A new initiative to improve the career prospects of those working within the events sector has also recognised the importance of the sector to UK tourism. The continuing growth of events in the UK is a primary reason for the creation of TTENTO, the new National Training Organisation for Travel, Tourism Services and Events. The Government-backed organisation has been set up to ensure industry employers undertake training and development and will provide the events sector with nationally recognised qualifications for its workforce and individual career paths. In particular, TTENTO is working on initiatives for small businesses which comprise some 85% of the travel, tourism services and events industries. The new body brings together all three sectors under one banner for the first time and follows the launch of the events industry NVQs/SVQs earlier this year.

The Loch Ness monster is alive and well thanks to the latest in multi-media display technology supplied by GB International - a specialist supplier of presentation systems. The seven projector system forms the heart of a new exhibition at the Official Loch Ness Exhibition Centre in Drumnadrochit, on the banks of the famous loch. The Exhibition uses seven Philips LCD Projectors to project movie and animation sequences using a mixture of front and back projection onto gauze, 3D objects, large screens and even a half-silvered mirror to create a realistic, dramatic 3D environment.

Established in 1981, when the first event took place at London's Barbican, Showlight exists specifically to give lighting people time to talk, to discuss ideas and to mix with some of the best known names in the industry. Organised by lighting professionals for lighting professionals, the sixth Showlight will take place in 2001 in Edinburgh on May 21, 22 and 23. Over the three days you will have the opportunity to meet some of the world's top names from theatre, television, film and even architectural and themed lighting. If you would like further details on how to register for Showlight 2001, or would like to be kept informed of speakers and exhibitors as they are announced, contact Ruth Rossington, Showlight 2001, telephone +44 (0) 1323 642639.

Event Expo will take place at the London Arena on the 18-20 January 2000. The exhibition draws together a large number of companies ranging from stand contractors to AV specialists. Running alongside the exhibition will be a programme of seminars addressing current issues which will cover everything from the way in which the internet is affecting events, to the kind of involvement hoped for from the government.

Twenty British companies have teamed-up to form the British exhibitor delegation to the pre-Olympics edition of Entech (March 5-7, 2000). The exhibition has moved from its harbour-side home to the Dome, the new Homebush exhibition centre within the Games complex.The UK delegation will present the best of UK staging and stage automation, effects lighting, loudspeakers, software and trade publications. AC Lighting, DHA Lighting, Edwin Shirley Staging, Light Processor and Stage Technologies are all taking stands within PLASA's UK block whilst Allen & Heath, Anytronics, Avolites, James Thomas Engineering, Le Maitre, Martin Audio, Miller Freeman Entertainment, Navigator Systems, Penn Fabrication, Pulsar, Pulse Publications, Showcad, Starlite Systems Technology and Tomcat UK will be featured on stands elsewhere in the hall.

Early December will see the Clothes Show Live, in association with the British Heart Foundation, at the NEC in Birmingham. Lighting a whole host of the latest fashions from the world's top British and International fashion designers will be numerous Martin Macs (controlled by a WholeHog system) supplied and installed by Stage Electrics. The show has been organised by Barker Brown Ltd on behalf of the BBC Haymarket Exhibitions Ltd.

At the recent LDI Show in Orlando, the awards ceremony held on the morning of the last day of the show recognised the achievements of individuals and companies within this industry.Two industry veterans stepped up to collect awards for their long-time contributions to the industry. The Wally Russell Award went to Don Stern, whilst the Light in Life Award was awarded to Sonny Sonnenfield. On the lighting design front, the work of three lighting designers was recognised. In the architectural category, Pat Gallegos' picked up the award; in the entertainment category this went to Don Holder, whose many recent credits include the design for Disney's Lion King and in the themed project category, Anne Militello was honoured for her lighting designs for theme parks, notably the recently opened Spiderman ride at Universal's new Islands of Adventure. Just one award was offered on the sound designer front and this went to John Micelli of Soundelux Showorks.On the product front, the awards were as follows:Sound Product: VRAS (Variable Room Acoustics System) from Level Control Systems.Software Product: Horizon and WYSIWYGScenic Effect: 180 Degree Lens from Hardware XenonRigging and Hardware: The LinkLift from ProtecProduct of the Year/Architecture: Mini Mac Profile/ Wash from Martin professionalProduct of the Year/Entertainment: Cyrano from Robert JuliatPlus there was a special award for product development given to LSD/PRG for its Icon M.Laserlite FX collected an award for the Laser Show of the Year.As part of the LDI Awards, ESTA also presented their own range of awards. The Extendabl

At the start of the final day of LDI '99 in Orlando, Florida, attendance had reached 11,800 - a substantial increase over last year's final attendance figures, making Orlando '99 the best-attended LDI Show in history. Over 180 companies took to the show floor in Orlando to launch a range of new products and services. A full show report will appear in the December issue of Lighting & Sound International.

Numark DJ equipment was used on site for vinyl promotion at the 4th Dance Music Conference in Amsterdam in October. The conference is Europe's largest forum for International DJs and music professionals to discuss issues of Dance Music as a cultural phenomenon. The three-day conference was supplied exclusively with Numark professional DJ equipment by Amsterdam-based Interstate Audio. The 12 proTT-1 direct-drive turntables and six proSM-1 two-channel mixers were used to provide 'listening stations' for all the participants in the main foyer of the conference centre.

Rainmaker, the Sussex-based corporate, industrial, special event and theatrical lighting design specialist, has enjoyed a busy Autumn, producing ideas, equipment and crew for a raft of high profile clients. In Greece, the company worked on a job for production company Purchasepoint with Novartis Pharmaceuticals at the Astir Palace Resort, Athens. Closer to home, it also provided lighting and production for a prestigious one-off charity evening with the English National Ballet at The Mansion House, the Lord Mayor's London residence. Finally, the company's Jim Hepplewhite presented an eye-catching creative lighting scheme for a recent conference in Hall 1 of the ICC, Birmingham for supermarket giants Tesco.

SIEL 2000 looks set to welcome around 300 exhibitors to Hall 3 at the Paris Expo-Porte de Versailles from 6-9 February 2000. For the first time, the event will be divided into two distinct shows, with SIEL Entertainment covering theatre, pro audio and events, and SIEL Night & Show catering for the nightlife industry in Hall 3.1. The Country of Honour for 2000 will be Great Britain, and PLASA, together with the DTI, are responsible for organising the British Pavilion that will group together around 20 British companies.

The Leisure Industry Week exhibition (LIW) took place at the NEC in Birmingham from 28-30 September, attracting a record 24,622 visitors to its halls. The show featured a Leisure Hospitality area covering catering and food service, entertainments, and leisure facilities management. Special features included the Star Wars Bar, the working nightclub Club Chameleon (created by Creative Technical Systems and designers Prolyte) and LIW's Cyber Cafe.

Following research carried out by international brokers Goldman Sachs, which forecasts that the value of business conducted via the Internet in the next four years will amount to £1trillion, the publishers of Internet Business magazine are staging the UK's first two-day conference aimed at managers who want to take advantage of business opportunities offered by the Internet. The event, being held in Brighton from 7-8 December 1999, will include a conference, a dedicated Internet exhibition and a workshop programme. The conference will feature panel sessions, Q&A sessions and interactive technology to answer delegates' questions.

Organised by the National Aids Trust for those directly affected by HIV and Aids, the Celebration of Life concert takes place on Wednesday December 1 (World Aids Day) at Covent Garden Market on the West Piazza. The Trust have contacted PLASA in the hope that companies within our industry might support the event by providing technical equipment. If you would like to help, contact the National Aids Trust in London on 0171-814 6748.

Lighting director Victor Fable used a new Virtuoso lighting control console from Vari-Lite for September's MTV Video Music Awards, which took place in New York. Using a Virtuoso for just the second time, Fable worked closely with lighting designer Allen Branton and lighting directors Tom Beck and Michael Goodwin for the live broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House. With a rig of moving lights including VL4, VL7, VL7B, VL5B, VL6 and VL6B luminaires, Fable found that the Virtuoso made his job easier. "It actually made doing a large show much easier than if I had used an Artisan console. I would have had to put the show on two separate Artisan desks and run them both, whereas Virtuoso handled 440 channels easily and managed it all quite well."He continued: "Virtuoso allowed me to load up many more chases and break up the show much more effectively and quickly. The ability to have more than the Artisan console's four submaster capacity was a lifesaver. On this show I used 16 submasters and broke it up into four areas and effects. I used a lot of macros to load in effects and I used a lot of snapshots, whether I was programming or playing back."

The APRS will act as a sponsor of the Joint Venture with British Trade International for the 108th AES Convention (19-22 February 2000) in Paris. UK exhibitors receive 60% of their space and construction expenses up to a ceiling of £2,300 and are eligible to exhibit with Government funding at AES Europe events twice within any given ten-year period, irrespective of where the exhibition is held. In addition to the Government funding, companies that have never exhibited previously on a UK delegation will receive a complimentary research package from British Trade International giving special pointers as to where to find export-related help, advice and information which should assist with their exporting efforts to the whole of Europe.

Earls Court Exhibition Centre (home to the PLASA Show) and sister venue Olympia have been sold by the P&O Group to an acquisition vehicle backed by Candover and the Morris family for £183 million. Included in the sale are P&O Events, the organisers of PLASA, P&O Exhibition Services, which provides exhibition services to exhibitors and specialist catering business Beeton Rumford. The net consideration for the sale will be settled in cash, plus a £20 million loan note repayable over 10 years. Candover is a private equity company, whilst the Morris family owns City Industrial Limited which operates The Business Design Centre in Islington, London.

Australasia's leading entertainment technology exhibition, Entech, is set to outstrip all previous Entech events when it opens at the Sydney Olympics site in Homebush Bay, 5-7 March 2000. Show organisers Connections report that sales have already exceeded those of Entech 98, with six months still to go. The show now occupies over 120,000sq.ft of floorspace at the new Sydney Showground and exhibition centre.Features of Entech 2000 will include the opening night's Carnivale under the stars, the Boulevard of Light, and the PA system shoot-out, while daily lighting comparison seminars will also be held, and technical tours of the nearby 110,000-seater Olympic Stadium will be available.The DTI has now offered PLASA funding for a trade mission to Entech 2000 for UK exporters. Under the terms of the offer, British Trade International (BTI), will cover 60% of exhibitors' space and construction expenses, up to a ceiling of £2,300. Anyone interested in taking advantage of this offer should contact Anna Pillow at the PLASA Office, anna@plasa.org

Three of the industry's leading event management companies have just announced that they are to merge. Business Pursuits Event Management, The Ultimate Experience and Richard Groves Catering and Events have been in discussions for the last six months with a view to integrating their operations to form a new £10m plus turnover group that will be uniquely positioned in the UK events market.

Marks & Spencer is set to unveil its latest range in what will be the biggest ever touring retail show in Europe. The event, designed and produced by CJ Spencer Associates, will take place at four shopping centres across the country and to accommodate the show, a state-of-the-art building measuring a staggering 50x30m has been specially created, which will house two 400 seater theatres together with a reception area and smart cloakrooms. Martin Mac 600s Vari-Lite VL5s, Clay Paky StageScans and three Wholehog desks are just part of the impressive lighting spec, whilst a range of d&b speakers, amplifiers and controllers, together with Yamaha and Soundcraft desks, Denon and XTA processing and Shure microphones provide the audio element.

The 1999 Auditorium Acoustics Conference, organised by the Building Acoustics Group, will take place on October 22-24 in Manchester. The conference will review the changes in auditorium design over the century, consider current design and look forward to the future.