Starlite Productions' Technology Showcase 2013 Receives Rave Reviews

	Technology Showcase 2013 at Starlite Productions

When you want to celebrate being in business for 30 years, you could just throw a party with your friends and customers and reflect on the hard times and the successes. But for Philadelphia-area production company Starlite Productions, the "party" became an industry trade show that took over their sprawling 53,000-sq.-ft. facility. The Technology Showcase, with 41 vendors representing over 90 audio/video/lighting industry lines, drew nearly 300 attendees -- mostly from New York to Baltimore and all points in between to Starlite's Moorestown, New Jersey facility.

The Showcase's target audience showed up in droves. "The turnout is fantastic," said Brandon Yenser, sales representative for Bosch/EV/Telex, "I've met a vast variety of contacts, everyone from DJs to freelance audio engineers who rent equipment from Starlite ... all the way to consultants who are designing stadiums as well as installers who work with Starlite to install churches and high school auditoriums."

The pipe and drape booths were jammed with industry giants like Martin, EV, Shure, and Bose. (JBL had a professional line array displayed outside that was so loud it earned a visit by Moorestown's police.) Yamaha Commercial Audio brought its 50' mobile tractor trailer display to wow the show's attendees. "Generally, it's been very good traffic inside," said Bob Quinones, district manager for Yamaha Commercial Audio, "We've had waves of people coming in here and it's been great!"

The show included several informative seminars that focused on key areas of interest for industry professionals: rigging safety, lighting programming, digital audio consoles, utilizing LED fixtures, choosing the right audio speakers, and changes to the RF system in a wireless world. Show attendees also were treated to a fascinating light show titled Fall into Fire, programmed by Steven Kosiba, one of Starlite Productions' lighting designers. His show highlighted Starlite's commitment to keeping up with ever-changing technology in its rental inventory, with powerful instruments from Clay Paky, Elation, and Martin.

Starlite's founder and president, Dean Danowitz, says that all the planning and hard work has paid off. "This event gave me the chance to say thank you to many people I've worked with in the industry over the years. With 50 employees now, I spend most of my days running the company and so it was nice to personally greet some of Starlite's clients and even some potential clients as well. The feedback I've gotten from the show so far has been overwhelmingly positive, both from the attendees and the vendors as well."

As to whether or not a Technology Showcase 2014 edition is in the works, Dean says he'll make a decision on it after he has distilled the post-show data, but he's hopeful to do it again. And since the 30th Anniversary "party" got relegated to icing on a sheet cake during the show, look for Starlite to do something big before the year is out.