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What's new with ILDA and the website
(2006 list)

This page tells you what happened in ILDA in 2006 -- the first time a "What's new" list was made. You can also read the 2007, 2008, 2009 and current year "What's new" pages.
 

December 2006

Welcome to a new ILDA Affiliate member ($500 dues level): Jaleo Sonido S.L.U. of Rociana del Condado, Spain. They handle sound, lighting, video and projection laser systems, including multimedia for discos. Jesus Cabrera is Jaleo's general manager.

ILDA Members: You can now renew your membership for 2007 online. It is easy and quick to review your current membership and fill out the payment form. To see if your company has already renewed, check here.
     As a new feature, you can now pay for 1, 2 or 3 years of membership. The longer you renew for, the more you save!

Added information on intellectual property issues for laserists. This includes news about companies that have recently been sued for stealing laser artwork, misuse of ILDA's name and logo, and taking material from ILDA's website.

Extensively revised the website's menu system (in the column at left), to make it easier to use. Added a link to the 2007 ILDA Awards, with a deadline of November 30, 2007 (mark your calendar...). Revamped all the ILDA Member-Only pages, so they use the same menus and look as the rest of the website.

Updated the insurance information page. Recently one source of insurance (N.A.M.E.) has dropped their coverage. ILDA members have suggested other agents to check with.

If you entered the 2006 ILDA Awards, you can check the delivery status of your entries on this page.

Welcome to a new ILDA Affiliate member ($250 dues level): Laser Know How of Lancashire, UK. Run by Gary Morris, this consultancy provides system design and engineering, including ILDA compatible hardware and software, to government, industry and the public.

Added brief information on ILDA Founding Members. If you were there at the first ILDA organizational meeting in August 1986, or were a member when ILDA officially formed later in 1986, and you aren't on the list, drop us a line!

Welcome to a new ILDA Corporate member ($250 dues level): ESG Inc. of Toronto. ESG's Nick Petrus does club system rentals in Toronto and surrounding areas.

Welcome to a returning ILDA Affiliate member ($500 dues level): Laser Rentals, Inc. of Missouri, USA. President Walt Meador is an ILDA Founding Member with 30 years of experience. Laser Rentals currently provides high-power lasers as well as laser projectors.

Welcome to a new ILDA Affiliate member ($250 dues level): Shenzhen Art Laser Technology Co., Ltd. of Shenzhen, China. They are a manufacturer of laser-diode pumped all solid-state laser show systems, including beam show lasers, graphics show lasers, moving head lasers and multi-color lasers. You can reach their Chinese-language website here, and their English-language website here.

Added information, pictures and a link to video showing 24 lasers being used at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards show. This is an amazing use of lasers; be sure to check out the video clip (lasers start when the countdown clock reaches 2:41). Equipment for the show was provided by ILDA Member Laserimage b.v. and used a network designed by ILDA Member Pangolin Laser Software.

November 2006

Added an historical treasure: notes from the very first ILDA organizational meeting, held in August 1986. The notes, taken by Tim Walsh, make interesting reading -- both to see how far ILDA has come, and to see how some issues still are recurring after more than 20 years!

The Board has recommended changes to the ILDA Bylaws. Members are invited to review these changes, and make any comments or suggestions.

Welcome to a new ILDA Affiliate member ($250 dues level): New Laser Scan Technology. Vitaly Pilkin has come up with a new large-angle high deflecting frequency laser beam scanning system. It is said to have a scan angle of 30º to 180º, a resonant frequency of 0.5Hz to 16KHz, and a lifetime in excess of 100,000 hours. You can see his company listing here, and read more about the invention here.

Added a job opening to the Press releases page: "The Lexel Laser division of Cambridge Laser Laboratories Inc. has an opening for a Technical Laser Sales/Engineering position." Click here to read the entire job description.

Added a press release from the U.K.-based Association of Laser Professionals, about their first general meeting held earlier this year.

Welcome to a new ILDA Individual Member: Benjamin Kuchar, of Bopfingen, Germany. He has worked in laser and multimedia for over five years.

Bob Ash, president of former ILDA member New Method Lasers, has retired from the laser light show business, according to a posting on the Laserist List. More information is on the Press releases page.

ILDA will be exhibiting at PALME, the May 20-22 2007 exhibition in Dubai, UAE of professional sound, light, music, AV and systems integration. ILDA Members will be able to have free admission to the PALME show (please wait until April, when we'll get our tickets).
      Also, ILDA Members who wish to exhibit receive a 10% discount on stands booked by Dec. 31, and 5% if booked between Jan 1 and April 30 2007. (This discount alone can help pay for an exhibiting member's ILDA dues!) More information is on the ILDA Discounts page.

We have extended the deadline for the ILDA Artistic, Technical and Career Achievement Awards. Submissions are now due Friday, December 15, 2006. (The old deadline was Nov. 30.) The awards entry information and forms have all been updated to reflect this change.
     In addition, four new laser formats have been added. You can submit laser entries (frame and show computer files) in LDS, Mamba, Phoenix and Lacon formats. This is in addition to ILDA, DSP, and Pangolin file formats, plus the ADAT tape format.
     Click here for more information on entering the ILDA Awards.

LaserNet has repaired and updated the laser display on top of the 240-foot tall "Light House of Commerce" in Monterrey, Mexico. More info on this restoration is on the Laser shows and projects page. You can also download the full LaserNet press release.

Welcome to a new ILDA Student Member: Tobias Gebur. He is an engineering student at the Fachhochschule Regensburg in Germany. His laser show won the first LaserFreak Award, on 30 Sept 2006. One of his prizes was a free one-year membership in ILDA, so that he can enter his show in the ILDA Awards.
     (All ILDA members should remember: the deadline for entering is 30 Nov 2006. Entry infomation is here.)

Welcome to a new ILDA Corporate Member ($250 dues level): Green Light Productions of Venezuela. Led by president Jose Abad, Green Light has an impressive Flash website with examples of their work.

Added countdown timer to home page, to tell how many days, hours, etc. are left until the ILDA Awards entry deadline.

Updated information on branch offices in the Middle East.

October 2006

LaserNet's Tom Harman, a founding member of ILDA, is celebrating 30 years in the laser show business. A press release from LaserNet discusses the company's founding and growth.

The ILDA Fenning (Technical) Awards entry guide and forms are now available. Download the document listed on this page to get all the information. Note that the deadline is November 30, 2006 December 15, 2006. This is the same deadline for the ILDA Artistic and Career Achievement Awards nominations.
     Be sure to get your Technical entries, Artistic entries, and CAA nominations, in by the deadline!

Corrected the ILDA Membership application and related information pages. The annual billings ranges were incorrect before; these have been fixed to reflect what is in the Bylaws. The incorrect ranges were: US$1,000,000 or more; $500,000 to $1,000,000 and below $500,000. The correct ranges, to match the Bylaws, are now: US$1,000,000 or more; $250,000 to $1,000,000 and below $250,000.

Added information about passwords at the ILDA Members-only webpages, and at the ILDA Forums. Added a link to this page on the main menu (at left). So, if you forget your password for either of these areas, check the "Password help" menu.

Updated e-mail addresses for two ILDA Board members, William Benner and Peter Mayer.

The ILDA Conference has been set for March 9-11 at Neo-Neon in Guangdong, China (near Hong Kong). This should be a unique experience -- remember to add the date to your calendar! We have extensive information on the hosting site at Neo-Neon, and on how to get there. Later we'll have additional information on registration and events. See you in China!

Added the new Business Practices & Product Quality committee. This group will be developing guidelines for sales and advertising activities, and especially for eBay-type sales. In addition, they will develop guidelines to help improve product quality. One role of the Committee will be to advise whether the guidelines are only recommendations, or if they should become required under the ILDA Code of Ethics. Anyone interested in working on this Committee to help develop the guidelines, should contact the Executive Director.

The Board is pleased to announce the election of Tim Walsh to the Board of Directors, as of October 18. Congratulations to Tim!
     Tim joins Hugo Bunk, elected on July 26. The ILDA Board now has the full five member maximum permitted by the Bylaws. A Board meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, October 19, so that all five members can discuss ILDA business.

On Oct. 17, uploaded Revision 1.1 of the Artistic Awards guide.  The main change since version 1.0 (Oct. 16) is that the Graphics Show category was clarified. Both hand-drawn and computer-generated graphics are permitted in this category. If you have version 1.0, you do not need to download 1.1 -- just note the Graphics Show change.

The ILDA Artistic Awards entry guide and forms are now available. Download the document listed on this page to get all the information. Note that you have about 1-1/2 months to get your entries in -- the deadline is November 30, 2006 December 15, 2006. This is the same deadline for the ILDA Career Achievement Awards nominations.
     Be sure to get your Artistic entries, and CAA nominations, in by the deadline!

Two new projectors from LaserAnimation SOLLINGER: A moving-head projector with motorized gratings, and a waterproof/weatherproof projector. For photos and more details, click here.

Welcome to a new ILDA Affiliate Member: Brockbridge Pty. Ltd. is an Australian company involved in the manufacture and sale of laser projectors. Michael Roth is Brockbridge's director. Welcome!

A major new ILDA feature and benefit is now available: the ILDA Forums. You can read more about the Forums here, or simply use the menu at left to go directly to the Forums.
      Feel free to register. You can also tell your friends about it, since a number of the forums are open to anyone.
       We do ask that ILDA Members register using their real names, such as "Bob Smith" or "Jurgen Heinz", (instead of something obscure like "laser24"). After registering, you'll be able to read and post at the public forums immediately. For the ILDA Member-only forums, it may take from a few minutes to a day before your account is given access, since this is a manual process.
 
Updated the Code of Ethics page. A new section describes more clearly how the Code of Ethics helps protect consumers. To make this easier for potential clients to find, the menu at left has added a section on "Consumer protection", underneath the "For laser show clients" heading.

Added new ILDA Member logos. Some members have been using the "colored beams" logo which appears on our home page. Unfortunately, this logo did not include the word "Member" which we require. (ILDA uses the ILDA logo alone; members must include the word "Member" in or next to the logo.)
     If you use the colored beams logo, please switch to the new version. Logos are available in the Members-only section, on this page.

Redrew vector-based ILDA logo. Thanks to ILDA Member Guido Jaeger of mylaserpage.de. He kindly volunteered to have the ILDA logo re-drawn in vector. (The older vector version used an outdated design.) If you want, you can download and print out a huge high-res version perfect for letter-sized or A4 paper. Post it at your office and lasershows, to show that you are an ILDA Member!

Clarified permission for how Individual members can use the logo. The updated policy permits use of the ILDA Member logo if they are freelancing their own services, as a one-person company. It remains restricted for any other commercial use (e.g., it is not permitted to use the ILDA Member logo for a larger company or for selling products).

Welcome to a new ILDA Individual Member: John Birchman of Orlando has been active in ILDA for many years. For example, he did the live online feed of the 2001 ILDA Awards. This year, he set up and is administering the new ILDA Forums. Many thanks to John for all his help, and welcome!

Welcome to a new ILDA Corporate Member ($250 dues level): Concept Laser is a French company which has been doing laser shows since 1980 for multimedia, film and TV, audio-visual, conventions, industry and scientists. They have lasers from 3 to 60 watts, and can simultaneously project from 17 lasers at a time. The company manager is Patrice Richard, and the website (in French) is at www.conceptlaser.fr.

Welcome to a new ILDA Corporate Member ($500 dues level): Laser Shows SRL is a British company operating in Bucharest, Romania. Laser Shows SRL produces shows, sells equipment including solid-state projectors from 1 to 17 watts, and does in-house hardware and software design and development. The company was founded in 1997, and managing director Andy Preston says "We are passionate about lasers and events". For more information, check out their extensive website at www.lasershows.ro.

Welcome to a new ILDA Individual Member: Rainer Moor of Hamm, Germany. Rainer attended the Laserfreak meeting on 30 September, where ILDA Board Member Bill Benner distributed signup forms. Welcome, Rainer, to ILDA!

Welcome to a new ILDA Corporate Member: UK-based AardvarkFX.  Founded last year, it is run by technicians with 15 years of pyro and special effects experience. They do all types of events with lasers, pyro and other special effects. Their website is at www.aardvarkfx.com.

Updated copyright information at the bottom of most pages, to make it clearer about how to get permission to reprint text and/or photos from the ILDA website. This was done in response to a website which used large quantities of ILDA text without permission and attribution.

Added logos to ILDA Corporate and Affiliate listings, for members at the higher dues levels. Also did subtle but extensive formatting changes, to avoid problems with inconsistent link appearance.
 
 

September 2006

Welcome to a new ILDA Corporate Member: PMD Entertainment of Oslo, Norway. Owner Emil Karoliussen produces laser shows of all sizes including large outdoor shows, and works closely with LOBO. Visit www.lasershow.no for more information about PMD.

Added information about how to access the ILDA and Laserist mailing list archives. If you are a subscriber to the list(s), and want to look up old messages, the list archive instructions tell you how.

If you want to be more active in ILDA, here's your chance! A new Volunteer opportunities page lists areas where you can make a difference. Some are ongoing, such as serving on commitees. Other opportunities are special projects, where help is welcomed. Take a look and see what interests you!

Welcome to a new ILDA Individual Member: Michael Fuller of Northampton, Mass. (USA). He is a qualified Laser Safety Officer currently doing lasers as a hobby.

Welcome to a new ILDA Corporate Member: Intelligent Laser of Argentina. Led by director Diego Talavera, the company produces laser shows as well as providing laser show equipment. Their webpage is at www.intelligentlaser.com.ar.

ILDA Conference and Awards news:

• The 2007 ILDA Conference site location candidates have been published. Take a look at the three candidate locations -- China, South Africa and Orlando -- and then take a quick poll to tell us your preferences. ILDA Members are also invited to discuss these sites on the ILDA e-mail list.

• There is a brief announcement about the upcoming 2006 ILDA Awards entries, which will be going out next month with an expected deadline of November 30, 2006.

• L. Michael Roberts has developed an extensive 46-page guide to hosting, called "So You Want to Host an ILDA Conference". If you are interested in what it takes to put on a Conference, find out how to get this detailed report. ILDA greatly appreciates Michael's excellent work in putting this together.

• Tim Walsh has generously volunteered to chair the Awards Committee. Traditionally, this has been one of the most active and fun ILDA committees. If you would like to join the committee, contact Tim directly. Thank you Tim!

Revised various pages to clarify ILDA's policy prohibiting commercial use of Individual and Student memberships. These memberships are intended for non-commercial, personal use only. Among the revised pages are those discussing the ILDA logo policy, how to become a member, and ILDA Member discounts.

Welcome to a new ILDA Member: Mylaserpage of Germany. This company, represented by Guido Jaeger, is a distributor for lasers, scanners, controllers and software. You can visit their webpage (in German) at www.mylaserpage.de.

Added information about the ILDA and Laserist mailing lists. ILDA runs two main mailing lists, one for members (ILDA List) and one for non-members (Laserist List). The new Mailing lists at ILDA page discusses the purpose of the lists, how to get on (and off) of the lists, how to reply, getting help, etc. The lists -- especially the ILDA List -- are a benefit of membership.

New "ILDA Inquiries and Referral Service". Actually, the service itself isn't new -- we have always passed along inquiries to our members. But now this service is much more visible. By adding two new links on the main menu, we are encouraging more inquiries and referrals from potential customers.
     The new "Inquiries and Referral" webpage explains how visitors can ask ILDA for lasershow-related information. Simple questions are answered by the Executive Director; other questions and referral requests are passed along to ILDA Members via the ILDA List e-mail service.
     Of course, passing inquiries to members -- and only members! -- in this way is an added benefit of being an ILDA Member.

The ILDA Technical Committee is helping review proposed Chinese regulations for laser products. The regulations include ILDA standards, and are being drafted by ILDA Member Jim Hardaway.

• If you are on the TechComm electronic mailing list (ilda-tech) then you already should have received details about this in your e-mail. Comments are requested by Sept. 8.

• If you are interested in becoming a TechComm corresponding or voting member, please contact William Benner, the ILDA Board liaison to the Technical Committee.
   

Pangolin User Meeting announced. Added a press release from Pangolin Laser Systems announcing the upcoming Pangolin User Meeting, October 11-12 in Amsterdam.

August 2006

News from ILDA Members.  On the Press releases page. and the New products and services page is information about laser show subscriptions now available from Spectrabeam.de, On the Laser shows and products page is an item about LaserNet's new projector being used on tour with the band Poison.

Welcome to two new ILDA members: Darren Gray of Backbeat DJ (Arizona, USA) and Andy Thompson of A C Laser Hire (UK).

Changed address/contact info for ILDA Members who have moved into new facilities: LM Productions (UK) and Genius Laser Technology Pty Ltd (Australia).

Added information for ILDA Members about insurance sources and shipping-related tips. This comes from an e-mail discussion this month on the ILDA and Laserist mailing lists. If you are an ILDA Member who needs insurance coverage, or who wants to know what your rights are in the U.S. if a shipment is damaged, then check out the discussion. Thanks to all who wrote in!

Added information for web visitors who are looking for a laser show. ILDA receives numerous inquiries each month. Some can be answered by using the "Find a company" lists in the menu at left. Other inquiries are forwarded to all ILDA Members via e-mail.

The ILDA office will be closed August 2-8.  If you have an urgent need, you can try our cell (+1-407-797-7654) or contact one of the Board members.

 

July 2006

The Board is pleased to announce the election of Hugo Bunk to the Board of Directors, as of July 26. Congratulations to Hugo!
     Normally, the Board has five members, but two members resigned earlier this year. At a Board meeting held July 26, the Board acted in accord with Bylaws procedures to fill vacant positions. The Board voted on nominees and Hugo was selected to fill the fourth Board position. His term will run until November 2007.
     In about a month, Hugo and the other three current Board members will meet to vote on nominees for the fifth Board position. As of July 31, there are three nominees for this fifth position, and nominations are still open. If you would like to nominate yourself or an ILDA-member colleague, contact the ILDA Executive Director. For more information, see the page Serving on the ILDA Board of Directors.

Welcome to two new ILDA Members: Jeremy Vargus of RPI Entertainment & Media Group, and Tim Walsh of Laser Spectacles Inc.

Added information to the main (alphabetical) directory pages regarding the dues level paid by Corporate and Affiliate members.

Completely re-did the PDF (printed) version of the ILDA Membership Application Form, to make it even easier to fill out.

Added some internal Technical Committee documents. These include draft versions of proposed changes to ILDA Standards, and minutes of Tech Comm meetings. These documents can be found in the Members-Only section of the ILDA website, listed on the Technical Standards page.

Added a New products and services page. The first new product listed is the TrueBlue laser from DMXLASER in the Netherlands.

Added two news items. One is about former Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour touring with lasers produced by ILDA member StrictlyFX. The other is from ILDA member Image Engineering, about using lasers in a video for the NFL Baltimore Ravens team.

Added a Links page. One of the new links is to the Gaming and Leisure website. They provided a complimentary listing to ILDA, in return for ILDA listing their website.

June 2006

The ILDA office will be closed June 13-28 for vacation. If you have an urgent need, you can try our cell (+1-407-797-7654) or contact one of the Board members. Please understand that even after we return it may take a while to get out from under all the incoming e-mail!

Made a small correction to the ILDA Image Data Transfer Format standard. Posted version 004.1 at the Members Only section of the website. The change fixes a minor typo that could have caused a little confusion.

May 2006

ILDA received press coverage in an Orlando Sentinel story about the new generation of solid-state lasers. You can read excerpts here, and the entire story here.

Added information about Internet and eBay misuse and potential fraud. This includes equipment claiming to be "ILDA compatible" when it may not be, and misuse/infringement of ILDA's logo and trademark.

eBay check scam: Added information about an eBay scam involving checks purporting to be from ILDA. More info is here.

There are now two open seats on the Board. On April 30, Craig Nelson resigned from the Board, since his business has moved away from the laser show industry. The Board is now looking for two candidates to fill these empty seats.
     This is a way for members to help improve and influence ILDA, so it can better serve members' needs. Applicants will be reviewed by the existing Board, who will then select a new member to serve until the next formal election. (The temporary members can then run for election if they wish.)
     For more information, see the page Serving on the ILDA Board of Directors. If you would like to nominate yourself or an ILDA-member colleague, contact the ILDA Executive Director.

April 2006 

The new Shows and projects webpage highlights members' work. Prospective clients now have a way to quickly find recent ILDA members' shows and projects. The first project to  be listed is by Image Engineering, for Heineken Premium Light beer (photo at right).
     We invite members to submit their work for inclusion on this page. We are especially interested in work that potential clients can see, either in person (e.g. upcoming or ongoing shows) or in other media such as film, TV, commercials, etc. To submit work, simply contact us with the information.

NEW BENEFIT FOR MEMBERS: Press release placement. ILDA members now have access to a leading high-tech public relations firm. Send your press releases and get them published in appropriate industry publications.
    This program is generously funded and sponsored by William R. Benner Jr. of Pangolin Laser Systems, in order to raise the profile of ILDA Members and the laser show industry in general. Click here for more information.
     New Press releases page: We have also added a new Press releases page here at the ILDA website. This is listed on the main menu under "For laser show clients / Find a company" so that clients can see the work that members are doing.
 

The Laserist magazine was mailed in April to ILDA members and related industry professionals in the event, lighting and promotions businesses. (This issue is also available online as a 1.2 MB Adobe PDF file.) Thanks to Laserist editor Julie Stewart for putting this together so well, under such a tight pre-conference deadline!
 

ILDA has joined the American Society of Association Executives. Thanks to a generous donation from Board member Peter Mayer of Creative Laser Production, we now have access to the resources of ASAE, the "association of associations".
     Already ILDA has used ASAE's researchers to gather information on the proposed Gold-Silver-Bronze program, to help make it more effective. We expect to gain additional information on the best ways to serve our members.
 

Lots of additions and changes to the website in April:

• A new "What's new" page. (You're reading it!)

• A new menu system with more links and information, including member benefits

• A revamped and improved member benefits page

• A new ILDA History page with all past Boards, Conference locations, Awards etc. (Well, we're missing 1988 and 1989; contact us if you have info on these years...)

• A new page about the ILDA Awards. It links to 18 new Awards pages, giving the results of every ILDA Award year.

• A new page about the ILDA Career Achivement Awards, with links to info on all winners.

• A new page with two handy charts and an Excel spreadsheet showing all ILDA members and the number (and year) of ILDA Awards that they have won. View the winner lists alphabetically and by number of awards won (ranking).

• A new timeline chart on the Board page, showing all past Board members with their term of service.

• A new page about Serving on the ILDA Board of Directors.

• A new look to the Corporate/Affiliate membership listing. There is now one page instead of two, it is easier to tell Corporate from Affiliate, and member names are larger and thus easier to spot. Nonprofit members have been moved to their own page. Also, many errors and inconsistencies are cleaned up.

• New information on how members can (and cannot) use ILDA's logo. Added links to make it easy to find this logo policy page.

• New info on the ILDA Code of Ethics: how to file, what the process is. This came in handy only 5 hours after it was posted, by an ILDA Member who wanted to know how to file a complaint.

• A new page for sponsorship and donation payments. The need for this was kindly pointed out by Peter Mayer when he tried to pay for ILDA's ASAE membership.

• Cleaned up and clarified the ILDA Membership Application/Renewal forms, both online and the PDF membership form. You can now fill out the PDF on your computer before printing it.

• Fixed up various pages on The Laserist section, to remove outdated contact info.

March 2006

Added information from the ILDA Conference, which took place March 12-14 in Rimini, Italy.
     Note that the ILDA Conference report has information on the Membership Meeting. Issues of importance to members were discussed, such as future conference dates and locations, the Gold-Silver-Bronze member proposal, participation in trade fairs, etc. Click here to jump immediately to the Membership Meeting section.

• 2006 ILDA Conference Report

• 2005 ILDA Awards (presented at the 2006 Conference)

• About ILDA's proposed Gold-Silver-Bronze member recognition program

• The Laserist magazine, conferfence issue (Adobe PDF file, 1.2 MB)
   

Updated webpages to reflect ILDA's new contact information.