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In August of 1986, 34 laser professionals, representing members from twenty-one (21) companies, met to discuss formation of an organization that could ensure quality products and services for their clients and themselves, safe and reasonable standards of work, and ethical business conduct. Since that time, the International Laser Display Association (ILDA) has grown to include members from fifteen (15) countries, as well as twenty-eight (28) states in the U.S. In May of 1987, ILDA was formally incorporated as a not-for-profit organization under the laws of the District of Columbia. Membership is open to laser professionals and affiliates from all countries. With the rapid growth of the laser entertainment and display industry in the last ten years, the industry has had to address an increasing number of issues. Ours is a high tech, government-regulated industry, requiring an understanding of government regulations and communication, and a command of high tech equipment and creative concepts that have to be marketed to clients with a limited understanding of them. ILDA provides a cooperative forum to deal with these issues, through our annual conferences, our magazine The Laserist, Internet mailing list, our awards program, and the ongoing work of our technical, safety, ethics, music rights, public awareness and planetarium & science centers committees. ILDA has been created to provide a means of communication, free exchange of ideas and the awareness of many approaches to laser display. As a result, members have become technically stronger, aesthetically bolder, firmer in their commitment to ethics, and commercially more sophisticated. As a group, we have made gains faster than we would have as unaffiliated individuals. ILDA has helped us relate to each other productively, not only as competitors, but as colleagues, with common goals and problems best addressed by group efforts. We've formed action committees and held educational seminars on topics selected by the membership: on safety/regulatory issues, insurance, marketing, technology, show design, and photography. We've been addressed by speakers from the arts, corporations, government agencies, and from our own ranks. ILDA also serves as a marketplace. We have gotten productive feedback from end-users and attention from OEM laser manufacturers. We have also bought, sold, co-ventured, and recruited among ourselves. To make the most of this marketplace - to network successfully in a small peer group - one must maintain a reputation. This is one form of positive peer pressure that has been generated by our association. Another is the influence of members who endorse and uphold the organization's stated principles, and whose individual successes contribute to the overall industry reputation./ Encouragement, education, motivation, cross-pollination, increased knowledge, validation of your work, more tools with which to succeed - these are the benefits of ILDA membership. ILDA benefits all of its members, but the greatest benefits accrue to those who participate actively. Working for ILDA will provide you with the opportunity to develop new skills, to make supportive friends, and to demonstrate your character and reliability. There has never been a better time for you to take an active role. The work of creating the Association has been accomplished, leaving us to achieve more this year and in coming years than ever before. We will be applying all of our resources to promoting our medium, obtaining group rates and discounts, improving our relationships with regulatory agencies, and encouraging safer, more appealing, and more profitable laser displays.

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