A major innovation for 1996 is the introduction of new specialist feature and demonstration areas, designed to provide visitors with an objective insight into the operational reality of different audio working environments. The feature areas will focus on:
The highly successful Briefings and Workshop programme is once again being run in parallel with the exhibition, and following two principle streams. One will comprise lively, interactive sessions with a strong hands-on element, providing new recruits to the industry and those developing their skills with a valuable forum for application-based ideas and techniques. The other stream will embrace more advanced topical technical issues, with a major emphasis on multimedia applications, converging technologies and digital domain developments.
This year, for the first time, the APRS has brought in the expertise of Single Market Events (SME) to help promote and market the show. This will facilitate in particular a major expansion of the visitor promotion campaign, in line with Audio 96's broad audio technology base. The campaign will include one-to-one communication with the APRS' international database of over 20,000 contacts.
This is being complemented by a series of closely targetted VIP mailings, providing fast-track access to Audio 96 for senior industry personnel nominated by exhibiting companies. Post-production companies and other leading London facilities can look forward to a specially-focused invitation to attend; free shuttle buses and ticket-drops are also planned to promote the show to a wider audience than ever.
In addition, a high profile international advertising campaign is being organised to run in major titles across the recording, broadcast, post-production and sound reinforcement sectors. This will be enhanced by an extensive range of negotiated editorial previews and reviews, communicating the broad scope of Audio 96, its exhibitors and the special events planned around it.
Philip Vaughan, the APRS Chief Executive, is confident that Audio 96 will offer visitors a unique opportunity to monitor today's rapidly converging audio technology: "The APRS and SME have worked closely with the industry to ensure that the 1996 exhibition will offer an excellent overview of recent audio developments, across the entire spectrum of applications and environments. This year's event is already attracting strong exhibitor support - after all, Audio 96 is London's only truly representative annual event for the audio business, providing companies with an ideal mid-year launch platform for new events and services. Plans for our 1996 exhibition are shaping up very well and we are looking forward to making a big impact in June with the 29th annual APRS show."