The international Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound trade fairs closed their doors on March 15th after four days full of product launches, highlights and events. “Around 110,000 visitors from 142 countries reflect the continuing high level of interest shown by the music and event sectors in innovations and new developments’, said Detlef Braun, Member of the Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt. “This year’s Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound were characterised by a high visitor standard and a willingness to place orders.’ This compensated for the slight decline in visitor numbers compared to the record set last year. The on-going high level of exhibitor satisfaction at both fairs also represents a good result. Altogether, 2,242 international exhibitors from 57 countries presented their products and services at Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound.
The innovative power of the event-technology sector and the investment potential for perfectly staged events were evident at Prolight + Sound 2014. A total of 897 exhibitors from 42 countries demonstrated their innovativeness, versatility and dynamism with the latest products from the worlds of audio, lighting, theatre and stage technology, AV media technology, visual communication and systems integration. The exhibitors gave the fair a positive rating in all respects with almost 80 percent saying they were satisfied to extremely satisfied with the course of business. This general trend was confirmed by Peter Klotz, CEO, Klotz Audio Interface Systems: “For us, Prolight + Sound is the most important platform where we can meet all national and international customers. The fair was well attended and the standard of both national and international visitors was very high. This is decisive for us and compensates for the slight decline in visitor numbers.’ Dierk Elwart of Amptown System Company (ASC) summed up the fair in extremely positive terms: “At Prolight + Sound, we can reach the maximum number of customers at the same place. We have noticed an increase in the number of visitors to our exhibition stand for many years. This year, we were very delighted to welcome many trade visitors from the theatre segment.’
As in the past, numerous new products were launched at Prolight + Sound; the trend towards LED lighting continues, additionally, the growing significance of networking and systems integration in the field of event technology was clearly shown.
Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound also underscored their status as international sources of impulses with a comprehensive spectrum of seminars, lectures and workshops. The Eventplaza Conference offered numerous information events on trends, strategies and expertise for the live-entertainment and theatre sectors with particular attention being paid to the subject of event safety. Additionally, speakers from the media-technology sector passed on their knowledge about sound and event technology at the Prolight + Sound Conference. The significance of Prolight + Sound as an information and training platform was emphasised by Detlef R. Schulz, Head of the National Politics & Communication Division of the Association for Media and Event Technology (Verband fur Medien- und Veranstaltungstechnik): “Prolight + Sound is a very important platform for us. In particular, the seminar programme is a relevant part where the focus is on training for specialist personnel, a subject of great importance for our sector, because the demands on events and, therefore, on specialist staff continue to grow.’
The next Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound will be held in Frankfurt am Main from 15 to 18 April 2015.
