PLASA Show 2026 Unveils Seminar Programme

PLASA Show has announced its 2026 seminar programme, returning to Olympia London from 6–8 September with a free-to-attend schedule built around the sector's most pressing issues.

Sponsored for the first time by Dante, the line-up spans sustainability, workforce skills, AI, cybersecurity and increasingly connected production workflows.

Across three days, attendees will hear from the teams behind major live productions, landmark venues and emerging technologies, alongside practical masterclasses for lighting, audio, AV, staging and business professionals.

As seminar programme sponsor, Dante will lead two sessions on the evolution of networked production. The Economics of Convergence – When Shared Networks Make Sense in Live Sound and When They Don’t will outline when consolidating audio, video, lighting and control can add value, and when it may introduce cost or complexity. A second talk, 2 Million People, One Network – Dante at Festival Scale, will showcase tools and workflows for building and managing large-scale live systems across touring and major outdoor events.

Case studies will delve into ambitious projects across broadcast entertainment, immersive experiences, theatre and aerial performance. Celestial's John 'JP' Partridge will chart the rise of drone light shows in From Titanic To Britain’s Got Talent – Creating The UK’s Biggest Drone Shows, exploring the creative, technical and operational demands behind spectacles seen by millions. Area Four Industries’ global technical director Norbert Tripp will unpack the ground support design and delivery for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel in The Gateway To The Greatest Show – Insight Into The Ground Support Of Eurovision Song Contest 2025. Meanwhile, The Traitors – From TV to Live Experience explains how creative, lighting, sound and show-control teams built a scalable attraction where performers trigger technical elements, enabling eight Round Tables to run under a single show controller.

LSi will curate a stream throughout all three days, blending production insight with stories from leading venues, designers and technologies. Award-winning lighting designer Aideen Malone discusses the collaboration behind Lighting ‘Into The Woods’: From Concept to Stage, while Vari-Lite pioneers Jim Bornhorst and Tom Littrell mark 40 years since the Series 200 launch in Vari-Lite – The Lights That Changed Our World. A major panel, The National Theatre At Fifty – Five Decades Of Technology In Support Of Theatre, will see Paul Handley, Matt Drury and Andrew Grant joined by David Bertenshaw and Anne Valentino to reflect on advances from early power-flying systems and Lightboard consoles to projection, LED and modern Eos control. The Royal Opera House – In A New Light brings Rachael O’Sullivan, Alex Gardner and George Townsend together with Push The Button’s Ben Noble to share how the auditorium’s lighting was fully renovated without missing a single evening performance.

Audio takes centre stage in Douze Points: How The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest Set Triumphant New Standards For Audio, which gathers the Vienna 2026 audio leads to explore how they served the live audience, performers, broadcast and online viewers while introducing new techniques and technology. Elsewhere, Avatar Advancements – The New Frontier Of Live Performance will examine Unit1Studio’s work alongside Brompton Technology, ROE Visual, Woodroffe Bassett Design and sound designer Richard Brooker on the next generation of avatar-led concert experiences.

Sustainability shifts from ambition to action with three dedicated discussions. Digital Product Passports – A Headache Or Opportunity For Our Industry looks at changing product-data expectations and their impact on entertainment technology businesses. Big Picture – Global Impact On Our Industry cuts through climate jargon to consider how extreme weather, economics, politics and supply chains may shape the sector over the next 25 years. Sustainability Reality Check – Where Does Our Industry Really Stand? invites candid debate on where sustainable practices are delivering value, where they are being missed, and whether progress matches public commitments.

Technology and talent also converge across sessions on skills development, training, careers and attracting new entrants, alongside the responsibilities created by AI and connected products. In How To Get Real Value From AI, Jon Hole and Wayne Howell join Dr Sacha Krstulovic, founder of Understand-AI.today, and lighting designer and educator Tad Trylski to discuss practical applications that support creative work, business processes and product development. Wayne Howell teams up with Roland Hemming for Cybersecurity, CRA And How It Affects You, offering an industry-specific update on the EU Cyber Resilience Act, steps to take now, and tools to aid compliance and secure design.

Further contributions come from exhibitors including ETC, d&b, Artistic Licence, PROLYTE, Robe, Polar Audio and Visualisation, along with organisations such as AVIXA, Backup Tech, The Power of Events, Bectu, the ALPD, the ASDP, WIL, the HSE and HELA.

Beyond the theatres, visitors can experience the latest audio, AV and projection technology in dedicated demo spaces from AbsenLive, Barco, KV2 Audio, and RCF and TT+ Audio. ChamSys will also run bookable training on 6 and 7 September covering MagicQ programming, MediaMaster 26, advanced show-file workflows and guest lighting designer sessions. Demo rooms are walk-in; advance registration is required for training.

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