

measure twice as bright using the new curve

compared to the old. This more closely

represents what we actually see; deep blue

LEDs and Congo Blue are perfectly visible.

How much difference does it make?Fine, you might say, but isn’t this just of

academic interest? How much difference

does this make in the real world? The

answer is, quite a lot, and not only with deep

blue LEDs. Figures 4 – 7 show examples of

real light sources that I measured myself and

demonstrate how they would be reported, in

terms of lumens, lux, or footcandles under

the old and new curves.

Not much difference for a green LED, where

ANSI E1.48 reports only 2% more than CIE

1924, that’s within the tolerance of the meter

and irrelevant. However, red is 11% higher

using the new standard, and blue is a very

signifi cant 47% higher. That’s not academic,

that’s real lumens that your eye can see that

are being dramatically underreported. Even

white LEDs that use a blue pump and a yellow

phosphor are affected and can give results

10% higher with E1.48. Remember it isn’t

that anything has changed with your eye or

the LEDs; it’s just that the older CIE curve,

and any light meter that uses it, underreports

blue. It’s a symptom of photometrics not

being an exact science and having to rely on

an inevitably fl awed mathematical model of

the average human eye. Radiometrically LEDs

read the same in watts as they always did. No

photopic curve is needed. Watts are absolute;

lumens (which are the photometric equivalent

of watts) are not.


Why have we let this clearly flawed standard remain in use so long?“

“


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How do I use E1.48?It’s unrealistic to expect that light meter manufactures will suddenly

switch to using CIE 2012 / ANSI E1.48 for their photopic curve.

There have been many versions since the original curve was

published in 1924, and the market didn’t switch to any of those, so

why should they change now? The truth is that for 99.9% of the

world lighting market, the errors in CIE 1924 are of limited interest.

The entire lighting world, apart from us, uses white light almost

exclusively, and the differences when measuring white light are

small. However, in entertainment lighting we use colored light all

the time, and a 2:1 difference in the brightness of a blue light is very

signifi cant.

I hope that, with digital light meters, we will see an option to

choose the V( ) curve we want to use. It would be trivial to add the

calculation, but I’m not holding my breath. More realistically, we

have a couple of real options. Using a spectrometer you can measure

the radiometric output of a light, and then apply the V( ) curve

mathematically. It’s a simple process in Excel. Of course, using a

spectrometer is not quite so convenient as using a light meter, but

small portable spectrometers are appearing on the market that make

this task very much easier. Figure 8 shows an example of the one

I use. Secondly, and most importantly, we should be asking that

the lighting manufacturers report photometrics for their products,

particularly SSL products, using the ANSI E1.48 V( ) curve. They

will be using a spectrometer anyway, so shouldn’t have any real

problem in providing the data.

Whatever happens, it’s clear that probably we will have to live

with CIE 1924, at least for a few more years, but we should do so

with care and with an educated eye. Whenever we use a light meter

that uses the CIE 1924 curve for a narrow bandwidth light emitter

like a saturated color LED, particularly one in the deep blue, we

Figure 3 – Luminous Efficiency Functions CIE 1924 and E1.48



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Figure 4 – Comparison with red LED

Figure 5 – Comparison with green LED

Figure 6 – Comparison with blue LED

Figure 7 – Comparison with phosphor white LED

Figure 8 – Port able spectrometer

need to be aware that the meter is under-

reading, perhaps signifi cantly. Photometrics,

as we’ve stated repeatedly, is not an absolute

science, but using ANSI E1.48 as the meter

curve would signifi cantly reduce the

problem.

Mike Wood runs Mike Wood Consu l t ing LLC, which prov ides consu l t ing suppor t to companies wi th in the ente r ta inment indust ry on product des ign , techno logy s t ra tegy, R&D, s tandards, and In te l lec tua l P roper ty. A 35-year ve te ran o f the ente r ta inment techno logy indust ry, Mike i s the Immediate Pas t Cha i r o f the PLASA Govern ing Body and Co-Cha i r o f the Techn ica l S tandards Counc i l . Mike can be reached at mike@mikewoodconsu l t ing .com.


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Revised OSHA Hazard Communications Standard: 2012 HCS BY: JERRY GORRELL

DECEMBER 1, 2013. What made this date

important to employers in the United

States? December 1, 2013 was the fi rst

compliance date for the Occupational

Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA)

revised Hazard Communication Standard.

This revised standard is referred to as the

2012 HCS.

OSHA’s Hazard Communication

Standard was revised to conform to the

United Nations Globally Harmonized

System of Classifi cation and Labeling of

Chemicals (GHS) and to provide more

useful information about chemicals and

their hazards. The goal of the Hazard

Communication Standard is to ensure

employers and employees are aware of

workplace hazardous substances and know

how to protect themselves to help reduce

the incidence of chemically caused injuries

and illnesses. Aligning OSHA’s Hazard

Communication Standard with the GHS

also reduces costs and facilitates trade by

standardizing the forms and information

required by various nations.

While not the only changes, the two most

visible changes are to the MSDSs (Material

Safety Data Sheets), now revised and named

the Safety Data Sheets (SDSs), and the

introduction of revised label content with

warning pictograms. The new labels should

improve clarity and facilitate compliance.

On June 1, 2015, the Hazard

Communication Standard will require the

use of pictograms on labels to alert users of

the chemical hazards to which users may be

exposed.

The only exception to the use of

these Hazard Communication Standard

pictograms is if a pictogram required by

the Department of Transportation under

Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations

appears on a shipped container. In that

case, the 2012 HCS pictogram specifi ed

for the same hazard shall not appear. (29

CFR1910.1200 appendix C 2.3.3)

Published in the Federal Register

in March 2012 (77: 17574-17896), the

requirements are to be phased in from

December 1, 2013 thru June 1, 2016.

There are three signifi cant changes:

Standardized labeling elements

Standardized format for Safety Data

Sheets (SDSs), which are replacing the

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs)

Use of pictograms to communicate

specifi c hazard information

The December 1, 2013 deadline required

the following minimal training on label

HCS Pictograms and Hazards

Health Hazard

Carcinogen Mutagenicity Reproductive Toxicity Respiratory Sensitizer Target Organ Toxicity Aspiration Toxicity

Flame

Flammables Pyrophorics Self-Heating Emits Flammable Gas Self-Reactives Organic Peroxides

Exclamation Mark

Irritant (skin and eye) Skin Sensitizer Acute Toxicity Narcotic Effects Respiratory Tract Irritant Hazardous to Ozone

Layer (Non-Mandatory)

Gas Cylinder

Gases Under Pressure

Corrosion

Skin Corrosion/Burns Eye Damage Corrosive to Metals

Exploding Bomb

Explosives Self-Reactives Organic Peroxides

Flame Over Circle

Oxidizers

Environment (Non-Mandatory)

Aquatic Toxicity

Skull and Crossbones

Acute Toxicity (fatal or

toxic)

Chart 1Source OSHA 29 CFR1910.1200 appendix C

026_PSpring14_OSHAHazMat.indd 26 5/13/14 1:47 PM

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elements to be completed. Those label

elements are:

Product identifi er – How the product is

identifi ed. Must be on both the label and

the SDS.

Signal words – The only signal words are

“Danger” and “Warning.” Only one signal

word is to be on the label. If the product

has more than one hazard, and at least one

hazard should have the “Danger” signal

word on the label, then “Danger” should

be the only signal word used on the label.

Pictograms – Employees should expect

to see the appropriate pictogram on the

label. If there are multiple hazard classes,

multiple pictograms

will be present.

See Chart 1 or

29CFR1910.1200

Appendix C for the

correct format of the

pictograms.

Hazard statement

or statements – This

section describes the

hazard or hazards

of the chemical. An example could be:

“Causes severe respiratory distress.” All of

the chemical’s hazards are to appear on

the label.

Precautionary statements –

Recommended procedures to prevent or

minimize exposure to the chemical(s)

and to prevent adverse effects from the

exposure or improper storage of the

product. An example might be: “Do not

store at temperatures over 110° F (43° C).”

Name, address, and phone number of

the chemical manufacturer, importer, or

distributor.

Format of the standardized 16 section

Safety Data Sheet (SDS) including the

information found in each section.

The relationship of the information

on the label to the information on the

SDS. – If there is similar precautionary

information on the SDS and the label,

the most protective information is to be

placed on the label. OSHA says that the

precautionary information on the SDS

and the label should be the same.

How the labels could be used in the

workplace. – Examples might be: the

Effective Completion Date Requirement(s) Who

December 1, 2013Train employees on the new label elements

and SDS format.Employers

June 1, 2015*

December 1, 2015

Comply with all modified provisions of this final rule, except that distributors may ship

products labeled by manufacturers under the old system until December 1, 2015.

Chemical manufacturers, importers, distributors, and

employers

June 1, 2016

Update alternative workplace labeling and hazard communication program as necessary, and provide additional employee training for newly identified physical or health hazards.

Employers

Transition PeriodComply with either 29 CFR 1910.1200 (this final standard), or the current standard, or

both.

All chemical manufacturers, importers,

distributors, and employers

Chart 2* This date coincides with the European Union implementation date for classification of mixtures.

Source: OSHA

Aligning OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard with the GHS also reduces costs and facilitates trade by standardizing the forms and information required by various nations.

Product Identifier CODE _____________________________

Product Name ______________________

Supplier Identification Company Name____________________ Street Address ______________________ City ___________________ State ______ Postal Code __________ Country ______ Emergency Phone Number ____________

Precautionary Statements Keep container tightly closed. Store in cool, well ventilated place that is locked. Keep away from heat/sparks/open flame. No smoking. Only use non-sparking tools. Use explosion-proof electrical equipment. Take precautionary measure against static discharge. Ground and bond container and receiving equipment. Do not breathe vapors. Wear Protective gloves. Do not eat, drink or smoke when using this product. Wash hands thoroughly after handling. Dispose of in accordance with local, regional, national, international regulations as specified.

In Case of Fire: use dry chemical (BC) or Carbon dioxide (CO2) fire extinguisher to extinguish.

First Aid If exposed call Poison Center. If on skin (o hair): Take off immediately any contaminated clothing. Rinse skin with water.

Hazard Pictograms

Signal Word

Danger

Hazard Statement Highly flammable liquid and vapor. May cause liver and kidney damage.

Supplemental Information Directions for use ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________

Fill weight: _____________

Lot Number ______

Gross weight: __________

Fill Date: ______

Expiration Date: ___________

The December 1, 2013 deadline requires complete information on standardized training labels to improve clarity and

facilitate compliance.


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information on the label could be used

to locate fi rst aid information quickly

(section 4); Information on the label

could be used to ensure proper storage

(section 7).

Safety Data Sheets (SDS) sections are:

Section 1. Identifi cation

Section 2. Hazard(s) identifi cation

Section 3. Composition/information on

ingredients

Section 4. First aid measures

Section 5. Fire-fi ghting measures

Section 6. Accidental release measures

Section 7. Handling and storage

Section 8. Exposures controls/personal

protection

Section 9. Physical and chemical

properties1

Section 10. Stability and reactivity

Section 11. Toxicological information

Section 12. Ecological information

(Non-mandatory) 2

Section 13. Disposal considerations

(Non-mandatory) 2

Section 14. Transport information

(Non-mandatory) 2

Section 15. Regulatory information

(Non-mandatory) 2

Section 16. Other information

In summaryIf you are an employer, the date for training

employees on the new labels and SDS

format has passed. Training needs to be

conducted as soon as possible.

While there is a transition period

allowing for compliance with the old version

of 29 CFR 1910.1200, the new standard or

both, all chemical manufacturers, importers,

distributors, and employers are to be in

compliance with the new standard by June

1, 2015. Chemical manufacturers, importers,

and distributors are allowed to ship product

with the old labels until December 1, 2015,

but not after.

While June 2015 may seem too

far to worry about, especially for the

procrastinators among us, it is not too early

to start preparing for the full compliance

date of June 1, 2015, especially if you are

a chemical manufacturer, importer, or

distributor.

Footnotes:1. The SDS may not contain every item on the list for this section because the information may not be relevant or is not available. When this situation occurs, a notation to that effect must be made for the missing chemical property. Manufacturers may also add other relevant properties, such as the dust defl agration index (K

st) (the

relative explosion severity compared to other dusts). The dust defl agration index is used to evaluate a dust’s explosive potential. The higher the K

st the more severe

the explosion will be.2. Since other agencies (DOT, EPA, et cetera) regulate this information, OSHA will not be enforcing Sections 12 through 15 under section (29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(2)) Safety Data Sheets (SDS).

Jerry Gorrel l i s a l ight ing des igner and re t i red Techn ica l D i rec tor fo r the c i t y o f Phoen ix , AZ. Cur rent l y, Je r r y i s the Pr inc ipa l o f Theat re Sa fe ty P rograms and i s a member o f mul t ip le ente r ta inment and sa fe ty o rgan izat ions

inc lud ing PLASA, US ITT, and the Amer i can Soc ie ty o f Sa fe ty Eng ineers.

A side-by-side comparison of OSHA’s previous

Hazard Communication Standard (HCS 1994) vs.

the Revised Hazard Communication Standard

(HCS 2012) is available at https://www.osha.gov/

dsg/hazcom/side-by-side.html

A red line strikeout of the Hazard Communication

Standard is available at https://www.osha.gov/

dsg/hazcom/redline.html

The entire regulation can be found on OSHA’s

website at

https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.

show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_

id=10099

There are six appendices, A through F. A through

E are mandatory, but Appendix F, Guidance for

Hazard Classifications Re: Carcinogenicity, is not

mandatory.


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Shadow, Light, and TruthBY RICHARD CADENA

Gig success starts with electrics prepLONG BEFORE THE FIRST TRUCK

IS UNLOADED, the fate of your gig has

largely been determined by the quality of

planning, organization, paperwork, and

gear preparation undertaken by the electrics

crew. But how do you best prepare?

There is not an overabundance of books

on the subject, but there are a few that

devote a chapter or section to the topic. My

favorite is Steve Shelley’s book, A Practical

Guide to Stage Lighting, Third Edition

(http://bit.ly/Shelley-LD). His approach

is simple: Organize the documentation in

terms of the function of the system, starting

with the lighting instruments or devices

receiving power, then the wiring or cabling,

the dimmers (if there are any), and the

control channel.

It all starts with the light plot, which

shows the layout of the gear and a selected

amount of information. Using the light

plot, a database is populated with most of

the instrument information that might be

needed at any point during the project. The

supporting paperwork or documentation is

then taken from the data and printed out to

provide the details needed to properly prep

the gear. The details that are culled from the

database can be organized and displayed

according to the needs of a particular task at

hand. For example, when a crew is hanging a

plot and they have a variety of instruments,

they need to know exactly where on the pipe

or truss to put each one, to which electrical

circuit to connect them, and whether or not

a particular instrument should have one or

more accessories.

The documentation should include

schedules that pertain to different aspects of

the system such as color, location, circuits,

It all starts with the light plot, which shows the layout of the gear and a selected amount of information.“ “

Shalah Cave

030_PSpring14_ShadowAndLight.indd 30 5/13/14 2:04 PM

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et cetera. The instrument schedule is a list of

all the gear, and it’s organized by each item’s

position in the light plot—from the front of

house to the back of house and from highest

to lowest—and then by its position on the

pipe or truss—from stage left to stage right.

Typically, it also has columns indicating

to which electrical circuit each instrument

should be connected, the dimmer to which

that circuit should be connected, the console

channel to which the dimmer should

be patched, the type of instrument, the

power in watts, its purpose, gel color, and

miscellaneous notes.

The circuit schedule starts with a column

showing the circuit name and number. Each

circuit in the lighting rig is assigned a name

and number to identify it and associate it

with one or more instruments to which it is

to be connected. The circuit schedule should

also indicate to which dimmer it should

be connected, if applicable, and possibly

the instrument type to which is it to be

connected, the power in watts, its purpose,

the gel color in the instrument, and any

miscellaneous notes.

The channel hookup is another schedule

that shows the console channel assignment

in the fi rst column, followed by the dimmer

number (if applicable), circuit number,

position, unit number, type, power in

watts, the purpose of the instrument, gel

color, and any miscellaneous notes. The

dimmer schedule has the same information

as the channel hookup except the fi rst two

columns are swapped; the fi rst column is

the dimmer assignment, and the second is

the circuit name and number. All the other

columns are identical.

There is also a cut color sheet showing

the quantities and sizes of each cut of gel

and a template sheet showing which gobos

or templates should be loaded in which

instruments. There are other documents,

including hang plots, focus charts, magic

sheets, et cetera, that are important once

you get into the theatre, arena, or wherever

your gig takes you, but those are for

another article.

Of course, every show is different, and so

are the requirements for the documentation.

Fortunately, there are several very good

software applications that can help you

track and organize your data. If you use

lighting design software like WYSIWYG,

Vectorworks, LD Assistant, Capture, or Light

Converse, the database is automatically

populated as you drag and drop instruments

from the fi xture library into the lighting

plot. Then you can print reports or export

the data in the form of a spreadsheet or a

tab-delimited fi le in order to massage it and

customize it as you see fi t.

There are also software programs that

specialize in organizing show data and

information. Among the most popular are

Lightwright, FocusTrack, Moving Light

Assistant, and others.

I worked the NBA All-Star Weekend

recently under the lead of production

electrician Rob Baxter, and his paperwork

was complete in both scope and detail. By

the time we fi rst set foot in the shop to prep

the gear, the crew had a good idea of what

was to come if they took the time to look

at the documentation that was distributed.

Every aspect of the rig was documented well

Shadow, Light, and Truth | Gig success starts with electrics prep

A shop order should always include not only the list of equipment, but also all of the expendables . . .“ “

Rolf Lee, Seth Weldon, Chris Szabo, and Henry Parks. (Far background, Rob Baxter)

Brian Renoni, Chris Szabo

Karl Bontrager


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enough that the crew prepping the gear had

relatively few questions, and the gig was very

well executed.

Baxter has been a production electrician

for over 30 years, two decades of which

have been spent working with the NBA

and the New York City Ballet, as well as

many other corporate, political, television,

and theatrical productions. (He also runs

Baxter Controls, Inc. [www.dmx2go.com],

the distributor of the Pocket Console DMX,

a line of very portable, battery-operated,

handheld DMX controllers.) He has been

my friend and neighbor in Austin for more

than two decades, but until recently, I had

only worked with him once before, and that

was on a small AV installation.

In the early days leading up to the event,

Baxter worked with the production team to

fi nalize the lighting system and the electrical

requirements. The draftsman, Rick Pettit,

produced all of the drawings for the show,

which is what Baxter used to build his shop

order and assemble the paperwork.


Dropbox was used to provide everyone who needed it easy access to the Lightwright file.“

“

Rob Baxter, Pete Campbell


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If you want to know what a complete

shop order should look like, Shelley’s book

(reviewed in the Winter 2014 issue of

Protocol) covers it nicely. When the shop

order is sent to the equipment supplier, it

should include some basic information,

including:

the name of the show

the name of the venue where the event

is to be held

contact name and billing address

contact information for the show

producer, employer, lighting designer,

production electrician, and/or

production manager

the pre-production and production

schedule

dates of equipment rental and return

the deadline for a bid proposal

information about who will be

responsible for trucking and labor

a version number on every page in case

there are changes (and there will be!)

general notes

(For another perspective on how to

write a shop order, see John McKernon’s

resources page at http://www.mckernon.

com/_/Shop_Order.html.) Both Pettit and

Baxter used Lightwright to track inventory

and produce the show binder with most of

the required documentation. Baxter also

used Microsoft Word and Excel to produce

the numerous equipment lists, including

the multi-cable and DMX layouts, and all

the labels for moving lights, multi-cables,

data cable, et cetera, as well as Click-Books

to manage the information on site. The

crew members also used the same software

to print their own labels and to track

information. Interestingly, the crew is

almost all Mac users.

Well before the event, Baxter emailed

all of the crew the production schedule so

that we would all be informed about where

to be and when to be there. That also gave

everyone a chance to learn who else would

be on the crew and provided everyone’s

email address.

When we convened at the shop to prep

the show—in this case PRG Orlando—

Baxter carried two copies of the show

binder; one for reference and the other

for the crew to use and mark up. The

thick binders were organized in sections

delineated with a tab marked with a

heading.

The fi rst section was the production

schedule, followed by another section with


Rob Baxter


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34 SPRING 2014

a list of contacts. It not only had the crew

contacts but also the contacts of vendors

and a few others. This information is

something akin to writing your name on

your paper in grammar school. It should be

automatic, but sometimes it’s left out.

Next came a section with the RFQ

(request for quote) and the shop order.

A shop order should always include not

only the list of equipment, but also all of

the expendables like gaff tape (miles of it),

sheets of gel (plenty of them), tie line (tons

of it), et cetera. One of the fi rst things we

did when we arrived at the shop was to

check the inventory against the shop order

to make sure we had everything we needed

to prep the show.

The next section in the show binder

had a channel schedule, subdivided

between conventional and moving lights,

followed by a section with the dimmer

schedule subdivided between dimmers

and non-dim circuits, and then between

conventional lights and moving lights. The

instrument schedule followed in the next

section, which was also subdivided between

conventional lights and moving lights. Next

was the section with the circuit hookup

with subdivisions for conventional and

moving lights.

The next sections were labeled Color,

Perishables, Control, DMX, LEDs, Multi,

Feeder, Cable, Iron, Rigging, Scenic, Boxes,

and Plots. There were enough electricians

prepping the show so that, while one

was cutting gels and taking inventory on

perishables, others were building and testing

the lighting control network and systems,

setting DMX addresses and labeling the

fi xtures, building cable hods or looming

power and data cable, labeling multicore

cables and breakouts, pulling and labeling

rigging iron and road boxes, and more.

One of the challenges was keeping the

Production electrician — Rob Baxter480V and transformers – Peter Acken, Seth WeldonCatwalks – Pete Campbell, Karl BontragerConsoles – Henry ParksOverheads and deck – Dean Brown, Chris Szabo, Brian RenoniRigging electricians – Shalah Cave, Larry Doby Jr.

PRG shop reps – Barbara Rocker, Richard CadenaProduction village, power distribution, and special projects – Rolf LeeSpot tech – Bruce HonerLighting supplier – PRG OrlandoPRG account rep – Mark RabinowitzPRG shop liaison – Katrina WannamacherFollowspots – ARCFX (Greg Smith)

NBA All-Star Weekend electrics staff



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documentation consistent between various crew members and

making sure it was up to date and accurate. There are always

ongoing changes coming from the lighting and set designers, so

it’s important that those changes are refl ected in all of the prints

and documents that are fl oating around. To help in that regard,

Dropbox was used to provide everyone who needed it easy access

to the Lightwright fi le. Some of the crew used an iPad app called

Lightwright Touch to view and edit the worksheets. That has

the added benefi t of allowing each person to customize the data

according to personal needs at the time, select font size, add notes,

et cetera. When they were fi nished, they could transfer their work

back to the Lightwright fi le.

It’s interesting to contrast the paperwork and documentation

styles of different people based on their job and their perspective.

Steve Shelley is a lighting designer while Rob Baxter is usually the

production electrician. Both use the same information to a large

degree, but they approach it slightly differently and therefore lay it

out slightly differently. Shelley looks at it from a designer’s point of

view while Baxter has in mind the more practical details like laying

out cable and terminating it. When I was designing lighting systems

for houses of worship, my paperwork always included information

about the types of electrical loads, load balancing, hanging weights,

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36 SPRING 2014

I hate to sell, but I have to sell BY PETER COOMBS

Lessons for the reluctant salesperson

“I HATE TO SELL!”

I hear this phrase all the time. I hear it

from those who are salespeople and from

people who sell as part of their job. When

I ask them what they mean by this, I get all

sorts of answers. Some people feel that the

customer or prospect will know way more

than they themselves do. Others are totally

focused on the sales call and get anxious

about the meeting. Some are reluctant

to discuss price, while others are asking

themselves “What will I say?” or “What if

they ask me questions I can’t answer?”

Is this you? Do you get nervous and

anxious about meeting someone in person

or calling somebody on the phone? Or,

maybe you dread the idea of asking

someone for their business? Do you feel

that you are the only person who feels this

way and that everyone else is comfortable

selling?

First off, you are not alone. Many people

are put off by the idea of selling. They think

of sales in a negative way because of negative

experiences they had as customers. “They’ll

trick me into buying something I didn’t

want!” So when we are customers, we’re

afraid that we will be “sold” something.

We’re okay buying something because

that implies that we have control over the

situation. When we are sold something, we

often feel that we are out of control and that

someone has taken advantage of us.

Lesson #1: When you are selling, you need to share control with the customer.By sharing control, it decreases your anxiety

as well as the customer’s and makes the sales

process easier all the way around.

You’re wondering how to do that. How

do I get more comfortable selling? How do I

change my mind-set about selling? The fi rst

step is to correct some unfortunate ideas

about selling and salespeople. We’ll do that by

looking at some popular myths about sales.

Myth: All salespeople manipulate their

customers

Wrong. In fact, research shows that most

successful salespeople win by educating

and collaborating with their customers, not

manipulating them.

Myth: Only certain people are good at

selling

Nope, wrong. Every one of us has the

capability to be a successful salesperson if

we choose.

Myth: All successful salespeople are pushy

Wrong. Pushy salespeople just turn off

customers and prospects. Most professional

salespeople want to work with the customer

and take their time to clearly understand the

customer’s needs.

Myth: Customers would rather not have to

deal with a salesperson

Again, wrong. People who purchase as

part of their job understand the value of a

qualifi ed and knowledgeable salesperson.

This last point is critical for our success.

Prospects and customers are always looking

for salespeople who are able to help them.

We can be that resource. We have the skills,

knowledge, and experience to help others.

We know how to solve their problems and

help them realize their goals.

Lesson #2: If you want your customers to see you as a specialist, you need to see yourself that way first.You need to realize what value you offer

your customers.

Let’s examine that point. What value do

you bring to your customers? I urge you to

Customers want to hear about benefits and results, not facts and features.

036_PSpring14_SalesHateToSell.indd 36 5/13/14 2:20 PM

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create a list of the benefi ts you can offer your customers. Remember

that customers want to hear about benefi ts and results, not facts

and features. Don’t hesitate to tell them how your product will help

them. This isn’t being pushy; it’s being accurate and helpful.

Lesson #3: It’s okay not to know the answer to a question.What’s not okay is trying to fake the answer.

You will never know everything. Never. There will always be

customers who ask you questions you cannot answer. Again, it’s

okay not to know. Explain that you don’t know, tell them you will

get the answer, and get back to them right away. Simple. Don’t be

afraid of not knowing the answer to a question. I see this all the

time with salespeople I train and coach. They want so much to be

perceived as subject matter experts. I want that for you as well, but

sometimes we get in our own way.

Lesson #4: When you meet with a customer, you want to teach, not preach.A sales call is an opportunity to learn how we can help our

customer. By asking great questions and listening closely to the

answers, we can formulate a solution to the customer’s problem.

Unfortunately, many salespeople don’t ask good questions. Instead,

they launch into a self-serving presentation of their capabilities.

Remember, every sales call is about the customer.

Here is a practical suggestion: Visualize your next sales call.

Let’s assume your next sales call is with John Smith of the ABC

Company. You know a little bit about him and his company. I’m

recommending two actions to help prepare you for your sales call.

This will also help reduce your anxiety about making the call. First,

write a list of questions that John Smith is likely to ask you. Make

this a thorough list covering everything he could ask you during

your time together. Now go back and write strong responses to

each of the questions. The second action is to write down a list

of possible objections John Smith might have with your solution.

Price, delivery, credit terms, product quality, etc. Again, generate

solid responses to these objections. The responses to the questions

and objections will help ground you in the call. Even if you aren’t

A sales call is an opportunity to learn how we can help our customer.


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38 SPRING 2014

asked any of the questions or none of the objections are raised, you

will come across as a confi dent and knowledgeable salesperson.

The sales call will be a healthy exchange of information between

you and the customer.

Lesson #5: Keep things in perspectiveBeing nervous about selling is normal. Again, selling does not

have a great reputation, and that can color our thinking. Having

said that, it’s important to realize that the level of anxiety we put

ourselves through is usually more intense than any possible negative

consequences of a bad sales call. In other words, take it easy on

yourself. Okay, so maybe you missed asking a question during the

call. Now that you realize it, call the customer and ask him/her the

question. The customer won’t mind, and he/she won’t think any less

of you. In fact, the customer may be impressed that you thought of a

critical question since your meeting.

Lesson #6: Your customers are someone else’s prospectsNo matter how good your product is or how effective your service is,

you can still lose customers if you haven’t also formed relationships

with them. This is key to your success. It’s that simple. We like to

buy from people we like. Show some interest in your prospect when

you fi rst meet. Ask the customer some non-threatening questions

that will engage him to start talking. If the person is an existing

customer, ask him how the business is doing.

You need to be in touch with your customers on a regular basis

to discuss how you can help them. They need to understand the

value that you, your company, and your products will bring to this

project. The better they understand that, the stronger your business

relationship will be and the more diffi cult it will be for a competitor

to sneak their way in.

Another powerful way to keep a customer loyal to you is by

simply following up with her. If she placed an order with you, call

her and ask how everything went. Many people who are anxious

about selling are able to be successful just by following up. It sends

a very powerful message to your customer that you value her and

her business and you’re not “selling.” You’re just following up. Try

it. I think you’ll be surprised at how it brings you closer to your

customers.

Myth: I don’t need to sell. My products are so great that customers

will come to me.

. . . every sales call is about the customer.


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Nope, sorry. This is more than a myth; it’s a fantasy. You need to

get together with your prospects and customers. You need to meet

them and discuss the value and benefi ts of your products and services.

You might be waiting a long time for them to come to you, and while

you’re waiting, one of your competitors just might snap them up.

If your customer senses that you are taking her and her business

for granted, you may quickly discover that you have an ex-customer.

Lesson #7: Don’t take customer objections personallyMany times when the customer raises objections, what she’s saying

is that you haven’t convinced her yet. She is giving you another

chance to convince her that your product is the best choice for her.

Don’t be thrown by objections. If she didn’t want to do business

with you, she would ask you to leave. Instead, she’s asking you to try

your argument again.

Practical suggestion: When you encounter an objection, slow the

sales process down.

You need to be crystal clear about what the objection is before

you try and deal with it. This can sometimes challenge your

listening skills. For example, let’s assume that you have presented

your solution to your customer and have quoted him a price.

He responds by saying “That’s a lot of money.” This is a common

response from customers when discussing money. You need to

pause and think. What is he really saying? Is the customer saying

that’s too much, and he won’t pay it? No, he’s not. Pay attention

to the customer’s language, and make sure you understand what

he is saying. If you’re not sure, it’s fi ne to ask questions so you do

understand. Don’t rush and answer an objection. Slow down, or else

you might be solving the wrong problem.

Lesson #8: You need to be comfortable with your pricesSeveral years ago, I was consulting with a high-end retailer that

had some underperforming stores. I discovered that many of the

associates in these stores were not comfortable with the price of

their products. When a customer would object and say that the

store was charging too much, the associates would agree with the

customer. In other words, “I wouldn’t buy this if I were you. It costs

too much.” Yikes!

All of us need to be comfortable with what we charge for our

products and services. We need to be able to show how the product

is worth that price because of its value. The value could be in the

manufacturing process, the components, or the handwork needed

to make this product. The more grounded you are in your product

and what goes into making it, the more confi dent you will be when

someone questions the price.


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40 SPRING 2014

Lesson #9: Sales is a process, not something you cobble togetherMany people who are uncomfortable selling think they can wing

it, meaning that they can make it up as they go. It’s not the case.

You’ll fi nd that if you follow a process, you will not only be more

successful but you will be less anxious because you will know what

you have done so far and what steps still remain. Here’s a simple

sales fl ow:

Ask great questions to discover customer needs and wants

Listen closely to her answers

Present solutions to solve her problems

Deal with any form of resistance you encounter (questions,

concerns, objections, etc.)

Gain a commitment

Follow-up after the sale

Sometimes, you can get through this entire fl ow in one meeting

or telephone call. Other times, it may take several contacts. Either

way, you know exactly where you are in the process and what you

still have to accomplish before you make a sale.

Sales can be a challenging profession. You believe that you have

great products and services, and you don’t understand why people

aren’t buying them. Try to understand what your customer goes

through every day. He is approached by countless uninteresting

salespeople, showing him “the next big thing.” Because the customer

is so overwhelmed, he sometimes just goes through the motions

during a sales call, not really listening or paying attention. This

creates a wonderful opening for you. If you just pay attention to the

customer and listen closely to his needs, you are instantly way ahead

of most salespeople.

I understand why selling makes you uncomfortable. But I also see

opportunity with the majority of your customers who have simple

requests: “Listen to me, treat me with respect, and work with me to

solve my problems.” As soon as you focus on those three requests,

your anxiety about selling will go down. And your sales will go up.

Peter Coombs b r ings over 35 years o f sa les, management , and t ra in ing exper ience to h i s ro le as p r inc ipa l o f Front l ine Tra in ing . Pete r has worked c lose ly wi th smal l bus inesses, manufac ture rs, and re ta i l and wholesa le o rgan izat ions. H i s c l i ents have inc luded Rose Brand, Ford Motor Company, Peps iCo, and Godiva Choco la t ie r. He has success fu l l y des igned and de l i ve red a wide range o f sk i l l -based t ra in ing programs fo r managers, sa les, and cus tomer se rv i ce

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42 SPRING 2014

Standards WatchBY MICHAEL LICHTER

IMAGINE A WORLD where every country

has differently sized credit cards that simply

do not function in other countries; or

imagine if there were different grades of fuel

that render cars useless once they cross a

border and run out of gas.

To some degree this is currently

happening if you want to take a concert

tour on the road across Europe, or if

you want to sell certain entertainment-

related equipment across the EU. Many

people within the industry have become

tired of this situation and a call for EU-

wide standardization of entertainment

equipment was raised. This has resulted

in the formation of Technical Committee

433 (TC 433), “Entertainment Technology

– Equipment, Technical Installations and

Machinery Used on Stages and Other

Production Areas within the Entertainment

Industry,” within CEN, the European

Committee for Standardization. This article

is about that new committee: how it is

supposed to work, what item is at the top of

its agenda, and—in general and in brief—

how CEN works and the kinds of consensus

documents it creates.

From Portugal to Finland and from

Cyprus to Iceland, there are currently 33

completely different countries, almost as

many different languages, and about 640

million people that are affected by common

EU standards.

CEN documents are published in

English, German, and French and every

single citizen can comment on the work in

the review phase.

The good news: Everybody has a say in

the process. This is democracy at work;

every CEN member country interested in

the work can participate in the work and

every citizen of a CEN member country can

comment on the work of the group.

The bad news: Everybody has a say in the

process. In terms of effi ciency and overall

usefulness of the fi nal document, this

approach requires great negotiation skills

and willingness for compromise. Statistics

teaches us that the probability of a simple

outcome diminishes exponentially with the

number of participating individuals.

Different type of CEN documentsThere are several different types of CEN

consensus documents that can be created.

They speak with different levels of authority

and have different legal weights.

A CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA)

is a type of document that is relatively

simple to write as it does not need to

follow all the tricky regulations and strict

process of an official EN standard. There

is no formal vote for its acceptance by

all the national standards bodies within

CEN; it simply is an agreement between

interested parties working within the CEN

structure. Because of that, a CWA does

not carry the weight of an EN standard; it

lives below local standards and does not

hold the power to have national standards

withdrawn and replaced.

On the other end of the spectrum, a

European standard (EN, European Norm)

is the highest level of any CEN-generated

standardization document. Once an

EN standard document is fi nalized, its

European entertainment gets standardized

042_PSpring14_StandardsWatch.indd 42 5/13/14 2:33 PM

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adherence is mandatory within all 33 CEN

member countries; national standards with

the same scope must be withdrawn and

replaced by the new EN standard.

Creating a European standard starts with the right TCIn order to create a European standard,

work has to be undertaken within the

framework of the European Committee for

Standardization (CEN, Comité Européen

de Normalisation) in Brussels (see sidebar

page 46). The writing work for standards

can be done in Working Groups (WGs),

which are analogous to the Task Groups in

PLASA’s Technical Standards Program. After

a public review, the fi nal work generated

by this group is approved by a Technical

Committee (TC). Each major discipline of

suffi cient interest usually has its own TC

within CEN.

To create a new standard, fi rst you would

have to fi nd a TC that best matches the

subject matter of your proposed standard.

A “work item” has to be submitted to the

chosen TC and the TC votes whether or not

it wants to accept the work.

Even though there are more than 400

TCs within CEN, before the creation of TC

433, there was no TC that directly addressed

the needs of the entertainment industry.

Without TC 433, if someone wanted to

start work on an EN standard with an

entertainment-related topic, that person

would have to play a game of hop-scotch

to fi nd the closest-matching TC that was

willing to accept the work and form a WG

for the topic.

The next complication would be to fi nd

delegates that have experience in the related

entertainment fi eld and can get assigned

to the specifi c WG through their National

Standardization Body (NSB). The last step

would be to convince a TC that is not staffed

with members from the entertainment

industry to approve the work of the WG and

give it the fi nal blessing.

Imagine trying to come up with a

standard for fog machines using a TC that

normally deals with hazardous chemicals

in a workplace environment. It would be

incredibly diffi cult to explain to that TC

that it is normal in our business to put

chemical aerosols in the air with the sole

intention to limit visibility. A project of

that nature would lead to a very diffi cult

discussion within that TC in order to get

an approval.

Standards Watch | European entertainment gets standardized

The very first work item for . . . TC-433 most likely will be the transformation of the stage machinery document CWA-15902 into a full EN standard.

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An Entertainment Technology Technical CommitteeThe lack of a TC that understands the

requirement of the entertainment industry

has become increasingly obvious. The

idea was formed to create a TC that solely

deals with entertainment equipment

related standards, staffed with people

from the industry that understand what

we do, why we do it, and what the specifi c

requirements are.

The German entertainment technology

standardization groups, hosted by DIN

(Deutsches Institut für Normung) came up

with a proposal for a new TC. In parallel

the fi nancial support for this effort was

secured mainly by DTHG (“Deutsche

Theatertechnische Gesellschaft,” roughly

the German equivalent of USITT),

VPLT (“Der Verband für Medien- und

Veranstaltungstechnik,” originally “Der

Verband für Professionelle Licht- und

Tontechnik,” an organization that focuses on

representing the live entertainment, concert,

and rental industry), EVVC (“Europäischer

Verband der Veranstaltungs-Centren e.V,”

an European organization that represents

about 750 entertainment venues, conference

centers, event locations, and event

planners), and AUMA (“Ausstellungs- und

Messe-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft

e.V.,” the association of the German trade

fair industry).

The proposal for a TC entitled

“Entertainment Technology – Equipment,

Technical Installations, and Machinery

Used on Stages and Other Production

Areas within the Entertainment Industry”

was submitted to CEN in early November

2013. Thirty-three countries voted on

the proposal, and it passed with an

overwhelming majority on March 11, 2014.

As a re sult a new TC-433 for

entertainment technology will be formed

within CEN. The next step is to form a

business plan for this TC, get it approved

by CEN, and have the fi rst constituent TC

meeting by the middle of August.

Participation in the workIndividuals who are interested in working

on the standardization effort would have

to contact their National Standardization

Body (NSB), such as BSI for the UK, DIN

for Germany, AFNOR for France, and so

on. Each country that has members willing

to participate in the work can send up to

three delegates to work on the TC who

are all ultimately appointed by the NSB.

The TC members are delegated with a

mandate that represents the opinion of their

country. This mandate provides direction

for negotiations and is usually formed by a

national mirror committee. Delegates must

follow the mandate even if it confl icts with

their personal opinion or the interests of

their employer.

Members of a TC are not appointed for

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a specifi c length of time and may even be

appointed on a per meeting basis. In reality,

TC members are likely to stick around

for a while, as it usually takes some time

to become familiar with group dynamics,

negotiation tactics, and the process overall.

Money and costsCEN is a non-profi t organization and the

general running costs are covered by the

members of CEN, the NSBs. The delegates

bear responsibility for costs associated with

their time and travel. The TC administrative

costs and the cost for running the TC

secretariat are usually covered by the

country that submitted the initial proposal.

A new TC within CEN will be created

if there is a positive vote and suffi cient

funding. The acceptance of the TC does

not depend on the number of anticipated

standard documents sold or the estimated

size of the interest group.

The start of workOne of the topics of the TC meetings is to

discuss new work items, which may include

items such as a proposal to write a new EN

standard. The very fi rst work item for this

new entertainment technology TC-433

most likely will be the transformation of

the stage machinery document CWA-15902

into a full EN standard. This will involve

forming a working group to be staffed

with NSB-appointed members from each

interested country.

The CEN guidelines state that discussion

topics within working groups shall be

resolved by group consensus. In the case

of disagreement, this creates a fi ne line

between specifi c requirements that are not

supported by a number of delegates and

low generic requirements that are based on

a least-common-denominator consensus.

Neither approach is ideal and will lower the

chances of acceptance of the document by

the TC.

Certain votes within the TC, such as

whether or not a standard is accepted

as an EN standard, happen by a strict,

weighted-vote system. Regardless of how

many delegates each country sends to the

TC, each country has one vote worth a

specifi c weight. This weighted-vote system is

based on the size of the population of each

country (see chart) and has been regulated

in the 2001 Treaty of Nice.

Generally, CEN encourages TCs and WGs

to re-use existing standards, either from

within or outside the EU, as long as they

make sense, can be agreed upon, and can be

applied within Europe.

Once the work in the WG has started,

a process toward implementation begins:

drafting a review document, public review,

comment resolution, acceptance by the TC,

and publication as EN standard that will

replace national standards (see fl owchart). A

typical timeline for this type of work from

proposal to implementation in the member

countries is three years.



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46 SPRING 2014

ConclusionThese are exciting times and the real

start of all this is just around the corner.

We will have a go-to group within CEN

that understands our business and that

is interested in working on standardizing

equipment. Although this is all strictly

regulated and seemingly a complex process,

it is all doable once the fi rst hurdle of

understanding the process is overcome.

There are already a number of interested

participants from several countries ready

to start working on the TC and WGs.

Ultimately we are looking forward to a

number of harmonized standards that will

allow us to use the same equipment on the

road all over Europe and will allow us to sell

the same gear across Europe. This will lower

costs and ultimately will make our lives a lot

easier in the future.

Michael L ichter s ta r ted in the ente r ta inment indust ry over 25 years ago and works a t E lec t ron ic Theat re Cont ro l s in the ro le o f Sen ior Techn ica l P roduct Manager fo r S tage Mach inery Cont ro l Sys tems. Michae l has been invo lved

wi th wr i t ing s tandards fo r PLASA s ince 2007. He was a member o f the ANSI E1 .6-1 Ente r ta inment Techno logy – Powered Ho is t Sys tems task group and cha i red the ANSI E1 .44 Common Show F i le Exchange Format fo r Ente r ta inment Indust ry Automat ion Cont ro l Sys tems – S tage Mach inery task group. He i s now act i ve l y work ing in the German DIN work ing group “Stage Mach inery” and was invo lved in put t ing the proposa l fo r the CEN-TC “Enter ta inment Techno logy” together.

What is CEN?

CEN (French: Comité Européen de Normalisation) is a non-profit organization set up under Belgian law. The membership is comprised of the National Standards Bodies (NSBs) of 33 European countries. Additionally, CEN has six associate members representing pan-European professional and trade federations as well as consumer and environmental interests. Nineteen National Standards Bodies from an EU neighboring country have affiliate status. CEN also has a Partner Standardization Body (PSB) program that links NSBs from outside Europe to CEN. The European Commission and the European Free Trade Association Secretariat act as CEN’s counselors for policy issues.

Sources:www.cen.eu www.boss.cen.euwww.newprocess.eu www.din.dewww.wikipedia.com



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48 SPRING 2014

California implements sweeping reforms to their energy code BY PETER ROGERS

CHANGE IS COMING TO CALIFORNIA

on the fi rst of July this year, with sweeping

changes to the California Energy Code,

often referred to as Title 24. Readers who are

outside the state may wonder why should

I care? The California codes drive both

national and state codes, and what happens

in the west is implemented to varying

degrees across the country.

Since 1975, California has lead the

country in defi ning energy-effi cient lighting

requirements that in many cases have driven

a revolution in luminaire design and the

broad adoption of energy-effi cient sources.

The result has been striking:

California’s per capita energy

consumption has been fl at since 1977 when

the codes written in 1975 came into effect.

Over the past 40 years the code has become

more stringent on a fi ve year cycle to help

cap energy growth as the number of devices

has multiplied in our lives and the state’s

population has grown. In the past, change

has been incremental, with reductions in the

maximum allowable watt density starting

with commercial buildings and moving into

residential over time.

So what is new in this version?This year’s code continues to reduce the

maximum allowed watts per square foot,

with a reduction of a further 10% to less

than 0.75 W/sq. ft. This will continue the

drive for ever more effi cient luminaires and

sources; it also is spelling the end for some

of our favorite traditional sources. The

biggest change comes with the requirement

for intensity control in commercial

buildings. Everyone in the entertainment

industry is familiar with the benefi ts of

dimming, both from an aesthetic view

point and energy savings, but there has not

been any sort of broad implementation

in commercial applications and in public

spaces of all kinds.

The new code requires intensity control

for all light sources used in buildings larger

than 10,000-sq.-ft. and in any space larger

than 100-sq.-ft. There are no exceptions to

[Adjacent] electrical outlets are . . . required throughout the space offering one outlet switched for lighting and one constant for devices such as computers.

Chart 1

048_PSpring14_CalifEnergyCodes.indd 48 5/13/14 2:38 PM

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this requirement regardless of light source.

The new code does take into account the

dimming performance of various sources

and it is all encompassing:

Previous releases of the code had begun

to implement control by adding vacancy

sensors and limited use of photo cells.

This new iteration requires their use in

all applications with high- and low-level

control everywhere from warehouses to

library stacks and all large commercial

spaces. Large day-lit spaces, for example,

must have full-range photo-cell control with

multiple control zones starting adjacent to

windows and moving further into a room.

Offi ces require manual-on, automatic-off,

and, where appropriate, a daylight intensity

control. Electrical outlets are not exempt

from control requirements, with adjacent

outlets required throughout the space

offering one outlet switched for lighting and

one constant for devices such as computers.

The new code extends to the outdoors

where all light sources mounted below

20' must have occupancy sensing and

automatically reduce intensity by 40% when

no one is present. This applies not just to

parking lots and walkways, but to landscape

lighting as well. Large buildings also must

provide demand-response control and

reduce all loads by 15% on request from a

power utility.

All new buildings must comply with this

code and existing buildings that renovate

more than 10% of total area of the building

must also update all of their lighting control

for the whole building. In this manner, the

state hopes to accelerate change.

Fortunately for the arts, theatrical

performance spaces and fi lm and television

production spaces are exempt from these

requirements; for the foreseeable future we

will continue to have the use of traditional

entertainment luminaires. The rest of our

facilities are not exempt, however. New

and renovated facilities must conform to

the new code both backstage and in public

spaces. We will be challenged to fi nd energy

effi cient work lights and shop lighting, and

creative solutions to lobby and offi ce spaces

as well. There are also lots of opportunities

on stage for manufacturers such as Philips

Entertainment, ETC, Altman, and others to

introduce the fi rst generation of LED stage

luminaires.

Your local utility often can help with the

costs of these changes through generous

rebate programs and grants. Schools in

many states are being provided with capitol

funds to upgrade and update facilities.

Energy reductions can be dramatic:

A single LED cyc light can replace 4 X

1000 W (RGBA) halogen cyc lights with a

single 200 W source

One LED fresnel consuming 100 W will

easily replace a 500 W conventional source

An LED high-bay work light in a shop

consuming just 100 W will directly replace

a 400 W metal halide source and provide

instant on/off control and better color

rendering. These units often have a service

life of 200,000 hours reducing maintenance

and eliminating lamp replacement.

Savings are not limited to simple power

reductions as air conditioning loads are

reduced, and dimmers (with their cooling

needs) are eliminated.

In the West, we are seeing large

entertainment facilities embrace energy-

effi cient sources as a means to control costs

and present a greener outlook to the public

and their staff. Many are focusing on areas

they can make changes quickly:

Scene shops

Work lights on stages

House and lobby lighting

Offi ce lighting

Parking structures

They are extending their direct energy

savings by combining new sources with new

controls. A light that is off when no one

is present consumes zero power. A day-lit

. . . we are seeing facility operators embrace new lighting technologies simply because they make sense for their business.

Chart 2


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50 SPRING 2014

room does not need the artifi cial light levels

of an enclosed space. By adding dimmable

sources in combination with photo cells and

occupancy sensors, we can achieve greater

savings without sacrifi cing good lighting.

California facility operators are required to

become more effi cient, but we are seeing

facility operators embrace new lighting

technologies simply because they make

sense for their business.

There are many opportunities to reduce

energy incrementally without signifi cant

costs, starting with simple occupancy

sensors and photo cells in offi ces and

meeting spaces. Replace conventional lamps

with LED retrofi t lamps, and evaluate new

sources when it is time to replace work

lights and backstage lighting. In many

areas, your local utilities will support your

changeover with rebates. For the fi rst time

we are seeing utilities in California address

opportunities on stage and in studios:

Southern California Edison has announced

that they will support rebates for LED stage

lighting, providing strong incentives to

update schools and professional facilities.

Energy code changes are gaining

momentum and the cost of energy is

a growing part of all arts budgets. Our

customers, the theatre going public, are

becoming much more “green” aware

and green businesses are getting a lot of

attention. Now is a good time for all of us

to look at our businesses and start to advise

our customers on new opportunities to save

money and energy.

Peter Rogers worked wi th Ph i l ips L ight ing in a var ie ty o f ro les inc lud ing sa les, market ing , and product deve lopment fo r 30 years. Cur rent l y he i s the sa les manager fo r Forman and Assoc ia tes a manufac ture rs ’

representat i ve f i rm in the Los Ange les a rea .

Digital Lumens 18,000-lumen adjustable high-bay wash light.



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52 SPRING 2014

Tech TipsBY RICH WOLPERT

EVEN THOUGH MOST OF THE WORK I DO is related to the

entertainment industry, I also take Union Connector’s show on

the road to exhibit at electrical trade shows. This gives me an

opportunity to see new electrical technologies being developed, new

tools available for techies, and a chance to snag some cool swag. Not

to deride our industry’s sense of economy, but the big players in

the electrical industry have great swag—and complimentary food

and beer! It guarantees good booth attendance and a much more

productive dialogue with potential customers. So there it is: Use beer

and brats as a tool to increase business. Are you listening Philips,

High End, ETC, Altman, et cetera?

But back to tools for the tradesman …. When there was a lull

in the show traffi c at the Electric League of Kansas and Missouri

exhibition, I wandered around the fl oor and discovered some new

tools that could be considered as candidates for the “Backstage Ten

Essentials” column I wrote for the Spring 2013 issue of Protocol. The

Ten Essentials, if you recall, is the minimum toolkit any tech should

have with her when working. The actual tools vary depending on

the craft, but there are a few that are common to all kits.

A multi-tool is one of those common tools found in all kits,

and Southwire has developed one that is designed specifi cally for

electricians. Their MT100 Electrician’s Multi-Tool looks just like a

Leatherman, with one major modifi cation. In lieu of the usual plier

jaws, the MT100 has wire stripper/cutter jaws familiar to anyone

who has ever done any wiring as a part of his job. The stripper

blades handle wire sizes from 10 – 20 AWG, and the end of the

stripper blades double as plier tips to pull or twist wire. The multi-

tool also has the requisite saw blade, screwdriver bits, fi le, and knife.

Fabricated out of stainless steel, it comes complete with a carrying

case and is available at a street price of around $48. I really like the

Gerber I carry, but this new multi-tool may replace it when I go to

jobsites. It’s that practical. For more information and specs, go to

the Southwire website (see sidebar).

Wandering down the aisle a little farther, I stopped at the Ideal

booth to see what they had to offer. The fi rst thing that caught my

eye was a ratcheting, multi-function screwdriver. Like many other

screwdrivers of this type, the #35-688 Ideal 21-in-1 has multiple

screwdriver bits. This model, however, includes three Philips, three

slotted, two square, four star and four hex bits, as well as three nut

driver sockets. The bits and drivers are housed in the ratcheting

handle, which also has a built-in wire looping tool. The end of

the handle grip is a wrench that accepts a wide range of wire-nut

connectors. This feature is where the product name Twist-a-Nut

originated. It sounds painful, but it does work as advertised. Male

readers, when you have gotten past the unfortunate name of this

tool, take a look at the specs on the Ideal website. At about $25, this

tool replaces the two screwdrivers and sockets that would normally

be found in my Essential toolkit.

Tools of the trade, Part 19:Interesting new hand tools

The BTS Wrench . . . the beauty of it is that 10% of the sale is donated to Behind the Scenes. Thank you, Apollo!“

“

BTS wrench

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Tech Tips | Tools of the trade, Part 19

The addition of the Twist-a-Nut tool to

my Backstage Ten Essentials would replace

at least three existing tools, so I now have

room to add some items recommended

by readers over the past several months.

The most commonly mentioned items to

add are a tape measure (or folding ruler),

mechanical pencil, and a writing case or

notepad. These make sense for almost any

trade, while the scissors, safety pins, pocket

level, chalk, and center punch, which were

also suggested by readers, are for specifi c

trades such as carpentry or costuming.

A few weeks after the electrical show, I

exhibited at the USITT Stage Expo in Fort

Worth, TX and had an opportunity to check

out some new tools from Apollo Design

Technology. (I also got a chance to eat some

good Texas barbeque. Check out Angelo’s

in the Cultural District west of downtown.)

Apollo has an adjustable crescent wrench,

the BTS Wrench, designed for theatre use.

On one end of the tool is a standard fi nger

adjustable open-end wrench, while on the

other a closed-end wrench sized for 3/4",

1/2", and 3/8". The wrench is drop-forged

steel and chrome plated. At $79 MSRP, it’s a

little pricey, but the beauty of it is that 10% of the sale is donated to

Behind the Scenes. Thank you, Apollo!

As nice as the BTS Wrench is, the items that caught my attention

were the Little Focus 5 Wrench and the Nubbin wrench that

Apollo makes. Similar in design to the tools made by StageJunk,

the Apollo tools are manufactured by an entirely different process,

and the material is completely different. The focus tools from

Apollo are assembled from multiple pieces of laser-cut stainless

steel and riveted together. The pieces are actually cut from the waste

material left over from the fabrication of gobos. It’s a clever way

to maximize raw material usage. When I asked Apollo Owner and

Founder Joel Nichols how he came up with the idea of using waste

material to make the tool, I got an answer that is typical with creative

entrepreneurs: “I was driving to work one day, and I had an idea …”

Of course, the difference between success and failure is turning that

idea into a product. Apollo has done that many times over, with

these tools just being the latest in its line of products. The Little

Focus 5 has an MSRP of $33.95. The smaller Nubbin was not yet

listed on the Apollo website at press time. By the time you’re reading

this, the website should have the item listed along with a MSRP.

The lighting tech now has a choice of focus tools to use.

Personally, I like the feel of the StageJunk tool better than the

Apollo version. The edge fi nish on the Apollo focus wrenches was

a bit uneven and didn’t have the heft of the machined tool made

by StageJunk. Also, I’m not crazy about the riveted construction,

but that’s just my opinion. Your mileage may vary … Either way,

the tech now has a choice of some very useful and practical tools to

include in his or her Ten Essentials. I applaud StageJunk and Apollo

for their efforts. Now, we just need to get the big boys to serve beer

in their booths.

Rich Wolpert i s Co-Owner and D i rec tor o f Un ion Connector. He rece ived h i s f i r s t se t o f too l s—a Handy Andy se t—when he was s i x . The too l se t d i sappeared in to the Un ion Connector shop a few years la te r, never to be seen aga in . Don’ t even th ink about ask ing to bor row any o f h i s too l s. You can contac t R ich a t r i chw@unionconnector. com or Un ion Connector Midwest , 2733 E . Bat t le f ie ld Road, #102, Spr ingf ie ld , MO 65804.

Southwire Electrician’s Multi-Toolhttp://www.southwiretools.com/tools/tools/MT001Ideal 21-in-1 Twist-a-Nuthttp://www.idealindustries.com/media/pdfs/products/brochures/p-5023_twist-a-nut_brochure.pdfApollo Design Wrencheshttp://www.apollodesign.net/Products/Group/wrench.aspx

Ideal 21 in 1 Twist a Nut

Apollo Little Focus 5 Wrench

Ideal Electrician's Multitool

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54 SPRING 2014

Moving forward with eSET BY DAVID GRINDLE

eSET (Essential Skills for Entertainment Technicians)—is now a USITT initiative

THANK YOU. I say this to the board of

The ESTA Foundation and to all of its

volunteers. Thank you on behalf of everyone

at USITT and the industry. You have shared

a gift that will grow and will enhance our

industry far into the future.

This gift, the groundwork for eSET

(Essential Skills for Entertainment

Technicians) needed a new home. The

board of The ESTA Foundation reached

out to USITT, and we gladly accepted the

offer. The transfer comes as The ESTA

Foundation concentrates on the important

work of Behind the Scenes.

eSET is vital for our industry. In the

same way ETCP is the standard for those

who have worked and become masters,

eSET will provide a way to establish basic

skills and knowledge for those entering the

industry. As we work toward awarding the

fi rst certifi cates in specifi c areas in 2015,

eSET will be a standard assessment that can

be used when hiring entry level positions.

USITT will continue the basic structure

of eSET: a council, chaired by Bill Price of

Barbizon; and working groups designed to

enumerate essential skills in specifi c areas.

The working groups will delineate skill sets

in 12 are as over the next three years. The

fi rst working groups to report their fi ndings

will be rigging, health & safety, costuming,

and lighting.

In the second year of each group’s

efforts, videos detailing the essential skills

will be made and posted online as an

extension of the glossary begun by the

original working groups.

eSET certifi cates will serve the academic

community, production professionals,

and manufacturers. Academic units

are frequently asked to show a national

standard that their graduates are achieving.

This program and its exams will help our

academic partners show that their students

have the knowledge to work in our industry.

As entertainment design and

technology changes and evolves, each

essential skills working group will

continue to review the list of skills to

insure they remain current with the

demands and trends of the industry.

Certificates will be awarded with an

expiration date so skills stay current. They

can be renewed through evidence of work

and/or attending continuing education.

This will be done to maintain a vital and

vibrant program, responsive to the changing

needs of our workplaces.

We foresee eSET as an industry-driven

certifi cate that will assist everyone. A new

employee, overhire, or temp who arrives

with an eSET certifi cate demonstrates

to employers a fi rm grasp on specifi c

knowledge. While 50% of the population

graduates in the top half of the class, that

doesn’t mean they possess a fi rm grasp of

the essential skills to do the job. eSET will

give everyone a common understanding of

what to expect.

USITT is excited to carry this worthwhile

endeavor forward. We look ahead to

industry and academia working together to

establish criteria, compose exams, and most

importantly promote certifi cates—and grow

the value of the certifi cate. Once the fi rst

certifi cates are issued, we urge everyone to

start looking for them (and ask to see them).

We will have a cohesive certifi cate program

benefi ting everyone.

Partnerships are one of the keys of

USITT’s strategic plan. eSET is offi cially

now a USITT program and initiative

because of the long-time partnership with

ESTA and now PLASA. We thank you

for making it possible for eSET to move

forward to its fullest potential.

David Grindle i s Execut ive D i rec tor o f US ITT, the Un i ted S ta tes Ins t i tu te fo r Theat re Techno logy, where he i s mov ing the organ izat ion fo rward by eva luat ing and improv ing ex i s t ing programming and deve lop ing new

in i t ia t i ves. H i s background i s in p ro fess iona l s tage management fo r opera , and he taught a t the un ivers i t y leve l .

eSET will provide a way to establish basic skills and knowledge for those entering the industry.

054_PSpring14_USITTeSet.indd 54 5/13/14 2:41 PM

November 17-23, 2014Las Vegas Convention Center

ldishow.com

save the dates!Backstage: November 17-19

LDInstitute™: November 17-22Projection Master Classes: November 19-20

Electronic Dance Music Master Classes: November 19-20 EDM@LDI: November 19-23

LDInnovation & Technology Conference: November 20-232014 Club Tour: November 21Exhibit Hall: November 21-23

rrs Conventionn Centeraas VegasLLa

054_PSpring14_USITTeSet.indd 55 5/13/14 2:42 PM

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56 SPRING 2014

PLASA Golf Day 2014 in Support of Behind the Scenes BY EMILY JACKSON

PLASA CHARITY GOLF DAY has snowballed, drawing UK

suppliers and manufacturers to Surrey April 25 to become PLASA

golf champions. This year’s competition raised £7,500.00 for Behind

the Scenes—a charity which provides support to entertainment

technology industry professionals when they fall upon hard times.

Teams were entered from Autograph, Sennheiser, Shure, d&b

audiotechnik, PSCO, Blitz, Sound By Design, Delta Sound, ATG,

White Light, Martin Audio, Meyer Sound, Entec, CSE Cables,

PLASA, Philips, Crewsaders, Creative Technology, and Stage

Technologies.

It wouldn’t have been the PLASA Golf Day if the weather hadn’t

entered a team which consisted of wind, heavy rain, and fog. The

event began with a Texas Scramble and included a “pitch and put”

competition, raising a further £500. Teams played a full 18 holes—

with the help of some light refreshments (chocolate and lager).

The 2014 Golf Day featured some new rules—the main being

that teams could be penalised by referees Amanda Adler, PLASA,

and Malcolm Burlow, Highlight, who patrolled the course with

hawk-like precision looking for any rule-bending. The team from

Sennheiser was penalised as the “tightest team” for turning down

refreshments (beer and chocolate) until being notifi ed that it was,

in fact, free—sparking something of a free-for-all. The team from

Philips was booked for “playing out of a water feature” after their

ball rolled into the rough that mimicked a small lake. Lee Dennison

of Sound By Design was fouled for playing too quickly, as well as

committing a fashion faux pas by tucking his trousers into his socks.

Note: repeat offender.

Last year’s champions, Delta Sound, fi nished on equal points with

Manchester-based newcomers, Sennheiser, tied for third position.

The White Light Team 2 was awarded fi rst place—the fi rst lighting

team to be crowned PLASA Golf Day champions. Congratulations

to team captain Richard Wilson, Stuart Crane, Matt Botten, and

Dominic Oliff for a fi ne game, beating both the weather and

continual taunts from the noisier end of the industry.

And fi nally, it wouldn’t be the PLASA Golf Day without the (not-

so) coveted award for “Arse of the Day.” Previously held by White

Light’s Bryan Raven—this year’s award was a joint effort. Having

managed to get the golf buggy stuck in the mud, Autograph’s

Duncan Bell “fl oored” the accelerator to relieve the situation, at

PLASA Golf Day champions, White Light 2’s Dominic Oliff, Matt Botten, Richard Wilson, and Stuart Crane

Sennheiser’s team of Mike Waterworth, Paul Turner, Steve Dalton, and Michael Eldridge tied for third place overall with Delta Sound.

Mark Bonner, Ian Staddon, and Stuart Hudd represented Delta Sound. The team shared third place with Sennheiser.

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the same time as teammate Scott Arnold attempted to push the

buggy out. Scott returned to the clubhouse wearing the ninth hole,

thoroughly caked in mud from head to toe. Scott and Duncan have

prised the award away from Bryan to become PLASA golf Arses of

the Day 2014.

“What a fantastic representation of our industry here today,

raising money for a wonderful cause,” praised Lee Dennison.

“Some old faces but plenty of new ones and we had to turn some

teams away too. Well done to White Light and thank you to all the

sponsors and supporters. See you all in September.”

Despite the English weather, this edition of the PLASA Golf Day

was the most successful yet, raising a record amount of money

for Behind the Scenes. Plans are already underway for the next

competition in September, so start practicing and we’ll see you on

the green.

Emily Jackson i s the Media and Market ing Ass i s tant fo r De l ta Sound in Sur rey, UK.

RiggstownThis duo packs more punch!

LVH Entertainment Systems of Oxnard, CA Thern

Stage Equipment (TSE)

plusTKO (Theatrical

Knock Out).

www.lvhentertainment.com

Named “Arses of the Day” were Duncan Bell and Scott Arnold, Autograph Sound.

The Crewsaders’ team included Nick Duncan, Starlight; Dylan Thomas, Bruce Halley, Jarrod Bischoff, and Calum McConnachie, Crewsaders; with Richard Gibbs, Fuel for Marketing

Event Chair, Lee Dennison, Sound By Design

056_PSpring14_EU Golf Day.indd 57 5/13/14 2:45 PM

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58 SPRING 2014

BizQuestionsBY DAVID SCHRAFFENBERGER

“What keeps you up at night?”Need answers to your business questions? Email [email protected].

Your PLASA Business Resource Group

recently teamed up with GenPLASA to host a

happy hour at USITT in Fort Worth. During

the networking event we asked the attendees

to answer the question, “What keeps you up

at night?” We chose two of the responses to

focus on in this edition of BizQ’s. Thanks

to everyone who attended and especially

to those who took the time to share their

concerns with us.

“WHAT KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT?”

was the question. The answer, “How low

do I have to go?” was a most thought-

provoking response. The better thought

might be, “How low can I go and still stay

in business?” Knowing your margins and

having a good handle on your costs and

expenses will help you to decide when to

let a job go. The most common concepts

to understand when setting your selling

price are markup, margin, and breakeven

point. Markup is the difference between

the cost of a good or service and its selling

price. A mar kup is added onto the total

cost incurred by the producer of a good

or service in order to create a profi t.

The total cost refl ects the total amount

of both fi xed and variable expenses to

produce and distribute a product. Profi t

margi n refers to a measure of profi tability.

It is calculated by fi nding the net profi t as

a percentage of the revenue. [Net profi t

marg in = net profi t / revenue where net

profi t = revenue – cost]. Profi t margin is the

percentage of selling price that turned into

profi t, whereas markup is the percentage

of cost price that we get as profi t on top

of cost price. Many companies prefer to

use the margin calculation [sell price =

cost / (1-margin)] to set their pricing. This

helps relate the profi tability of a product

or service directly to the Profi t and Loss

Statement. Operating profi t margin is the

ratio of operating income divided by net

sales. If we know that our operating profi t

is around 15% then we know that anything

we are selling for a less than a 15% margin

may not be covering all of the fi xed expenses

that we should allocate to the product. For

covering operating expenses, 15% is often

used as a rule of thumb.

Activity-based costing (ABC) is another

costing method that allocates a weighted

share of operating expenses to the cost of

the product or service based on the activity

an organization must expend to deliver that

product or service to the customer. Instead

of using broad arbitrary percentages to

allocate costs, ABC seeks to identify cause

and effect relationships to objectively assign

costs. In other words, if it takes less activity

for an organization to deliver a product

or service to a customer than a more

complicated product or service, we can

allocate a lower percentage of the operating

expenses to the less complicated activity.

<Wikipedia, 04/20/14>

Breakeven analysis is used to determine

when your business will be able to cover

all its expenses and begin to make a profi t.

For instance, if you have $5,000 of product

sales, this will not cover $5,000 in monthly

overhead expenses. The cost of selling $5,000

in retail goods could easily be $3,000 at the

wholesale price, so the $5,000 in sales revenue

only provides $2,000 in gross profi t. The

breakeven point is reached when revenue

058_PSpring14_BizQuestions.indd 58 5/13/14 1:42 PM

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equals all business costs.

To calculate your breakeven point, you will need to identify your

fi xed and variable costs. Fixed costs are expenses that do not vary with

sales volume, such as rent and administrative salaries. These expenses

must be paid regardless of sales, and are often referred to as overhead

costs. Variable costs fl uctuate directly with sales volume, such as

purchasing inventory, shipping, and manufacturing a product. To

determine your breakeven point, use this equation: [Breakeven point

= fi xed costs / (unit selling price – variable costs)] <SBA.gov 4/20/14>

Another attendee was kept up at night by the question, “LEDs are

all the rage right now and marketing boasts energy and cost savings,

but what environmental impact will they have when their life has

been spent and we have to dispose of them?” To address this concern I

contacted PLASA members Tobin Neis of Barbizon and Lee Vestrich

of Bulbtronics. Both Barbizon and Bulbtronics have been in the

forefront of environmentally proper disposal of materials, primarily

light bulbs, which contain toxic materials and require special

handling. Lee advises that LED’s can be recycled as “electronics

waste” and represent the same burden on the environment as used

computers. Bulbtronics will add several different sizes of RecyclePak

Prepaid choices to their offerings. Watch for their new web page

coming soon. Tobin confi rms the recycling category and says,

“…our industry is in the early stages of developing an end-of-life

strategy for their [LED] recycling or disposal…. While replacement

lamps most likely need to be disposed of or recycled when they

fail, some fi xtures may be reconditioned with new power supplies

and LED engines that could give them a new lease on life. As a

part of Barbizon’s ‘New Light Initiative,’ we’re working with our

manufacturer partners, local utilities, and third-party recycling

programs to fi nd solutions for keeping the promise of effi ciency

and clean energy once that ‘green’ LED lamp/fi xture goes out. Also,

here’s something from the EPA on e-waste… <http://www.epa.gov/

epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/donate.htm>”

Many thanks for the great questions. Thanks also to Tobin and Lee

for their input. Additional questions and comments about this edition’s

offerings as well as any business questions you’d like us to explore can

be emailed to [email protected]. Thank you for reading and

working to build a stronger industry. ~ Schraff

David Schraffenberger i s VP and Genera l Manager o f P roduct ion Advantage, Inc . in Wi l l i s ton , VT. Dav id i s Pas t P res ident o f the Vermont /New Hampsh i re Market ing Group and a member o f the Board o f Trus tees fo r IATSE Loca l 919. He i s the dea le r representat i ve on the PLASA Nor th Amer i can Reg iona l Board and se rves on the PLASA Bus iness Resource Group. Dav id completed h i s undergraduate degree a t Johnson S ta te Co l lege in 2007 and rece ived h i s MBA f rom Norwich Un ivers i t y in 2009. He we lcomes quest ions and comments a t B izQuest [email protected] .

BizQuestions | What keeps you up at night?

Knowing your margins and having a good handle on your costs and expenses will help you to decide when to let a job go.“

“

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TSP NewsBY KARL G. RULING

SIX DAYS AGO A STORM put half an

inch of snow and ice on everything in my

neighborhood, but it soon vanished, and

fl owers and grass waved in the sunlight as

I walked to the train station this morning,

Earth Day. The seeds and roots that had

lain dormant through the winter, seemingly

dead, are alive.

PLASA’s Technical Standards Program has

a few things in bloom now, as I write this,

and a few more that should be waving in the

sunlight soon. We also have a weed that we

need to pull from the garden.

Recently publishedANSI E1.4 - 2014, Entertainment

Technology – Manual Counterweight

Rigging Systems

ANSI E1.4 - 2014 is a limited revision of

the 2009 standard. This revision is limited in

that it simply adds requirements for things

that we had described in the standard but

had not said were required to be part of

the system—rope locks being the glaring

example. A more comprehensive revision is

in the works to expand the scope to cover

deadhung rigging systems and manual

systems that don’t use counterweights (e.g.,

manually cranked winches).

ANSI E1.21 – 2013, Entertainment

Technology – Temporary Structures Used

for Technical Production of Outdoor

Entertainment Events

This is a revision of the 2006 edition

to update its references and to expand its

scope to cover the design, manufacture, and

use of all the portable structures (not only

roofs) used to support scenery, lighting, and

sound equipment, and to cover the stages in

the production of outdoor entertainment

events. There are signifi cant other changes,

too, which Keith Bohn covers in his article

about E1.21 in this issue of Protocol.

ANSI E1.44 – 2014, Common Show

File Exchange Format for Entertainment

Industry Automation Control Systems –

Stage Machinery

ANSI E1.44 is a new standard that

defi nes a common show fi le format for

the exchange of automation control data

between control systems by different

manufacturers of stage machinery. Having

a common show fi le format will make it

easier for off-line visualization software to

work and easier to transfer shows between

systems. Undoubtedly, in the latter case,

adjustment of the cues and movements

will be needed, but the job will be much

less onerous if the shows do not have to be

re-programmed starting with a completely

blank cue sheet. Less time spent in the

relatively mindless task of re-entering data

will allow more time to be available to

make sure that it all works well.

ANSI E1.48 – 2014, A Recommended

Luminous Effi ciency Function for Stage and

Studio Luminaire Photometry

The new standard ANSI E1.48 is the

subject of Mike Wood’s “Out of the Wood”

column in this issue of Protocol. Please read

all about it there. It’s a terribly esoteric

subject that can make a huge difference

in how we chose, specify, market, and sell

modern stage and studio luminaires.

Planting and weeding on Earth Day

TSP NewsBY KARL G. RULING

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In public review nowAs I write this, three new PLASA standards

are in public review on the PLASA website

at http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/documents/

public_review_docs.php: BSR E1.42, BSR

E1.43, and BSR E1.51. Their reviews run

through June 2, and are over when June 3

starts Pacifi c Daylight Time. That’s shortly

after this issue of Protocol will be mailed

from the printer, so if this is the fi rst notice

you have seen about them and you want to

comment, you will have to act fast.

BSR E1.42 – 201x, Entertainment

Technology – Safety Standard for

Orchestra Pit Lifts

This is the second public review of the

document, which was substantively revised

as a result of fi rst public review comments.

The standard covers stage lifts, such as

orchestra pit or theatre forestage lifts, which

are not the subject of any current national

standard in the USA. As result, safety

requirements and inspections of them are

inconsistent—sometimes unreasonably

restrictive and other times so lax as to be

virtually non-existent. E1.42 is being written

to address this lack of a standard. The scope

is limited to safety and to orchestra or

forestage lifts that are installed as a part of

the building and that are not custom-built

for a single theatrical production.


Technology – Live Performer Flying

Systems

This document establishes a minimum

level of performance parameters for the

design, manufacture, use, and maintenance

of performer fl ying systems used in the

production of entertainment events. The

standard is being written to avoid some of

the problems that put Spider-Man: Turn Off

the Dark into the evening news, but some

circus people have complained in public

review comments that the draft standard

doesn’t work for them. Well, that’s why we

have public review: so people can tell us

what needs to be changed and how it should

be changed to address what problem!

BSR E1.51 – 201x, The Selection,

Installation, and Use of Single-Conductor

Portable Power Feeder Cable Systems for

Use at 600 Volts Nominal or Less for the

Distribution of Electrical Energy in the

Television, Film, Live Performance, and

Event Industries in Canada

E1.51 is intended to offer guidance

in accordance with existing applicable

standards and regulations in Canada on

how to select, install, use, and maintain

single-conductor portable feeder cables used

to supply power for television, fi lm, live

performance, and special events in Canada.

In public review soonThree working groups voted to offer

some draft new standards or revisions

for public review at their meetings at the

USITT Conference in Fort Worth. Those

meetings happened after the Technical

Standards Council met, so the TSC, which

has the duty of checking to ensure that the

correct procedures have been followed at

each step, has to consider approving these

reviews by letter ballot. As I write this, the

letter ballots still have about a week to

run, but the votes so far are either all in

favor or overwhelmingly so. If the motions

carry, these documents will be posted for

public review at http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/

documents/public_review_docs.php by the

time this issue of Protocol is published.


Technology – Selection and Use of Personal

Fall Arrest Systems on Portable Structures

Used in the Entertainment Industry

The document offers guidance on how to

use a PFAS on portable structures, such as a

truss grid.

BSR E1.46 – 201x, Recommended

Practice for the Prevention of Falls from

Theatrical Stages and Raised Performance

Platforms

If a performer exits the stage into

the orchestra pit and lies at the bottom

moaning—or worse, silent—it’s a show-

stopper and a serious problem, both for the

TSP News | Planting and weeding on Earth Day


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performer and for the employer, who has

failed the legal duty of care to provide a safe

workplace. This document is to help avoid

falls while still allowing the show to go on.

BSR E1.37-2, Entertainment Technology

– Additional Message Sets for ANSI

E1.20 (RDM) – Part 2, IPv4 & DNS

Confi guration Messages

This draft standard is intended to

defi ne PIDs to confi gure IP devices over a

DMX512/RDM EIA485 network.

BSR E1.31-201x, Entertainment

Technology – Lightweight Streaming

Protocol for Transport of DMX512 using

ACN

This is a revision of the 2009 standard

for transporting DMX512-type data over

Ethernet using ACN’s (ANSI E1.17) Session

Data Transport mechanism, variously

known as “sACN” and “Streaming ACN,”

although ACN does not stream.

Up for reaffirmationSix existing standards recently were offered

for public review for reaffi rmation. Nobody

objected to the motion, so the standards are

now being voted on by letter ballot by their

respective working groups to be reaffi rmed.

The motions, if they carry, will have a few

more steps to ascend, but there should be

no problem—unless someone discovers an

error at the last minute, which sometimes

happens. “Reaffi rmation” means that no

requirements would be changed, but the

front matter, such as the PLASA logo and

offi ce address, would be updated.


Technology – Theatrical Fog Made With

Aqueous Solutions of Di- and Trihydric

Alcohols

This standard describes the composition

of theatrical fogs or artifi cial mists that

are not likely to be harmful to otherwise

healthy performers, technicians, or audience

members of normal working age. It lists

what can be in the fog or haze and how

much can be there on a short-term and

long-term basis.

ANSI E1.27-2 - 2009, Entertainment

Technology - Recommended Practice for

Permanently Installed Control Cables for

Use with ANSI E1.11 (DMX512-A) and

USITT DMX512/1990 Products

This is the second part of a two-part

standard for DMX512 cabling. The fi rst

part, ANSI E1.27-1, is for portable control

cables.

ANSI E1.29 - 2009, Product Safety

Standard for Theatrical Fog Generators

that Create Aerosols of Water, Aqueous

Solutions of Glycol or Glycerin, or Aerosols

of Highly Refi ned Alkane Mineral Oil

ANSI E1.29 is intended to help guide

product safety testing laboratories in

evaluating fog-making equipment for

design or construction defects that might

create unacceptable hazards. It is based on

ANSI/UL 998 – 2006, Humidifi ers, but has

modifi cations to deal with safety issues

peculiar to fog generators.

ANSI E1.30-3 - 2009, EPI 25, Time

Reference in ACN Systems Using SNTP and

NTP

E1.30-3 is another recipe in the E1.30

cookbook for ACN. It offers ways of

providing a time reference so that events can

be synchronized.

ANSI E1.30-10 - 2009, EPI 32,

Identifi cation of Draft Device Description

Language Modules

ANSI E1.30-10 is a recommended way of

identifying a Device Description Language

Module for ACN as a trial version, one

under development, not for release yet.


Technology – Measuring and Specifying

the Slipperiness of Floors Used in Live

Performance Venues

ANSI E1.34 describes a very simple

drag-sled for measuring the slipperiness of

a performance fl oor, and two procedures

to use with the sled. One uses standardized

stainless steel feet on the sled to give a

coeffi cient of friction that can be used to

describe the fl oor in a general way. The

second procedure measures the slipperiness

with a performer’s shoe-sole materials.

PLASA standards downloadsOver the past year, more than 22,029 copies

of PLASA’s standards and informational

documents have been downloaded by

3,527+ users. These documents would have

a total retail value exceeding $528,490, but

their free distribution is being made possible

by the sponsorship of ProSight Specialty

Insurance. The most popular dozen in order

of popularity are:


Technology – Design, Manufacture and Use of

Aluminum Trusses and Towers

ANSI E1.11 – 2008 (R2013),

Entertainment Technology – USITT

DMX512-A, Asynchronous Serial Digital

Data Transmission Standard for Controlling

Lighting Equipment and Accessories


Technology – Construction and Use of Wire

Rope Ladders


Technology – RDM – Remote Device

Management over USITT DMX512 Networks

ANSI E1.4 – 2009 (the old edition),

Entertainment Technology – Manual

Counterweight Rigging Systems

ANSI E1.6-1 – 2012, Entertainment

Technology – Powered Hoist Systems


Technology – Lightweight Streaming Protocol

for Transport of DMX512 using ACN


Technology – Architecture for Control

Networks (ACN)

ANSI E1.6-3 – 2012, Selection and Use of

Chain Hoists in the Entertainment Industry

Recommended Practice for DMX512: A

Guide for Users and Installers, Second Edition

(an informational book, not a standard)

ANSI E1.3 – 2001 (R2011), Entertainment

Technology – Lighting Control Systems – 0 to

10 V Analog Control Specifi cation

ANSI E1.15 – 2006 (R2011),

Entertainment Technology – Recommended

Practices and Guidelines for the Assembly and

Use of Theatrical Boom & Base Assemblies



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And a weed to pullThe weed to pull is a substitute for weed:

e-cigarettes on stage. At the last Fog &

Smoke Working Group meeting, Matthew

DeLong, Fog Product Manager for Rosco

Laboratories, expressed a concern about

e-cigarettes and the controversy about

them perhaps reigniting concerns about

fog as an atmospheric effect. The Fog &

Smoke Working Group and PLASA staff

are now trying to figure out appropriate

ways to address this possible problem.

An e-cigarette controversy might

morph into a fog machine controversy

because e-cigarettes are little fog machines

people suck on. The e-cigarette fog is

usually laced with addictive and tasty

chemicals, but versions that only contain

glycol or glycerin are available for use by

actors on stage. DeLong reported that

Actors’ Equity has published a time-

distance table for one brand of e-cigarette

to establish how far away an actor must

be from an e-smoking actor or how long

after an exhale the non-smoker may move

in closer and not be exposed to fog that

exceeds the limits written into Equity

contracts.

Fine, but is the e-cigarette fog okay for

the e-smoking actor? One can argue that

e-cigarettes are safer than real cigarettes,

or even herbal cigarettes, in that the fire

hazard is much less and there are no weird

products of combustion, but certainly

the glycol or glycerin exposure in a drag

exceeds the ceiling limits in ANSI E1.5

and Equity contracts. The limits in those

documents are based on numerous studies

over decades on glycol and glycerin as

theatrical effects or as chemicals in the

workplace atmosphere. We have virtually

no data on the health effects of short

but concentrated exposures to glycol

and glycerin fogs as a result of smoking

e-cigarettes.

More study is needed about the possible

health effects of e-cigarettes on smoking

actors—nobody benefits from making

performers sick—but this is not a project

for PLASA’s Fog & Smoke Working

Group. Our job right now is to explain

that e-cigarettes are hand props, not

atmospheric effects, and our fog testing

program does not apply to them. This is

a weed we’d like to pull from the garden

before its roots go deep.

Karl G. Rul ing i s PLASA’s Techn ica l S tandards Manager. He a l so se rves as P rotoco l ’s Sen ior Techn ica l Ed i to r. He can be reached at kar l . ru l ing@plasa .org .

PLASA’s TSP works to maintain a balance of interest on the working groups to help ensure that the standards developed are for the benefit of everyone: the people who make equipment, the people who sell or rent it, the people who specify it, and the people who use it. To do this, periodically the TSP issues a call for new members in particular interest categories. At this time, the following working groups are looking for voting members in the noted interest categories to help balance the interests in the working group.

Control Protocols: dealer/rental companies, designersElectrical Power: dealer/rental companies, designersFloors: dealer/rental companies, designers—and anyone with a material interest or expertise in fall preventionFog and Smoke: dealer/rental companies, designers, manufacturersPhotometrics: dealer/rental companies, designers, usersRigging: designersStage Lifts: users, general interest

Voters in PLASA’s Technical Standards Program are required to attend meetings and to vote on letter ballots. Membership in PLASA is not a requirement for participation in the PLASA Technical Standards Program. More information about becoming involved in the Technical Standards Program is available at http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/working_groups/index.html.

Call for members


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Soft SellBY BILL GROENER

Effective time management skills pave the road to successThriving sales personnel need to maximize their finite resource of time

“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something

stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might

just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”

~ Earl Nightingale

IN THE MORE THAN 30 YEARS that I have worked to sell

entertainment technology products and services, I have encountered

countless strategies claiming to improve performance and increase

sales. In this “golden age” of information, even a cursory web search

will yield far more information than the books that line my shelves

and the magazines stacked in precarious piles just waiting to be

absorbed. Sales professionals are often obsessed with their pursuit

of the next best strategy that will enable them to close orders,

exceed quotas, and reap fi nancial rewards far beyond their wildest

expectations. In fact, the only mission that seems comparable is the

quest for the swift and effortless ability to lose weight.

As tempting as it may be to seek out the latest and greatest fad

diet, most experts strongly recommend that long-term success

requires the consumption of fewer calories coupled with increased

activity levels. While this is not the miraculous plan that most

people seek, it is a proven plan that will yield positive results.

In a similar way, improved sales performance can be

accomplished through ploys, gimmicks, strategies, and stunts, but

long-term success will more likely be achieved through effective

time management. I deliberately used the word effective rather than

effi cient. Effi ciency implies that a task is done right. Effectiveness

implies that the right job is done. When you’re effi cient, you do the

job that’s in front of you in the best possible way. If you’re effective,

you make a judgment call as to whether or not a job needs to be

done. A good time manager (you could also say a good salesperson)

combines these two skills by evaluating all possible tasks that can be

done, selecting the most important ones and then doing them in the

best way possible.

Time management can be the single most important skill that

a salesperson can master. Time is a precious resource. At the same

time, unlike talent, intelligence, or wealth, it can also be “the great

equalizer.” Rich people cannot buy more time, and smart people can’t

invent additional hours or minutes. We all have exactly the same

amount of time each day, and we completely control how we use it.

Unfortunately, many people confuse activity and action. A

hamster in a cage can be extremely active while running on its

wheel, but it actually goes absolutely nowhere. Action is different.

It implies results. It assumes a beginning, middle, and end, and

it can be positively impacted by careful thought and strategic

planning. Activity can be rushed, and tension can result. In the end,

effectiveness will be reduced. Action can clearly demonstrate the

difference between necessary drive and urgency and less effective

impatience.

Inactivity can be your enemy if it is the result of procrastination,

indecision, or laziness. If, on the other hand, it represents a quiet

period of contemplation when options are evaluated, strategies are

formulated, and priorities are set, inactivity could very well be quite

productive.

Know and understand the time available to you to accomplish

your tasks;

Eliminate unnecessary activities that do not support your goals

and objectives;

Take the time to consider options and plan your strategies;

Execute your plans with confi dence, daring, and enthusiasm.

“Everything requires time. It is the only truly universal condition.

All work takes place in time and uses up time. Yet most people take for

granted this unique, irreplaceable, and necessary resource. Nothing

else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender

loving care of time.” ~ Peter F. Drucker

Bil l Groener i s the Genera l Manager fo r the Sys tems and Des ign group wi th in 4Wal l Ente r ta inment L ight ing . He i s a l so the Vice Cha i r o f the PLASA Govern ing Body, the Vice Cha i r o f PLASA operat ing in Nor th Amer i ca , and a board member o f The PLASA Foundat ion .

We all have exactly the same amount of time each day, and we completely control how we use it.“

“

Time management can be the single most important skill that a salesperson can master.“

“

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PERG NewsBY HARRY BOX

Theft and fraud—the central issue at the PERG membership meeting

THE PLASA PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT RENTAL GROUP

(PERG) held its annual general membership meeting April 8 in Las

Vegas during the National Association of Broadcasters Conference

(NAB). At last year’s NAB meeting, we heard from member

companies and security experts about physical security. This year’s

meeting followed up on that theme.

Over the past year, PERG has continued to work on the issue of

equipment theft and fraud. At the end of 2013 and into 2014, PERG

collaborated with our sister PLASA-group, ASPEC in the UK, to

survey member’s experiences and to help prioritize possible avenues

for prevention.

The results of the survey were very clear. Rental companies

continue to see annual losses in the millions of dollars both from

burglary (26% of reported losses) and from equipment ordered

fraudulently and never returned (41%). The survey gathered input

from rental companies on both sides of the Atlantic regarding both

physical security practices and administrative security procedures.

Without a doubt, this issue affects the bottom line of every

rental house. The high level of industry-wide theft increases

insurance rates for everyone. If thieves are able to fi nd soft spots to

exploit, the rate of incidents will continue upward. On the other

hand, if thieves fi nd they run into a brick wall everywhere they go,

the opposite will happen.

The survey showed broad support for a number of PERG/ASPEC

initiatives aimed at making PLASA member companies uninviting

targets for criminals. At this year’s NAB meeting, industry veteran

Charlie Davidson laid out the multi-pronged fraud and theft

program PERG and ASPEC are currently building.

Missing Equipment Database. Improvements to the PLASA

online missing equipment database are aimed at collecting better

information about the nature of crimes, which can be collated

and periodically distributed to members. PERG has been reaching

out to equipment service centers and used equipment dealers to

involve them and encourage them to use the list. Doing so could

help cut off legitimate technical support for stolen equipment and

provide an opportunity to recover items if they resurface. PERG

invited top service companies and equipment dealers to attend the

meeting at NAB.

Questionable Customer Alert. We know that companies

sometimes refuse a rental because something doesn’t check out

about the potential customer. The Questionable Customer Alert

system provides a way to let other companies know what to look for.

The high level of industry-wide theft increases insurance rates for everyone.“

“

Charlie Davidson project leader for the Fraud & Theft Prevention Initiative

Paul Royalty (Mole-Richardson, Co.) PERG Council Chair

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A simple online form gets the essential information out to members

quickly.

New Customer Inquiry. This service enables members to

check with each other and get independent references regarding

a customer’s authenticity and payment habits (good or bad). Past

thefts potentially could have been prevented if a means to share this

information had been in place.

Best Practices. With input from companies all over the US and

UK, as well as insight from insurance experts, security experts, and

law enforcement, the proposed checklist/handbook will provide

rental house owners and operations personnel a resource when

making policy and security decisions.

The PERG meeting at NAB offered us an opportunity to discuss

another new resource as well. At LDI 2013, ProSight Insurance and

PLASA released a comprehensive reference guide titled Entertaining

Safety: The Entertainment Technology Professional’s Guide to

PERG News | Theft and fraud

Brandon Zachary (Abel Cine), Gianluca Bertone (Bertone Visuals), and Kellie Hiatt (Codex Digital)

Derek Hammer (Hammer Lighting & Grip) and Tom Petrie (Bad Dog Pictures)

Ian Jackson (VMI), Kevin Oaten (VMI and chair of APSEC’s Fraud and Theft committee), and Mark Dollery (ARRI)

Jane Rein (ARRI), Greg Meyers (Cinequipt), Mark Tye (Citation Support), Kathy De Bois (Citation Support), and David Ishida (Cinequipt)

Kurt Miner (Fireman’s Fund), David Cloward (Fireman’s Fund), and Ross Taylor (Taylor & Taylor)

Chris MacKarell (ARRI CSC) and Chris Konash (Panavision)

JR Reid (JR Lighting) and Carly Barber (Illumination Dynamics)

Marker Karahadian (Rental Rocket), Moe Shore (Abel Cine), and Barry Measure (Take 2 Film Services)

Robert Keslow (Keslow Camera), Alex Pakarian (The Camera House), Dennis McDonald (Keslow Camera), and David Wells (Moving Picture Electronic Services)

Michelle Duclos (Duclos Lenses), Ed Stamm (ARRI CSC, FL), Paul Duclos (Duclos Lenses), Micheal Koerner (Koerner Camera), and Harry Box (PERG Manager)


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PERG News | Theft and fraud

Insurance and Risk Management. For our

NAB meeting, we prevailed upon one of

our resident insurance experts and PERG

council member, Scott Taylor, of Taylor

& Taylor Associates, to help familiarize us

with this resource. Of particular interest for

PERG companies, the handbook outlines

the insurance coverages that should be

considered by rental companies, aids in

understanding co-insurance provisions and

indemnifi cation clauses, and advises you

what to do when you suffer a loss.

As usual, members enjoyed visiting with

one another over appetizers and drinks.

The meeting was sponsored by Firemen’s

Fund Insurance, Mole-Richardson, Moving

Picture Electronic Services, Keslow Camera,

and Taylor & Taylor Associates.

PERG plans another social gathering for

members on the eve of the Cine Gear Expo,

Thursday June 5. As always, if you want to

know more about PERG’s activities, please

contact me at [email protected].

Harry C. Box has more than 20 years o f exper ience in mot ion p ic tu re and te lev i s ion , spec ia l i z ing in c inematography, camera , and l ight ing . Har ry i s a member o f the C inematography Gu i ld and the Soc ie ty o f Camera Operators and

i s the author o f the h igh ly - regarded tex t The Set L ight ing Techn ic ian ’s Handbook (now in i t s four th ed i t ion) . He se rves as Counc i l Manager fo r the PLASA Product ion Equ ipment Renta l Group.

. . . the proposed checklist/handbook will provide rental house owners and operations personnel a resource when making policy and security decisions.

“ “


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PLASA MEMBERSHIP IS PLEASED TO

OFFER a new program with American

Express that will offer members a processing

fee as low as 2.6%, effective immediately.

With over 107.2 million cards in circulation,

PLASA members that accept American

Express have an edge over their competition

and, with this new rate, can save

signifi cantly on their annual operating costs.

In addition, members have also reported

higher customer loyalty and increased

business because of the convenience.

“The collective fi nancial success of

PLASA members gives us the ability to offer

rates you wouldn’t necessarily come close to

without our combined buying power,” says

Kacey Coffi n, Director of Membership at

PLASA. “We are excited to offer this to our

members, and see it as an essential benefi t

for the future.”

Members with offi ces in the United States

are encouraged to start saving today and

sign your company on to accept American

Express. For members who already accept

American Express, getting the new rate is

easy. PLASA’s membership team will walk

you through it step-by-step and you can

begin to save money immediately. Contact

[email protected] or call +1 212

244 1505 to get started.

PLASA members receive processing fees as low as 2.6% from American Express

069_PSpring14_PLASAMemberBenefit.indd 69 5/13/14 3:08 PM

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ETCP NewsBY CHRISTINE “BEANER” SHERIDAN

SO I AM THE FIRST WOMAN to receive

triple certifi cation. I didn’t necessarily mean

to be. Mostly, I wanted to do it to gain the

mark of a professional of the highest order.

Our industry has long been known for

its deviant nature, and certifi cation helps

legitimize us. I also wanted to encourage

others in my local to take the tests—see, we

can do this folks!

I am the fi rst Coloradan and the fi rst

member of IATSE Local 7 to gain all three

certifi cations. At fi rst, I was hesitant to write

an article based on just the fact that I am

the fi rst woman to gain all three. Also, after

20 years with the stagehands in Denver, any

sexist treatment I received has mostly gone

by the wayside. The men I work with are, by

and large, a pretty enlightened group, and

I don’t feel like I’ve really had to “prove”

myself based on gender in a long time. The

gender aspect did not stand out as strongly

for me as the ability to be the fi rst of my

local with bragging rights because I’ve been

one of the “guys” in my circle of stagehands

for a long time.

Then came my WTH? moment. I went

to order some offi cial ETCP swag. I looked

at the swag order form and discovered that

women’s styles were $5 more per item than

men’s. Really? The certifi cation manager

informed me that the costs are based solely

on the supplier’s pricing. As I spoke with

others about this, I got some interesting

responses. Most women in the industry

that I know agreed with me that it’s BS, as

did a reasonable number of men. Some of

the men I talked to though didn’t quite get

it. “What’s the big deal? Just buy the men’s

stuff,” they said. It reminded me that so

often, I used to feel like I had to work more

for the same recognition. It reminded me

of the stories of the women in my local who

came before me. It made me realize that

being the fi rst woman is still signifi cant.

I have mixed feelings about that.

I want to be able to step onto a call

and see all the hands as hands, gender

notwithstanding. With that philosophy, my

achievement, though worth being proud of,

is not so based on gender. But that’s not a

refl ection of reality.

Reality is that a group of female

stagehands are still “girls.” Can you imagine

the response if I spent my days calling all my

fellow stagehands “boys”? I’ve heard it used

but not often. As a steward, I actually had to

talk down a fellow member from meeting

a roadie in the alley because he always

referred to the crew as boys. I have been told

that I am too sensitive. And no, I’m not your

sweetheart, your baby, or your honey. I am

your co-worker at least, and occasionally

I’m your boss. So show a little respect and

remember my name. But again, maybe I’m

too sensitive.

Reality is that there are still a number of

men who want to take tools out of my hands

or take over a project that I’m working

on because they doubt my competence.

Imagine the response were I to do the same?

I’m pretty sure I know the names I’d hear. In

fact, I’ve heard them.

Reality is that I’m still the only woman

of 27 triple certifi ed individuals. Reality is

that women account for only 29 of the total

certifi ed individuals. Reality is that I still

have to pay more for my swag.

Things are certainly better than they

were 20 years ago, when I started in this

industry. There were three women members

of my local back then. We now exist in the

double digits. But as a percentage of the

workforce, we are greater than that. So

often, the response to a woman rising to

leadership roles is resistance. Assertiveness

in women is still seen as bossy, which is one

reason why I think that these certifi cations

are even more important for women. Just

as these certifi cations help to legitimize our

industry, they help to legitimize our claims

to the upper echelons of our industry; there,

we are still seen as a unique item. But with

the ETCP card in my pocket, I am one step

closer to removing any remaining old-

school barriers based on my shirt size.

It is very much up to us, the women in

the entertainment industry, to help change

this old-school perception. Progress is slow.

As I said, it has taken 20 years to gain ten

more women as members of my local. But

With one piece of plastic, recognized industry wide, I can show all the reasons I should be here.“

“Certification strengthens our industry—no matter what genderGet out there and take the darn tests!

Assertiveness in women is still seen as bossy, which is one reason why I think that these certifications are even more important for women.

“ “

070_PSpring14_ETCPNews.indd 70 5/13/14 3:19 PM

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I believe momentum can build as more

and more women gain the experience and

knowledge to be leaders on the crews. A

part of that is gaining the professional

certifi cations that refl ect that knowledge and

experience. Ladies, get out there and take

the darn test.

This is also true when applied to the

certifi cations overall. Stagehands, indeed

labor in general, are often seen by employers

as a necessary evil. As a labor force, we are

all shuffl ed into the “anyone can push a box”

category. But reality is that not everyone

can push a box without hurting themselves

or others. Not everyone can operate the

machinery involved with accomplishing a

load-in. Not everyone has the knowledge or

experience to keep up with the increasingly

complex and dangerous demands of the

shows that employers want to produce.

We’ve known this for years, but we’ve

taken a little too much pride in being the

scallywags of the industry. I think we’ve all

seen the Stagehand V. Pirate defi nitions.

If you haven’t, follow this link for a smile.

http://www.pscrew.no/crew/stagehand.html

Ultimately, though, the world has turned

in a different direction than your father’s

stage crew. More and more, we work for

employers who don’t think it’s cute that we

like to talk like a pirate. We like to demand

top dollar, and these employers want to

know why they should pay it.

Here’s why. Because I’ve trained. Because

I’ve studied. Because I’ve spent years

working the brutal hours the industry

required. Because I’ve put aside my social

life, disappointed kids, ticked off my spouse,

and confused family and friends all because

of some twisted love for this crazy life. And

(this is the important part), I can prove

it. With one piece of plastic, recognized

industry wide, I can show all the reasons I

should be here. So when someone wants to

complain that I make too much money, like

the squabbles over the recent Carnegie Hall

stagehands, I can point out that actually, I’ve

earned all of it. For freelancers especially, it

strengthens the leverage you may have with

any employer. For Union members like me,

it strengthens the entire bargaining unit and

your place in the hiring hall. For all of us, it

strengthens our industry. So everyone, get

out there and take the darn tests.

Christ ine “Beaner” Sheridan s ta r ted work ing as a s tagehand in Denver 20 years ago, a lmost exc lus ive l y wi th IATSE Loca l 7 . She i s cur rent l y work ing the bounce hav ing se rved as house c rew in a number o f venues as both

head carpenter and head e lec t r i c ian . She loves to spend her f ree t ime in the mounta ins wi th her husband, two sons, and the i r wonderdog.

ETCP News | Certification strengthens our industry—no matter what gender

TRANSFORMING SPACES INTO PLACES

As the cast crowds the stage for a bow, the audience rises to their feet giving a thunderous round of applause, calling for an encore.

Phot

o: B

rian

Rice

, cou

rtes

y of

Kau

ffm

an C

ente

r for

the

Perf

orm

ing

Arts

070_PSpring14_ETCPNews.indd 71 5/13/14 3:19 PM

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The ESTA Foundation NewsBY LORI RUBINSTEIN

THE LONG REACH LONG RIDERS

celebrated its 11th ride with a raffl e and

live auction to benefi t Behind the Scenes

during the USITT Conference & Stage Expo

in late March in Fort Worth, Texas. Sales of

raffl e tickets, some key donations, and BTS

and LRLR-branded swag raised more than

$12,000 for the charity.

Two very important groups of people

were honored just prior to the raffl e. Paul

Vincent, Kim Craigie, and Walt Weber

accepted a certifi cate on behalf of the

employees of Vincent Lighting Systems

who were gratefully recognized for reaching

$10,000 in donations through their

long-term Workplace Giving Campaign.

Employees at VLS have asked that a

small donation to Behind the Scenes be

automatically deducted from each paycheck.

Each time VLS runs a payroll, a check is sent

to Behind the Scenes. Kim Craigie, who set

up the program at VLS, is happy to assist

anyone interested in setting up a program at

his or her workplace.

Dana Taylor and the Short Reach Short

Riders of Mt. Vernon High School in Mt.

Vernon, IN, who also reached $10,000

with their annual tricycle ride, received a

citation which read, “With an abundance

of creativity and fun, you have shown

the industry that small, persistent efforts

The ESTA Foundation NewsBY LORI RUBINSTEIN

LRLR raffle, auction, and friend-raising benefits those in need

At USITT, the Board of Directors of The ESTA Foundation presented Bill Price with a certificate of appreciation for his dedication and leadership as Chair of The ESTA Foundation from 2005 through 2013. Bill has stepped down in order to pursue the work he has been championing on the Essential Skills for the Entertainment Technician (eSET) program which has been transferred from the Foundation to USITT (see page 54).

The ESTA Foundation recognizes Bill Price

The Long Reach Long Riders surround Bill Sapsis who led the traditional kazoo parade on a tricycle to honor the Short Reach Short Riders of Mt. Vernon High School.

072_PSpring14_ESTAFoundationNews.indd 72 5/13/14 3:21 PM

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The ESTA Foundation | LRLR raffle, auction, and friend-raising

Dana Taylor and the Short Reach Short Riders of Mt. Vernon High School were honored for reaching $10,000 in donations with a certificate that said, “With an abundance of creativity and fun, you have shown the industry that small, persistent efforts can have monumental results.”

Paul Vincent of Vincent Lighting Systems accepts a plaque on behalf of his employees from The ESTA Foundation presented by Bill Sapsis. The plaque commemorates their milestone in reaching $10,000 in donations through their Workplace Giving Campaign.

Steve Terry presents ETC’s latest donation to Behind the Scenes from the proceeds of sales of the iRFR and aRFR apps, bringing their total contribution from the app to just under $170,000 to date!

Alex Freeman, Dana Landis and Sasha Scherlinsky from Penn State University present a check to Rick Rudolph, Chair of the Behind the Scenes Committee, from their fundraising activities.

Ed Donohue, President of Rosco North America, presents a check to Rick Rudolph, Chair of the Behind the Scenes Committee, from the sales of Roscolux 359 Medium Violet.

Bill Sapsis with Joe Aldridge, winner of a $250 gift certificate from Sapsis Rigging

Tobin Neis of Barbizon, donor of the Technician’s Tool Kit, with winner Jim Davis

Daniel Del Busto, winner of the GoPro donated by InterAmerica Stage, pictured with John Gitzy


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can have monumental results.” This year’s ride is Saturday, May 4.

Become an SRSR sponsor today by contacting Behind the Scenes at

(212) 244-1421.

Students representing the USITT Chapter at Penn State

University made their annual check presentation of proceeds from

their ongoing fundraising activities and signifi cant contributions

were received from Bill Sapsis, Rick and Patty Rudolph, and Tracey

Cosgrove and Mark McKinney. After a frenzied bidding war, Steve

Terry was the winner of two tickets to Matilda on Broadway donated

by Local One IATSE, and a number of lucky individuals won the

bidding for handcrafted items donated by Shan and Trish Ayers.

Emcee Bill Sapsis highlighted the companies who have signed up

for the Behind the Scenes Pledge a Product Program which allows

a company’s employees and customers to participate in supporting

the charity. Rosco made their annual presentation of the proceeds

from the sales of Roscolux 359 Medium Violet, while Electronic

Theatre Controls presented a check from the downloads of the iRFR

and aRFR smart phone app. Other Pledge a Product participants

include Altman Rentals, Apollo Design Technology, Lex Products

Corp., and TMB.

Special thanks go to USITT for making our presence at the show

possible; to Moe Conn, Kim Craigie, Tobin Neis, Sherri Sternke,

and Bill Sapsis, for their invaluable help; to the donors of our

fabulous prizes; and to all who bought raffl e tickets, auction items,

and swag.

Sheryl Sturges with her gift certificate from Production Advantage for Vermont’s Finest Smokehouse Combo

Chris Collins, winner of five theatre titles from Focal Press

Brett Zellers from Apollo Design Technology with Paul Graham, winner of the Apollo BTS Wrench and 10 Little Focus Wrenches

Mike Wood was the winner of the $250 Visa gift card from Daktronics (which he immediately donated back to the charity)

Diana Raymond went home with the ETC Source Four Mini donated by Vincent Lighting Systems

Josh Wroblewski with his gift certificate for 50 sheets of gel from Lee Filters

Frank Brault of Vectorworks, with grand prize winner Gabe Bristow, and MC, Bill Sapsis

The ESTA Foundation | LRLR raffle, auction, and friend-raising


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IT WAS DELIGHTFUL AND SUNNY. It rained during set up,

but on the days of PLASA Focus: Nashville, February 18 – 19, it

was light and breezy, with weather peaking in the mid-60s, about

10°F warmer than normal. The last PLASA Focus I covered, Leeds

2012, had miserably cold rain. Nashville weather is better. Don’t

go to Leeds, go to Nashville! But wait . . . . PLASA Focus shows are

regional shows: Go to the one nearest you, never mind the weather,

but dress appropriately.

About 800 people ducked the sun and attended PLASA Focus:

Nashville inside the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, making it the

second best attended US show since the PLASA Focus series started

in North America two years ago. What drew them was 50 exhibitor

booths showing about fi ve dozen brands, and 17 Professional

Development seminars. Some of those seminars were exhibitor

sponsored, so they focused on products, while others were more

about business, particularly local business, and some were about

local personalities. All the seminars were planned for an audience

of end-users: the people doing shows in and around Nashville or

taking shows on the road from there.

It’s impossible to say which seminars were the best (that depends

on what you need to know), but the ones with a local slant were

one’s that helped make Focus: Nashville different from other Focus

events. For example, Ben Jumper of SoundCheck did “After the

Flood,” which was about what happened when a storm dumped

almost 14" of rain on Nashville in two days in early May 2010. The

Cumberland River fl ooded the Grand Ole Opry and SoundCheck

studios, among many other music venues, and wrecked amazing

amounts of musical instruments and sound equipment. The live

event community in Nashville pulled together to help each other

restore their lives, businesses, and livelihoods and that was the

PLASA Focus: Nashville— Ducking the sun BY CHARLES H. BECK

PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014, held at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, featured over 60 brands showing the latest technology.

075_PSpring14_PLASAFocusNashville.indd 75 5/13/14 1:17 PM

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subject of Jumper’s seminar.

“A Tale of Two Audio Engineers,” presented by Chris “Sully”

Sullivan and Eric Elwell, was another seminar that drew on

local talent—them. Elwell is a 25-year veteran of the music and

entertainment production fi eld, who has been in Nashville for

almost all those years, working in a variety of capacities. He was

the live music production manager for Amy Grant’s Three Wishes

television series and has recorded and mixed over 50 major label

releases. Sullivan has been in the business just as long or longer,

working in all facets of live and installed sound reinforcement.

Sullivan has been an front-of-house engineer for contemporary

Christian music acts such as Point of Grace, Steven Curtis Chapman,

and Amy Grant. (Christian music is huge in Nashville. The city is

home to the headquarters of several Baptist denominations and the

United Methodist Church.) For newcomers to the fi eld of live audio,

this presentation was a chance to learn about life ahead.

There were lots of other seminars worth seeing and hearing, but

two more merit special mention: “Access Anywhere: Rope Access,

Fall Protection, and Rescue,” presented by Impact Access and TES,

Inc., and “Getting Home Safely,” presented by The Event Safety

Alliance (ESA). The rope access session was about a particular way

of working on things at height using ropes to move and support

a worker at height to do a job. This access technique is used

spectacularly in the maintenance of church spires, but it’s useful in

entertainment venues too. “Getting Home Safely” was presented

by the ESA, but the whole ESA (hundreds strong) was not on the

dais, only Jim Digby, Charlie Hernandez, Stuart Ross, and PLASA’s

Director of International Programs, Lori Rubinstein. The event

was about the recently released Event Safety Guide and how people

can help make safety be top priority. We’re not doing gladiatorial

The Light Source booth had a steady stream of visitors. The PLASA stand hosted Happy Hour on the show floor during the last few hours of the first day.

PLASA Focus: Nashville offered exhibitors and visitors the opportunity to engage in conversation, build local relationships, and find solutions to prospects’ challenges.


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combats anymore; everyone is supposed to go home after an event

in one piece, able to do it all over again.

Exhibitors showed many interesting products, far more than

I can cover here. (Lighting&Sound America will give you about

5,000 words of a booth-by-booth listing at http://plasa.me/

focusnashville2014.) However, I would like to highlight a few

exhibitors who seemed to me to have made good use of the meet-

the-local-end-user emphasis.

Very local and fi rst in alphabetical order was 4Wall

Entertainment, a two mile walk from the Nashville Municipal

Auditorium, the site of this PLASA Focus. The event was a chance to

tell people about what products and services they offered, and to tell

them about UsedLighting.com, 4Wall’s online marketplace for used

lighting equipment.

Bradfi eld Stage Lighting says it is middle Tennessee’s one-

stop shop for production lighting, sales, service, installation, and

education—it’s also extremely local, being only a two-mile walk (in

a slightly different direction) from the auditorium. The company

has 30 years of experience in concerts, weddings, festivals, video

shoots, and theatrical productions. Bradfi eld has a large sales and

rental inventory, and also provides a range of educational workshops

and classes, either at its shop or in the customer’s premises.

A long walk or a short drive (8.5 miles) away is ON Event

Services. Booth staff at PLASA Focus told attendees about its audio

visual expertise available in two offerings: ONstage and ONsite.

ONstage is the event production division, and ONsite is the hotel

and facility division.

Driving distance away (about 17 miles from the auditorium) is

Bandit Lites. They are probably best known for supporting major

concert touring acts (e.g., Jimmy Buffett, LeAnn Rimes, ZZ Top),

but at PLASA Focus they talked most about products for sale:

Parasol Systems’ Autonomous Carrier System and Kinetic Light

Rings. Both were shown at LDI moving moving lights. Now you

can get them in the middle of Tennessee! Bandit also showed a new

in-house product: the SuperSport LED Sports Lighting. It’s a 400 W

arena luminaire designed to replace a conventional 1 kW metal-

halide fi xture—and these luminaires are indeed fi xtures.

Now we get into greater distances, but still local for some

purposes. Tennessee Equipment Supply, located in Knoxville, TN,

about 2.5 hours by car east, was on hand to educate attendees

about its full line of fall protection, rescue, and access products and

training. Five hours round trip is a chunk of time out of one’s life,

but if it gives you training to save a life, it’s a good investment.

Vincent Lighting Systems exhibited for the fi rst time at any

PLASA Focus at Nashville. Its offi ce closest to Nashville is the

“Cincinnati offi ce” in Erlanger, KY, about four hours drive away

(you’re unlikely to drop by for one sheet of gel), but for some

projects that distance wouldn’t be a problem, and it offers a broad

range of products and services.

Other companies were further away, and not local by any stretch

of the imagination, but it still made sense for them to be there, to

reach out to the end-user community. Absen America was one such

company. It’s the US arm of Shenzhen Absen Optoelectronic Co.,

Ltd., a manufacturer of LED video screens in southern China, and is

headquartered in Orlando, FL. It’s 28 hours travel time by air from

Nashville to the head offi ce in Shenzhen: a serious impediment.

Nashville to Orlando is not so bad: six hours by air, or a ten-hour

drive (or a ten-day walk). Still, an end-user will want to know

that help is close at hand if there is a problem with a video screen,

and the Absen staff was at PLASA Focus to tell that end-user that

it is. Absen has the “Absen Certifi ed Engineer Program” which is

designed to train and to certify people (they have to pass a test)

to effectively deal with LED display operation, maintenance, and

troubleshooting. Absen maintains service centers in Los Angeles,

Orlando, and Ohio—not next door, but close, and as the Certifi ed

Engineer Program goes on, help will be closer. Of course, PLASA

Focus attendees could apply to take one or more of the Absen

training courses to work toward certifi cation.

That’s it for now. The next PLASA Focus is back at Leeds, where

the expected weather is the low 50s and only a slight chance of

rain—almost as good as it was in Nashville. Following that, we have

a Focus event in Baltimore, MD, on May 8 – 9, at Loyola University,

and the second will be in Austin, TX, on September 9 – 10, at the

Palmer Events Center. PLASA members, Focus series exhibitors, and

regional dealers all benefi t from substantial discounts on exhibition

space. All events and seminars are free for visitors to attend. Free

visitor registration for PLASA Focus: Austin 2014 is open now at

www.plasafocus.com/austin/.

Charles H. Beck i s a re t i red sh ipwr ight . He occas iona l l y wr i tes about techno logy and events when he i s not tend ing h i s apr i cot t rees and b lackber ry v ines.

Bandit Lites drew a crowd to their booth.


www.plasafocus.com

Register now, it’s free!

Bringing the world’s latest entertainment technology to you

PLASA Focus is a new style of regional event that brings cutting edge technology to a town near you. Get your hands on the latest pro-audio, lighting, video and stage technologies and learn about new techniques from the industry’s top talents.

The exhibition is free to attend and gives you free access to the PLASA Professional Development Program - an un-beatable line-up of seminars, product demos and training. Register today for your free ticket, and receive the latest new product info direct to your inbox.

SEE.LEARN.

NETWORK.

NEXT EVENT:Austin, September 9-10, 2014

079_PSpring14_Prolight+SoundRecap2.indd 78 5/13/14 3:27 PM

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ERFOLG, ÉXITO, SUCCÈS, SUKCESAJ, . Whatever word

you use for “success,” it’s what we had at Prolight + Sound, held at

Messe Frankfurt in Frankfurt am Main, 12 – 15 March 2014. Eight-

hundred ninety-seven exhibitors from 42 countries showed their

wares to the 42,267 visitors who came for Prolight + Sound. The

visitor number might be misleadingly low. A total of 110,000 visitors

from 142 countries were at the Messe, some to visit Musikmesse, but

all were free to see either or both shows once they were through the

gates; certainly more than a few wandered into the four Prolight +

Sound halls, adding to the crowds there. People always want more

business, but business was good. When I visited the LumenRadio

booth about half way through the four days of the show, the staff

was relaxing and nibbling elk salami. They had already conducted

all the business they came to the show for; if anyone else walked

into the booth, they were welcome to join the celebration, and if

they ordered some of the new 6 mm x 6 mm CRMX chips for OEM

wireless DMX applications, that would be a bonus!

My lede for this story is taken from the new signage for Hall

9.1. It was called the “International Sourcing Hall” last year, and I

complained in my report that the name misrepresented what was

Prolight + Sound 2014: Success, however you spell it. BY KARL G. RULING

PRG again rented the Festhalle to use a vast venue to display what they can offer. A lot of people tried to take pictures with their phones, but the contrast ratio and saturated colors were a challenge for any digital camera.


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an Asian ghetto. This year it was labeled “Light and Sound” with

the white characters —“success” in Chinese and Japanese—

running behind the English title. The Quickfi nder guide described

9.1 as a hall focusing on “Asian exhibitors.” The misleading title

was gone, which is good, but it’s still a ghetto. Prolight + Sound is

an international trade show, but it is not a world’s fair; there are no

pavilions for companies from Africa, the Americas, Australia or any

other continent but Asia. Why segregate one particular group? It

adds a bitter taste to a trade show that otherwise is a tasty feast.

The segregation of Hall 9.1 made me uncomfortable, but

cramming together Asian exhibitors of various types of equipment

did turn the hall into a complex poon choi ( ). One of the meaty

layers was provided by Guangzhou Kinvee Performance Equipment,

which showed an innovative conical coupling system for joining

trusses. Many companies make conical couplers for trusses, but this

was the fi rst I’ve noticed that doesn’t use a pin, that uses a ring of

balls, like on a pneumatic hose fi tting, to make the connection. I

looked for this on other trusses shown at Prolight + Sound in other

halls, and didn’t fi nd it. How strong is a connection made this way?

“As strong as the truss,” I was told. Of course.

Shenzhen Gloshine Technology Company showed the YD Series

LED Dance Floor, which delivered what looked to me to be the

highest resolution LED video I’d ever seen in a walkable fl oor—

in fact, you can drive a car on it. I’m perhaps naive, but I found

it unsettling to see people walking on top of images of fl owers

swaying in the wind. The actual pixel pitch of 8.93 mm is tight, but

not unusually so. What is unusual in this dance fl oor is the size of

the pixels; there was almost no black space between them, so the

Thomas Casazza, Altman Northeast Regional Sales Manager, was on hand to demonstrate the Phoenix Profile Spot. The universal power supply allows the LED luminaire to be used world-wide, simply by changing the mains plug.

The Lumen Radio wireless technology is now available on a single chip measuring 6 mm square. It offers a new “DMX window” feature that sends an interrupt to the controller only when specified control channels change.

The FS-A LED followspot from Guangzhou Dundi Stage Equipment Company projected a strong beam of light using a 360 W white LED source.

The signage for Hall 9.1 had white Chinese characters reading “success” running under the English description. The characters mean the same in Chinese and Japanese, although they are pronounced differently.


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images were vivid.

The Guangzhou Dundi Stage Equipment Company showed

the ZS-A LED 10-20° “profi le light” [sic] and the FS-A LED 360W

“follow spot light.” Playing with the ZS-A LED I found that it

soft focuses beautifully, giving me soft-edged shutter cuts like a

barndoor on a PC spot, but with more control. The FS-A LED

360W followspot has knobs on both sides for right- and left-

handed control. The gobo holder is a drawer on the top that you

push down to insert, and then push again to have pop out. It

makes changing gobos quick and easy, but the gobo and the iris

aren’t on the same plane. The rated color temperature is a cool

6,500 K, but my hand looked healthy in the beam, and dropping in

a red fi lter did not kill the output.

In Hall 9.0, the fl oor beneath 9.1, the ETC booth was jammed

with visitors. New products included the Cobalt 10 control desk

(20% smaller footprint than the Cobalt 20), the SmartPack Wall

Mount with ThruPower, the Source Four LED Series 2, and the

Source Four Mini LED. Twenty-two years ago ETC showed how

bright the Source Four was by doing side-by-side comparisons

with the industry-standard spotlight of the time. At Prolight +

Sound ETC’s shoot-outs showed that the Source Four LED Series

2 is brighter than a 750 W incandescent Source Four and brighter

than the older LED units. In addition, the Series 2 offers better

color rendering and pastels than the fi rst generation. The cool white

LED that was used to increase light output and make pastels has

been replaced with a phosphor-converted lime LED (dominant

wavelength 567.5 nm, ± 100 nm bandwidth). It’s an extremely

effi cacious source, running at 100 to 131 lumens/watt depending on

drive current. It’s also broadband. Used with the existing phosphor-

converted amber source, the middle of the visible spectrum is pretty

well covered. The Source Four Mini LED is remarkable because it is

unremarkable. In luminaire appearance and output it looks like the

50 W incandescent version, but it consumes about 1/4 the power

and has a rated lamp life of 35,000 hours.

The Quick Truss connector from Guangzhou Kinvee Performance Equipment works like the coupling on a compressed air hose.

The Strand Neo lighting control desk received a good amount of attention at the show. Martin Searancke from LightFactory is in the background, coming forward to answer any questions these visitors might have.

Many people were intensely interested in the new LED profile spots from ETC. They are twice as bright as the first generation units, and brighter than a 240 V, 750 W incandescent Source Four.

The Gloshine dance floor offered extremely vivid images for a dance floor tough enough to support a car.


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Zylight showed the F8, and 8" white LED fresnel that is only 4.6"

from front to back when at full fl ood. Rather than the conventional

arrangement of a lamp/refl ector that slides inside a housing toward

and away from the lens to vary the beam, the F8 has the lens move

with a silicone bellows covering the space between the lens and the

source. The bellow system helps the luminaire have an IP 54 rating.

The unit runs on low-voltage DC provided by an external power

supply via a 4-pin XLR or a 14.4 V camera battery that snaps on to

the back. Spot to fl ood range is 16- to 70-degrees. The output is said

to be comparable to a 650 W incandescent unit.

“There’s an app for that!” exclaimed a student at a meditation

class I attended last year. Many companies at Prolight showed or had

sales people talking about remote control apps for phones or tablets.

Some were as unlikely as an iPhone as a meditation tool, but others

made sense to me and readers might fi nd them useful.

Bütec showed the Solo Drive One, a 1 m x 2 m portable platform

that uses a 500 W electric motor to raise and lower it while

controlled by a mobile communication device, such as iPhone, iPad,

smartphone or tablet, via Wi-Fi. Four “spindle drives” (they look like

Gala/Paco Spiralifts to me) raise the platform at 2.55 cm/sec to any

height from 25 cm to 1.5 meters and hold it there. The Bütec app

allows control of a single platform or an entire row as a group. A

shear-edge contact detector stops the motion if it touches anything.

Load rating is 750 kg/m3 static or 100 kg/m3 dynamic.

Visual Productions showed a prototype of Cuety, an iPad app

that acts as the front-end/user interface for an LPU-1, a little box

about the size of a fi ve-port Ethernet switch. The LPU-1 does the

work of storing the cue data, doing the calculations, and spitting

out the control signal via Art-Net, DMX512, or sACN, leaving the

iPad the job of being the pretty face. It has 64 playbacks handling

64 cues each, and it can run 16 playbacks simultaneously. A built-

in effects generator helps create pan and tilt patterns, intensity

chases, and RGB effects. It comes with 3,800+ personality fi les for

automated luminaires.

Daslight showed the Easy Remote app for Apple or Android

phones and tablets. As the name suggests, it is a remote control

for the Daslight Virtual Controller III software. However, unlike

the RFUs with which readers may be familiar, Easy Remote is

confi gurable; you create your own user interface offering only those

controls you think you might want to poke at on your portable

device. For those who don’t have an Apple or Android device, Easy

Remote web can be used with any device that has a browser and an

IP connection to your lighting network.

Philips Strand Lighting showed the Neo, a lighting control

desk running software based on LightFactory software. The desk’s

hardware is optimized for it, so it will do things that would be diffi cult

on a PC with a USB-connected output box. Martin Searancke from

LightFactory gave me a quick run-down of some of the hardware

features at the show. These include solid state-disk drives; 19

motorized faders on various functions; four encoder wheels; and—

something rarely found except on low-cost DJ desks—a fade-time

slider. The latter is useful for busking: you can let the desk do a fade

while you fi gure out what you are doing next. If the fade is too slow,

nudge the slider to fi x it. The desk will handle up to ten universes of

DMX512 channels, with control of them purchased on a per-universe

basis. However, Philips has “the Philips Advantage DMX model” to

promote their products. You must buy at least one universe of control,

but you can patch Philips dimmers, moving lights, et cetera to the

other universes without purchasing the additional control for them.

Android and iOS devices are supported as remotes, but you could

use a TRS-80 Model 100 as a remote, via Neo’s telnet interface, which

provides full access to the command line.

People loved the video images in the audience seating at the

London Olympics. It was stunning, and also a tremendous amount

of wiring and fi eld work. LightGeist showed a much simpler, more

fl exible way to do the job with the Badger, the LightStick, and the

Zoe Castle of Visual Productions holds an iPad running Cuety and an LPU-1, the little box that Cuety controls. The LPU-1 does the number crunching.

The DTS booth offered a very bright and popular moving light show.


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Splodger, battery-powered, portable LED devices that light up

under wireless control. The Badger and LightStick are little things

you hand audience members as they arrive. The Splodger is a larger

version that is meant to be preset in place by a crew. The space is

mapped, not the devices; whatever device is in a space will light

up at the right time in the right color. It doesn’t matter what unit

winds up where, as long as something is where a light needs to be.

How does it work? The product literature is remarkably silent, other

than saying, “LightGeist’s products do not use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth,

so there is no interference from mobile phones, tablets, laptops, 3G,

4G . . ..” However, at the show I was told that the communications

was done by projecting IR messages onto the devices in the mapped

space. Move a LightStick glowing to match its neighbors into

another area, and it changes color to match its new neighbors.

Hall 8.0 was full of sound and communication products, with

one theme I can pick out being “steerable.” Comm-Tec showed the

ClearOne Beamforming Microphone Array, with the tag line (auf

Deutsch) of “Better one on the ceiling than ten on the table.” The

microphone array is a 24-microphone panel about 762 mm x 146 mm

x 25.4 mm thick. The signals are fed into a ClearOne Converge Pro

conferencing system, which processes the signals to provide echo

cancellation, gating, and adaptive acoustic modeling to deliver a

natural sound. Noise coming from the direction of windows, doors,

or other sources can be blocked in software.

Pan Acoustics showed the Pan Beam active digitally steerable

column-speaker. Using DSPs to steer the output of a speaker array

isn’t new, but Pan Acoustics was doing the job with just two wires

going to the speaker, which houses the amplifi er as well as the DSP.

The wires, up to 500 meters long, carry power, audio signal, and

control data. One power unit can support up to four speaker circuits

of 200 W each.

SpeeQ B.V. caught my eye with its revolving panel of a grid

of EvaQ evacuation announcement speakers, wired with bright

red cable daisy-chained from one to another in a loop. The loop

is bidirectional, so a single fault does not kill a whole branch of

speakers, and it is also smart, with loop isolators that monitor

speaker function and pass information about any problems back

to the central unit. According to the booth staff person I talked

to, in a retrofi t situation it is a lot faster and less expensive to wire

a loop than a star network, but the system can be used with an

existing star-topograph that has homeruns back to the central box.

Emergency evacuation systems have to be able work during a power

failure. This one is designed to be extremely effi cient to maximize

the amount of time it can operate on battery power.

There is much, much more I could write about, but my space for

this article is full. More words from me about Prolight + Sound will

have to wait for the next show, which will be held 15 – 18 April 2015.

Tschüss, , au revoir, adiós, arrivederci, bye!

May29-31,2014LasVegas,Nevada

Elite intensive training at the Cirque du Soleil Training Center

No Cost for Training Opportunity

■ AUTOMATION ■ MEDIA PROJECTION ■ RIGGING ■ SOUND

orNew This Year■ STAGE MANAGEMENT

USITT.org/eliteAnotheropportunity fromUSITT

Participantspay for travel, housing, andmeals

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The International Event Safety Conference: Finding answers BY KARL G. RULING

THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL EVENT SAFETY CONFERENCE, sponsored by Prolight + Sound and the Interessengemeinschaft Veranstaltungswirtschaft (the Interest Group of the German Events Industry, IGVW), was held in the Frankfurt Messe Portalhaus on the first day of Prolight + Sound, 12 March 2014. I had the privilege of being one of the 664 people attending and of being one of the seven speakers. The talks had the common theme of “finding answers” to assure event safety for attendees, performers, and technicians. The sessions, other than those by the two Americans, Bill Sapsis and me, were in German. A simultaneous translation service was provided for the benefit of those not bi-lingual, but most people in the audience were.

Sicherheits – und Rettungsfachkräfte – Wie viele brauche ich denn nun wirklich?Marcus Moroff, manager of PerEx GmbH in Stuttgart, discussed the problem of trying to determine how many security and emergency response people are really needed for an event. (Wie viele brauche ich? = How many do I need?) Management doesn’t want to hire too many, but hiring too few can be extremely costly if there is an emergency. Moroff made the point, often not considered, that the security people are the public face of an event, and bad ones can ruin it. (The 1969 Altamont Speedway Free Festival comes to mind.) Moroff complained that there is no legal basis for determining adequate staffing. Moroff discussed the Maurer algorithm for analyzing risk and determining emergency worker staffing levels, but noted that the algorithm, while simple, doesn’t allow adjustments based on

past experience or special considerations. As a result, other methods exist and are preferred by some people. Which to use? Moroff called for the development of a national system, based on Klaus Maurer’s work, that would serve as a standardized way to calculate risk and appropriate staffing levels for events.

[Further reading: A technical report, funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research, regarding crowd densities, crowd flow, and emergency-response staffing needs is available at http://www.vfdb.de/download/TB_13_01_Crowd_densities.pdf. The bibliography cites Maurer’s 1999 work, Rettungsdienstliche Planung und Betreuung von Großveranstaltungen, as well as a FEMA document, Special Events Contingency Planning.]

Wie laut ist zu laut?Eckhard Beste, founder of Hearsafe Technologies, addressed the question of “How loud is too loud?” but let his talk wander into dodgy science and irrelevance. Beste argued that hearing loss due to loud working environments is not really a big problem in the entertainment industry. Sound levels in an orchestra normally exceed occupational safety action levels, but hearing loss among professional orchestra musicians is rare; it is far more common and severe in construction workers. Furthermore, according to Beste, teenagers are not deafening themselves by listening to loud music on headphones. Headphones allow you to listen at lower levels because they block ambient noise, and that guy with headphones so loud you can hear them playing over the subway roar is having a brief turn-up-the-volume moment! The

International Event Safety Conference organizer Martin Leber introduces the last speaker of the day, Volker Löhr. Both gentlemen are lawyers working in the events industry.

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first assertion about musicians having good hearing was backed with data, but the data analysis did not consider the healthy worker survivor effect. That is, professional musicians who become deaf often stop being musicians and leave the sampled population. (See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8172994). Deafness among construction workers will not force them to quit, so deafened construction workers would remain part of that population. As for the assertions about teenagers with headphones … Why were we talking about this? It’s not relevant to live event safety.

Nevermind. While Beste seemed to think that noise at work regulations shouldn’t apply to professional musicians, they do, and hearing loss due to high sound levels is a potential problem, so he had advice on how to improvise hearing protection (stick cigarette filters in your ears!) and on what commercial devices are available. Hearsafe Technologies, based in Köln, makes hearing protectors and in-ear monitors, so Beste had lots of product pictures to show us.

Ist der internationale Event-Safety Guide die Lösung – auch für Deutschland?“Is the international Event Safety Guide the solution—also for Germany?” was a presentation programmed to be given half by me and half by Sabine Funk, the director of IBIT GmbH. However, Funk was ill, so her presentation was given by Martin Leber, the moderator for the I-ESC.

I had been asked to explain how the Event Safety Guide, published by the Event Safety Alliance in the United States, came to be written. I did that, starting with the formation of the ESA and the concert touring industry’s passion for safety after the particularly disastrous summer of 2011. The Event Safety Guide is based on the UK’s 1999 The Event Safety Guide: A guide to health, safety, and welfare at music and similar events, modified for North America, but it’s massively rewritten, a different document. Only about 35 – 40% is from the UK guide but changed for North America; the rest is new material, including a chapter derived from the FEMA event management training guide. My talk’s conclusion was that the Event Safety Guide offers good advice, but perhaps its greatest benefit is that it helps professionalize the industry. Putting on big, live events takes training, planning, and management. The Event Safety Guide, by outlining the immense number of things that must be considered for a safe event, discredits the “Who knew?” defense when people get hurt.

The German event safety guide project is about two years old. Originally, it was to be an “open/public/common project,” but working that way quickly created huge organizational problems. Finally, the outline of the book was created by a group of experts. The next step now is to fill it in with content from those people who have agreed to contribute and then publish a first draft for public review. The hope is to publish this first draft at the end of this summer. A wiki will be the public review platform.

Sind wir schon (zu) voll? – Wie können Betreiber, Veranstalter und Ordnungsdiensteden rechtlichen und tatsächlichen Anforderungen an die Besucherzahlbemessung und –überwachung gerecht werden?“Are we already (too) full?” by Dirk Nossbach, managing director of nvl2 GmbH, was a presentation on the technologies available for counting people attending an event, particularly ways of counting visitors in real time, with various machine vision systems being discussed. Mobile phone pings could be used to track visitors, too, but Nossbach said that privacy concerns would rule that out in Europe, although perhaps not in the US, which is notorious for its weak privacy laws. The most interesting part was the discussion of what to do with this data. If you can establish how many people come and go during an event, it becomes possible to sell tickets for more visitors than the venue will hold at one time or to offer timed entry discounts. Furthermore, people tend to leave by the way they came in: If you can direct the arriving crowd to under-used entrances, you can help speed the crowd’s evacuation in an emergency.

Lifeline systems – when and where do fixed and portable lifeline systems really make sense?Bill Sapsis, president of Sapsis Rigging, talked about horizontal lifeline systems for arena-style performance venues. He noted that elevated work platforms, often considered a safer alternative to climbing the steel in a venue, also are a slower way to work, with fewer points being rigged per hour—and they required a clear floor below, rated to carry the lift’s weight. Properly designed lifeline systems, used with good rescue plans and training, can provide worker safety at lower cost.

Was bringt uns die Zukunft bzgl. VStättVO? Ist es Zeit für ein deutschlandweites Veranstaltungsgesetz?Attorney Volker Löhr described the current state of the laws across Germany for the regulation of special events and future prospects. Germany is a federation of states, and each state has its own set of laws for events, including open-air theatres, music festivals, sporting competitions, and so on. The laws are similar but not the same, and all are vague on exactly what one must do to comply with them. Löhr answered the question in the title—Is it time for a Germany-wide special event law?—with an emphatic yes. It is imperative that the states agree on uniform standards of safety and procedural rules for events. Great outdoor events, whether they take place on green meadows or in public streets and squares, with or without audience seating, have a great number of identical safety issues.

Attendance at this year’s I-ESC was about 220% of what it was last year—a steep upward trajectory! Look for it on 15 April at next year’s Prolight + Sound. It’s a great learning experience, and it’s free.

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USITT 2014: Big in Texas BY KARL G. RULING

EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS, they say. I have no idea if

that is true, but the USITT Stage Expo, held March 27 – 29 at the

Fort Worth Convention Center, was the largest Stage Expo ever,

with 254 exhibitors, which is a 19% increase over last year’s Expo

in Milwaukee, WI. Exhibitors fi lled 41,000-sq.-ft. of exhibition

space—about 15% more area than last year’s Expo and 32% larger

than the Expo in Long Beach, CA the year before. This 41,000-sq.-ft.

does not include the Sound Lab concert venue on the main fl oor

of the immense fl ying saucer that is the 11,200-seat Convention

Center Arena. I don’t know what the fl oor traffi c was, and the offi cial

numbers won’t be ready until after this story is put to bed, but it

looked good, and the exhibitors seemed to be happy. As I write

this sentence, less than one week after the Expo closed, more than

160 exhibitors have already reserved space for Stage Expo 2015 in

Cincinnati, OH; they are either horribly mismanaging their trade

show budgets or know a good return on their dollar. I think the latter.

I always enjoy the variety of products and exhibitors at the USITT

Stage Expo. It’s a relatively inexpensive trade show, so a lot of small

companies trying to enter the theatrical market or build a brand

can afford to exhibit. All this helps keep my undisciplined method

of surveying trade shows—wandering the aisles and seeing what

catches my attention—an interesting process.

As I wandered south on the center aisle of the show fl oor,

suddenly a tinkling sound seemed to materialize in space about two

yards in front of me. I don’t know how the three-dimensional sound

illusion was possible, but it was caused by the demonstration of a

speaker system in the Elipsis Audio booth about fi ve yards further

down the aisle. All the Elipsis products were new to the US, but

the two absolutely newest were the BeBé monitor and the DiVA II

vertical array powered speaker system. Bebé is baby in Spanish, and

this stage monitor is about the size and weight of a chubby infant.

Frequency response (-3 dB) is from 149 to 32.5 kHz, according to

the product literature, but the product designer, Ramiro Ramírez,

told me that the bottom end was about 200 Hz. The 6" cone low

frequency driver will go lower than that, but the small enclosure

limits the output. High frequencies are handled by a single ribbon

tweeter. The BeBé is a passive system, but the DiVA II, also shown by

Elipsis, is a self-powered line array with a 16-preset DSP and class D

and A/B amplifi ers to drive the four 6" cone drivers and eight ribbon

transducers. It can be paired with the LAB-118A 18" powered

Rose Brand / USITT Action Design Competition participants included: Brian Sechrist, Thomas Fernandez, Rachel Bennick, John A. Mitchell, Jodie Daniels, Hillary Collazo Abbott, Jacob D. Novak, Matthew Plamp, Sarah Schwartz, Kaylah Dulin, Nicole Giangola, Moriah Aronson, Tom Gray, Jill Klecha, Amanda Warren, Annette Roggenbuck, and Tiffany Delligatti.

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subwoofer for a system response from 38 Hz to 20 kHz.

I have a fondness for ribbon tweeters, so I next visited the Alcons

booth where the RR12 modular point-source array and the QR24

pro-ribbon line-source column were featured. The shape of ribbon

drivers suggests their use in line arrays, but sometimes a point-source

is useful, and the RR12 offers that. It uses a 6" ribbon driver coupled

to an asymmetric wave guide and a custom-designed 12" woofer

with 4" voice coil. It’s designed as a building block that can be used

to create various arrays—or alone as a point source. The QR24 line-

source column was shown at USITT before, but my conversation

Rose Brand’s Tom Sullivan, Peter Finder, George Jacobstein, Mary Katherine Vandiver, Yazmin Gomez, and Josh Jacobstein

Barbizon’s Scott Baker, Colleen Carroll, and Thomas Augusta

City Theatrical’s Andrew Nikel, Gary Fails, Paul Kleissler, and Gary Vilardi demo the QolorFLEX LED tape.

Alcons Audio’s Zoe and David Rahn

Shawn Nolan, PRG, in the James Thomas Engineering stand with Tray Allen, Michael Viehmeyer, Lucinda Woods, and Jason Waller

Tom Folsom and Rick Boychuk, Thern; Mike Kunz, LVH; Tedd Morgan, Thern; and John Mordal, LVH


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with sales manager David Rahn brought up an interesting point:

The impedance of ribbon drivers is almost totally resistive, making

passive cross-overs a reasonable technical solution. The QR24

delivers high SPL, accurate music reproduction, and excellent speech

intelligibility without the necessity of DSP-based beamsteering.

Then off to d&b, which had a very corporate-looking white

and black booth. The loudspeaker news there was the xC Series of

column speakers: the 16C, 24C, and 24C with the 24C-E extension.

The new xC Series uses a system of waveguides at the front and

damped ports at the rear to deliver a cardioid pattern, -18 dB at the

Pathway Connectivity’s Audey Cash, Robert Armstrong, Dave Higgins, and Van Rommel

InterAmerica Stages’ Eric McAfee, Joseph Martin, Solana Bolton, and Mark Black

Donna Deverell, Billy Phillips, and Heather Marie Short in the Xtreme Structures and Fabrication booth.

TMB’s Darryl Ross, Kate Olmstead, and Mary Alyce Merritt Sean Dane and James Smith in the RC4 Wireless booth.


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rear down to 370 Hz or an octave lower to 190 Hz if the 24C is used

with the 24C-E. The 16C is a two-way passive column loudspeaker

that uses four 4" neodymium drivers and a 0.75" compression driver

mounted on a CD horn. The 24C also is a two-way passive system,

but with six 4" drivers and an HF array of six 1.1" dome tweeters.

The HF array has a nominal vertical dispersion of 20°; this can be

aimed straight out or down 14° by moving a little slider on the back

of the cabinet. This is true digital control: fi ngers!

Point Source Audio showed the tiny but rugged Series 8

microphones for live performance. The mics can be used as a

SSRC’s Aaron Clark and Tom Petersen

iWeiss’ Richard Parks and Shannon Sullivan

Elation Professional’s Ray Villasenor, Jason Seecutt, and Clint Wingrove Paul Rabinovitz and Dan Studnicky in the Creative Stage Lighting booth.

The Light Source’s John Hartness

Amy VanDusen and Gregory Mitchell in the Limelight Productions’ stand.


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lavalier or worn in

various confi gurations

around the head

or over the ears.

Frequency response is

30 Hz – 18 kHz for the

omnidirectional capsule

and 100 Hz – 12 kHz

for the cardioid, but the

fun selling points are

that they are sweat and

rain-proof and that you

can wrap and unwrap

the mic booms around

your little fi nger. Maybe

fi nger-wrapping is

not too useful, but it

showed that repeated

adjustment to get the

mic in the right place on a performer won’t break it.

Extreme fl exibility but of a different sort was the selling point

of the structural modules being shown by Mod Truss, Inc. The

portable structure system is based on a series of 12" and 6" box

trusses/columns (use them in any direction) made of perforated

aluminum plate. Eleven-sixteenths holes in regular patterns allow

the modules to be bolted together in a variety of confi gurations

almost anywhere along their length. A large complement of

accessories, including corner block sleeves, fi xed wheel axles, hinges,

splicing plates, stair treads and stringers, tractor treads, fork lift

adapters, and handrails, make Mod Truss a gigantic, versatile Erector

or Meccano set for building stages, lighting towers, scenery, and

mechanical contraptions.

J. R. Clancy showed the VARION Versatility Hoist. It’s a package

hoist system, “built for versatility” (in case you didn’t notice the

name), with the versatility being that the hoist’s motor can be

mounted at almost any point on the backbone, and the loft blocks

can be just about anywhere too, with the lift lines going out of either

end of the hoist motor. It uses pile-on drums to handle the fi ve lift

lines, making for a compact and fairly light-weight motor (about

300 lb). Lift-load rating is 1,350 lb at 15 fpm. The hoist was shown

at the Stage Expo with the lift-line to batten connection being made

with a nifty new trim plate. It’s steel plate with a series of holes in an

arc to allow a lift line to be attached where needed to level a batten.

It provides a stepped adjustment, as is the case with trim chains, but

I suspect it is faster to install and adjust, and it completely avoids

arguments about chains being rated or not for overhead lifting.

Stage Sets used very large chains to extend and retract a section of

a tiered seating unit at Stage Expo. The one shown was only about 7'

wide and three tiers tall, but widths up to 70' are possible and 16-tier

seating sections have been installed in an arena in Mexico City. The

process of retracting a whole bank of seating is simple: fold down

the rows of seats (each row collapses forward), press a button, and

watch the fi rst row pull back under the second, then the second with

the fi rst row pulls back under the third row, and so on. Stage Sets also

demonstrated a quiet multi-line hoist for powered rigging systems.

Pittsburgh Hoist and Sandbag was at the Stage Expo not showing

sandbags—“sandbag” being put into the company name simply for

euphony. However, they did show some small hoists, and the Series

25 point hoist was the one that caught my eye. The name tells you

its lifting capacity in pounds. It will handle up to 35' of black wire

rope at speeds up to 60' per minute, and it seemed to me to be pretty

quiet. Pittsburgh Hoist and Sandbag’s hoists are all controlled by

DMX512 rendered reliable and safe by using a second loop circuit

running on Cat5 for emergency-stop and requiring certain DMX512

slots to be at particular values to enable movement. A grandmaster

fade to black won’t move a thing.

The Pittsburgh Hoist and Sandbag folks also operate another

company, Trinculo’s Attic, which shared the booth. Named after

the jester in The Tempest, the company offers a variety of electronic

gadgets, with the Prospero DMX cue light controller being the

thing that interested me at this year’s Stage Expo. It’s a 3.5" tall

rack-mount gadget that holds an array of movable, reconfi gurable

toggle switches with colored idiot lights. Prospero outputs DMX512

signals, which you can use to control a variety of things—cue

lights being one of them if you have some dimmers or DMX512

contactors handy to drive the lights.

Batts Audio, Video & Lighting showed the LUMENesce line of

products: the 4th Wall stage edge marker, the Cool Runner, and

the Index Strip. The 4th Wall is set into the stage fl oor near the

downstage edge, with the light from LED sources facing upstage

and shielded from audience view. Different colors are available so

that center stage and quarter points can be marked. Different source

Le Maitre’s Randy SegerenJerry Colmenero of Elipsis Audio sits with Jorge Solorio of Stage-Sets on Stage-Sets’s retractable seating riser.


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spacings are available, too: 3.3 cm, 6.6 cm, 10 cm, and 20 cm. Cool

Runner is a wall sconce that looks like a weatherproof version of

the traditional caged ghostlight. Its selling point is that it uses LED

sources and outputs blue light; white light; blue and white light; or

red, blue, green, and white light. The color changing feature allows

it to be used as a general work light and as a show running light, or

to give warnings, for example, by changing colors when the stage

manager calls, “Places!” The Index Strip is a device for lock rail or

loading bridge illumination, fabricated by mounting LED sources

inside 1.5" schedule 40 pipe cut with lighting apertures. The lighting

color choices are white or blue and white, and the level can be

controlled by DMX512 or a stand-alone controller.

Bob Kliegl was at the PRG booth showing a luminaire that

outputs almost no light at all: the UV Bullet. It’s a little luminaire (it

looks like a track-light) that uses an 18 W diode source to output a

controlled beam of light at 365 nm—which is just about impossible

to see, so it’s called “black light.” The unit is remote controllable and

addressable with feed-thru control data. A variety of accessories

allow you to barndoor it and spot the beam or spread it out with a

linear diffusion. A new 24 W white-light version of the Bullet also

was shown—so new that there was no product literature, and I had

to scribble all but invisible notes on the black Bullet brochure.

A clean, smooth dance fl oor is a wonderful thing. Harlequin

Floors showed the MicroMag Floor Scrubber, a machine designed

to help you keep fl oors, including vinyl dance fl oors, clean. It won’t

help you practice your two-step, as properly wielding a string mop

might, but it will help you clean the fl oor properly. It does a better

job faster than a manual mop, and it helps avoid the common fl oor

mopping problem of reusing dirty mop water because getting a

fresh bucket seems too much like work.

The Stage Expo is my chance once a year to catch up on

costuming. (I worked in costumes decades ago before I discovered

that it was the most work of all the stage tech crafts.) Perhaps

cutting and sewing hasn’t changed much, but the tools for designing

and planning have. Dragon Phoenix showed The Complete Clothier,

an integrated suite of software that will render costumes on CGI

fi gures (“Don’t like that? How about this?”), create patterns for

cutting the cloth to create the chosen garments, keep track of who

wears what on a show, and manage the costume and prop inventory

and budgets. It’s a major time-saver.

Next year’s Conference and Stage Expo will be held in the Duke

Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, OH, from March 18 –

21. If that seems familiar, it’s because it’s the same place where the

Expo was held in 2009, but it won’t be—can’t be—a repeat. That

show was a few months after the Dow’s worst point drop ever on

September 20, 2008. Our entertainment industry is not the fi nancial

industry, but when the fi nancial industry gets a cold, it gives lots of

people pneumonia. People back in 2009 were looking forward to

better times. Now times are better—and we can look forward to an

even better 2015 in Cincinnati!

standardssave.

make life easier

Save time and money with ANSI E1.20 - Remote Device Management over DMX512. Visit tsp.plasa.org to learn more.

Would you rather:

Spend two months scaling the building to assign a DMX address for each light?

-or-

Spend two hours and do it while sitting across the street?

Bur

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welcome new members

BUSINESS

Aardman Features LtdBritstol, Gloucestershire UKwww.aardman.com Absen American Inc. Orlando, FL USwww.usabsen.com A.C. Special Projects LtdHigh Wycombe, Buckinghamshire UKwww.acspecialprojects.com Actus Industries LtdGreenford, Middlesex UKwww.actusindustries.com Adlib Audio LtdLiverpool, Lancashire UKwww.adlibaudio.co.uk Alexander Production Services Ltd Sichester, Hampshire UK Alpha Grip LtdShepperton, Middlesex UKwww.alphagrip.co.uk ANC Productions Art & Commerce Productions, Inc.Burbank, CA USwww.ancproductions.com

ARRI Lighting Rental UKUxbridge, Middlesex UKwww.arrilightingrental.com ARRI MediaUxbridge, Middlesex UKwww.arrimedia.com Aurora Lighting Hire LtdGreenford, Middlesex UKwww.auroratv.co.uk

Bickers ActionIpswich, Suffolk UKwww.bickers.co.uk Birket Engineering – Hong KongKowloon Hong Kongwww.birket.com Birket Engineering – ShanghaiShanghai 200052 Chinawww.birket.com Camera Revolution LtdShepperton, Middlesex UKwww.camerarevolution.com Cirro Lite (Europe) LtdLondon UKwww.cirrolite.com

Concept Audio LtdBognor Regis, West Sussex UKwww.conceptaudio.co.uk

Duratruss B.V.Kerkrade Netherlandswww.duratruss.com Film & TV Services (EF) LtdLondon UKwww.ftvs.co.uk Flightcase Warehouse LtdTamworth, Staffordshire UKwww.flightcasewarehouse.co.uk Island StudiosLondon UKwww.islandstudios.net Mike Garl Consulting LLCKnoxville, TN US Movietech Camera Rentals LtdIver Heath, Buckinghamshire UKwww.movietech.co.uk MPS Studios AustinAustin, TX US Neutrik USA IncCharlotte, NC USwww.neutrik.us/

Inve

stor

s in

In

nova

tion

VISIONARY - $10,000 & UPLDI / Penton Business Media ProSight Specialty InsuranceUnited States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc.

INNOVATOR - $3,000-$9,999Barbizon Lighting CompanyElectronic Theatre ControlsTexas Scenic Company

2014

DEVELOPER - $1,000-$2,999Candela Controls, Inc.H & H Specialties, Inc.J&M Special Effects Pathway ConnectivityStage Equipment & Lighting, Inc.Ultratec Special Effects

GROUNDBREAKER - $200-$499

Boston Illumination Group, Inc. Louis BradfieldELS / Entertainment Lighting ServicesHot Springs Convention Center & Summit ArenaIATSE Local 514Indianapolis Stage Sales & Rentals, Inc.TEI Electronics, Inc.

TRENDSETTER - $500-$999DesignLab Chicago/Interesting ProductsDoug Fleenor Design, Inc. InterAmerica Stage, Inc.John T. McGrawMDG Fog Generators Ltd.Oasis Stage Werks Alan RoweSteve A. Walker & AssociatesVincent Lighting SystemsRalph Weber INVESTOR - $100-$199

Earl Girls, Inc. Tony GiovannettiIATSE Local 631Eddie KramerLightstream, Inc.Musique Xpress Lights, Inc.Stageworks, Inc.Strohmeier Lighting Inc.In

vest

ors

in

Inno

vati

on

www.plasa.org/standardsInvestor for over 15 years. List current through 4/14.

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Nicopress ProductsCleveland, OH USwww.nicopress.com Panavision AtlantaAtlanta, GA USwww.panavision.com/location/panavision-atlanta Panavision DallasIrving, TX USwww.panavision.com/location/panavision-dallas Panavision Europe LtdGreenford, Middlesex UKwww.panavision.co.uk Panavision HollywoodHollywood, CA USwww.panavision.com Panavision International, L.P.Woodland Hills, CA USwww.panavision.com Panavision New OrleansNew Orleans, LA USwww.panavision.com/location/panavision-new-orleans

Panavision New YorkNew York, NY USwww.panavision.com/location/panavision-new-york-camera PKE Lighting LtdLeigh, Lancashire UKwww.pkelighting.com

RentalPoint Software Inc.Milton, ON Canadawww.rentp.com Safety LiftingearBristol, Gloucestershire UKwww.safetyliftingear.com Stage Shop Ltd t/a CamstageSt Albans, Hertfordshire UKwww.camstage.com Take 2 Films LtdLondon UKwww.take2films.co.uk TechnoVision London LtdGreenford Middlesex UKwww.technovision-uk.com The Camera Hire Company LtdManchester, Lancashire UKwww.thecamerahirecompany.com

VMI.TV LtdLondon UKwww.vmi.tv

INDIVIDUAL

Brian LawlorMaitland, FL US

Chip PurchaseHouston, TX US

Jonathan GivensPlantation, FL US

ORGANIZATIONAL

Rose Bruford College of Theatre & PerformanceSidcup, Kent UKwww.bruford.ac.uk

SERVICE PROVIDER

Azule LtdDatchet, Berkshire UKwww.azule.co.uk

/PlasaOnline @PlasaOnline Plasa

Let PLASA Save Y ou Money!

Processing fees as low as 2.6% from

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Start saving today and sign your company on to accept American Express. If you already accept American Express, getting the new rate is easy.

We can walk you through it step-by-step and you can start saving money immediately.

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PLASA’s Credit Card Processing Benefit can save you up to ¼ to ½ percent on processing fees through MeritCard. This can more than cover the cost of your annual dues every year.

Switching is simple. If you are a current user, call for a review of your rates. Call Gabe Nickens at 1-877-396-3748 to compare.

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Why Invest?

for more information email: [email protected]

Indianapolis Stage has been a valued investor in PLASA’s Technical Standards Program for over 15 years.

James Hermsdorfer, Owner

Indianapolis Stage Sales & Rentals

”I donate to the TSP because standards allow us to put

together the systems our customers want.

Standards make my business better.“


94 SPRING 2014

ETCP NewsBY ERIC ROUSE

Headline

Creating the magic and making it safe

A Theatre Project by Richard Pilbrow . .94 www.atheatreproject.com

A.C. Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C2www.aclighting.com

Academy of Theatre Production . . . . . .91www.aptxl.com

Altman Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 www.altmanlighting.com

Apollo Design Technology. . . . . . . . . . .38 www.apollodesign.net

Barbizon Lighting Company . . . . . . . . .15 www.barbizon.com

BMI Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 www.bmisupply.com

City Theatrical, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61, 63 www.citytheatrical.com

Creative Stage Lighting Co., Inc.. . . . . .39 www.creativestagelighting.com

Daktronics/Vortek Rigging . . . . . . . . . .21 www.daktronics.com/rigging

Dataton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33www.dataton.com

Doug Fleenor Design, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . .65 www.dfd.com

Elation Professional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 www.elationlighting.com

Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. . . . . . . .8 www.etcconnect.com

ETC Rigging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47www.etcconnect.com

Entertainment Structures Group . . . . . .40 www.entertainmentstructures.com

ETCP Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 http://etcp.plasa.org/

Goddard Design Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 www.goddarddesign.com

H&H Specialties, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 www.hhspeciallties.com

InterAmerica Stage, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . .50 www.iastage.com

iWeiss Theatrical Solutions . . . . . . . . . .23 www.iweiss.com

J & M Special Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 www.jmfx.net

Jands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C2www.jands.com/stage-cl

Johnson Systems Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 www.johnsonsystems.com

LDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55www.ldishow.com

Light Source Inc., The . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 51 www.lightingclamps.com

Limelight Productions, Inc. . . . . . . . . . .50 www.limelightproductions.com

Littlite LLC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 www.littlite.com

Look Solutions USA, Ltd.. . . . . . . . . . . .68 www.looksolutionsusa.com

LVH Entertainment Systems . . . . . . . . .57www.lvhentertainment.com

MDG Fog Generators, Ltd.. . . . . . . . . . .C4 www.mdgfog.com

Mountain Productions Inc. . . . . . . . . . .68 www.mountainproductions.com

Musique Xpress Lights, Inc.. . . . . . . . . .57 www.mxnpr.com

Oasis Stage Werks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 www.oasis-stage.com

Pathway Connectivity Inc.. . . . . . . . 37, 59 www.pathwayconnect.com

Peak Trading Corporation . . . . . . . . . . .24 www.peaktrading.com

PLASA Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 www.plasafocus.com

PLASA London 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 www.plasashow.com

PLASA Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 www.plasa.org

PLASA Technical Standards . . . . . . . 91, 93 tsp.plasa.org

ProSight Specialty Insurance. . . . . . . . .69 plasa.prosightspecialty.com

Pro Tapes & Specialties . . . . . . . . . . . . .13www.protapes.com

RC4 Wireless / Soundsculpture, Inc. . . .35 www.theatrewireless.com

Robert Juliat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 www.robertjuliat.com

Rose Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 www.rosebrand.com

Secoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 www.secoa.com

Show Sage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33www.showsage.com

Stage Rigging, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 www.stagerigging.com

Taylor & Taylor Associates. . . . . . . . . . .45 [email protected]

Theatre Projects Consultants . . . . . . . .71www.theatreprojects.com

Thern, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 www.thernstage.com

Times Square Lighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 www.tslight.com

TMB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 www.tmb.com

TSP Investors in Innovation. . . . . . . . . .92 www.plasa.org/technical/

Ultratec Special Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 www.ultratecfx.com

Union Connector Company. . . . . . . . . .18 www.unionconnector.com

USITT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 83 www.usitt.org

VER Sales, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C3 www.versales.com

advertisers

To learn more about advertising opportunities in future issues of Protocol, contact Beverly Inglesby at +1 503 291 5143 or [email protected]. Visit the PLASA website at http://na.plasa.org/publications/protocol.html for additional information.

94 PROTOCOL

Reviews of the print edition:"Huge and superbly illustrated . . . It's an absolute joy to read"

—Michael Coveney, WhatsOnStage.com

"Brilliant... The ultimate book on the creative team side of theatre."

—Musical Theatre magazine, UK

Reviews of the e-edition:“The e-edition of the book brings that same in-novative, pioneering spirit and quest-to-im-prove to publishing, the new features adding lifeand depth to an already fascinating read."

—Rob Halliday

“Insanely great use of iPad tech, and a great readtoo. Buy this book!

—Jules Lauve

Features:A version of this digital book is available for:

• Apple iOS for iPad, iPhone or iPod

• Flash for Desktop with MS Windows XP,or Mac OS X Version 10 and above, andAndroid, Blackberry with other smart-phone or tablet devices using HTML5

• Free periodic upgrades will include further links to images and video, back-ground on productions, theatres, and personalities

• Feedback: Contact the author with yourquestions and feedback at www.atheatreproject.com

A THEATREPROJECTTHE INTERACTIVE DIGITAL

EDITION

A BACKSTAGE ADVENTUREEXPLORE THE WORLD

OF THEATRE

By Richard Pilbrow with David Collison

Read the book... and explore the world of backstage theatre via video, sound, music and across the internet.The remarkable story of how an upstart company, Theatre Projects, shook upthe world of theatre, establishing the professions of stage lighting, sound de-sign, and theatre consulting in Britain. It went on to revolutionize theatredesign worldwide becoming the world’s leading theatre design consultancy.

A THEATRE PROJECT is a spellbinding backstage adventure that will challenge, provoke, entertain, and inspire all who love the magical world of theatre.

US $19.99 | UK £12.99 | Europe €14.99 | 484 pages and over 500 illustrationsPublished by PLASA Media in association with Richard Pilbrow Design

www.plasa.org | [email protected] | 1-212-244-1505, ext. 712http://www.atheatreproject.com | http://www.pagesuite.com

Movies of amazing technology Clips of epic Broadway productions Weblinks to outstanding venues Rediscover Broadway scores


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Documents

THE JOURNAL OF THE ENTERTAINMENT …ia346.org/images/documents/spring2014_prot.pdfSPRING 2014 Q VOLUME 19 Q NUMBER 2 PROTOCOL THE JOURNAL OF THE ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY 26