Record-breaking year for Prolight + Sound Shanghai

This year’s Prolight + Sound Shanghai tradeshow enjoyed a record-breaking year, attracting 18,522 visitors from across the globe.

The event, which took place between October 11-14th, saw the total number of visitors rise by 18 per cent on last year’s figures, with an eight per cent increase of overseas visitors. A record number of 419 exhibitors were also in attendance.

A number of live performances and demonstrations took place at various booths, with such brands as AKG, KV2 Audio, LAX, Mackie, Neumann, Penn-Elcom, Sennheiser, Soundking and TW Audio on display.

Representing Sennheiser Greater China, Mr Marc Vincent, the company’s president, said: “The show has been gaining a lot of strength over the years. I have never encountered such a fast changing marketplace in the world. The Chinese people now pursue brand name products, which represent good quality and symbol of status. As a result, China is definitely an important market for us.”

At the show to promote Anglo-German business co-operation was Mr Florian von Hofen, chief consultant for VPLT, Germany. He said: “The visitors are very high quality and there are a lot of professional designers for sound and installation projects. We were able to introduce ourselves to local Chinese companies through business networking and I find the result very satisfying.”

Parts and Accessories Zone exhibitor Ms Linda Huang, sales manager for Penn Elcom UK, said: “Exhibition is our main promotional channel to promote our brand and products. We have met about 400 buyers from China, Germany, Indonesia, Korea, the UK, the USA and Turkey at the show.”

As China’s leading audio enterprise, Guangzhou Ruifeng Audio Technology Corp attended the show to promote their brand to an international audience. Mr Ken Lau, the company’s vice director of International Affairs Department remarked: “Trade visitors were more professional and international than in previous years. Some are coming from as far from South Africa and South America.”

Visitors came to Prolight + Sound Shanghai to source from a full spectrum of products which included pro-audio equipment, professional lighting, laser technology, LED, truss systems, broadcasting equipment and accessories. They were impressed by the quality of exhibitors and range of products.

The four-day event’s Concert Sound Arena attracted vast numbers of industry professionals who listened to live line array demonstration from Audiocenter (China), Duran Audio (the Netherlands), KV2 Audio (UK), Peavey (US), Soundking (China) and TW Audio (Germany).

Participating in the event for the third time, TW Audio, presented two of their latest PA systems. “The outdoor presentation is a good opportunity for visitors to compare different brands,” explained Mr Bernhard Wüstner, managing director for TW Audio. “I am also able to meet distributors from China and around the world through Concert Sound Arena,” he added.

Another participant was KV2 Audio. Andy Brown, director of technical projects commented: “We received a lot of interest and enquiries while we presented our products at the Concert Sound Arena. As we are very new to the Chinese market, this was the best way for us to present our brand.”

A number of educational forums and seminars were also on offer at the show, covering a wide range of AV topics. University training courses were offered by Tongji University and covered the architectural acoustic design and application of acoustic material, while the Shanghai Conservatory of Music offered insights into sound quality assessment and standard acoustic design for studios.

Speaker Mr Xiaoxing Lu, a Grammy Award Winner for Recoding, commented on the importance of holding educational seminars during Prolight + Sound Shanghai: “Seminars are very important for the industry as we need good training and communication to help spread knowledge. This helps planners, technicians and industry insiders to understand and apply to their practical work.”

The next Prolight + Sound Shanghai will be held 11 – 14 October 2012. For further information, please visit www.prolightsound-shanghai.com or email plss@hongkong.messefrankfurt.com