The industry’s first physical exhibition in months was held from 21 to 24 August in Guangzhou, China, with the aim of supporting the industry on the road to recovery.

Quality buyers and new business opportunities; amid a challenging global business environment and pandemic prevention and control measures in China, these were the key ingredients that exhibitors were pleased to find at Prolight + Sound Guangzhou 2020 (PLSG), which gathered a total of 41,556 visitors and 677 exhibitors for its 18th edition at the China Import and Export Fair Complex. Concluding on 24 August, the event was the first major industry trade fair of its kind to return in China following the COVID-19 outbreak, providing an effective and high quality business platform for professionals in the entertainment, media and AV industry to reconnect, rebuild and network.

Speaking at the conclusion of the fair, Judy Cheung, Deputy General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd remarked: “In light of the ongoing global pandemic, we are pleased to have received full support from the industry. In keeping with the trend of digitalisation, this year we channelled additional resources to facilitate business online – helping exhibitors market their products more effectively and easing the sourcing process for buyers. For the first time, the entire exhibition, including new products, training courses and seminars was broadcasted. We hope this new “offline + online” experience made it easier for industry players to network, learn and explore business opportunities in the resurgent market.”

Under the motto of “Beyond lighting and sound”, the 2020 edition offered more distinguished product categories that engaged users with digital experiences. Technological convergence was the main focus of the fair, with the newest entertainment, AV equipment and related integration opportunities attracting the attention of potential buyers. Some of the leading brands, both international and domestic that participated in eight halls across a total of 80,000 sqm of exhibition space this year included: BBS, Boray, Bosch, Bose, Charming, Coda Audio, Concord, D&Q, Danacoid, EAD, EM Acoustics, Eagle Group, Enne, Fidek, Harman International, Hivi, Husion, IAG Group, Infinova, itc, L-Acoustics, MA Lighting, Maingo, Mode, Nightsun, Peavey, Ray Long, Ruisheng, Sennheiser, S-track, Star-net, Taiden, Takstar, The One Studio, Thunderstone, Tricolor, Viashow, Vue Audiotechnik and many more.

Ms Cheung added: “The positive feedback that we received from buyers and exhibitors during the four days suggests that the positioning of the fair and its expansion into new product categories closely matched the needs of the market. This is something that we hope to maintain at the next edition in May, where the industry will once again have the opportunity to explore the latest technologies and development trends.”

Live coverage of the exhibition, including presentations of the industry’s latest products and technologies was broadcasted on HC360.com – one of the industry’s largest online trade media platform. Together with the PLSG WeChat platform, which livestreamed the PLSG Annual Training Course, the two platforms attracted significant attention from those who were unable to travel to the fair, garnering 165,000 views.

Besides an extensive collection of the latest products, PLSG also compiled a variety of educational programmes. This included the PLSG Annual Training Course, the Acoustic Block Forum ‘Opportunities and Challenges of Audio Technology in Artificial Intelligence’, the 10th Advanced Audio Forum, and a Carving Art Exhibition.

To help industry practitioners in the post COVID-19 era, safety topics dealing with the reopening of live events were added to the programme. Both attendees and expert speakers were impressed by how the events delivered valuable information and created opportunities to network and exchange market intelligence. Another unique part of the fringe programme was the Outdoor Line Array, which gathered 20 professional audio brands to showcase the sound qualities of their audio systems to professionals and audio enthusiasts in real time.

PLSG earns industry support with positive feedback from exhibitors and visitors
In this challenging year for the industry, the organisers worked hard to provide channel players with valuable opportunities to pursue their business objectives, with the majority of participants reporting favourably on their participation.

“Our company has participated at PLSG many times in the past and this year we are showcasing our microphone products for teleconferencing. Although there have been challenges, the pandemic has also generated some opportunities for our business because of the shift towards digital media and the increased use of virtual meetings. Our microphones and other products match the demands in this market. Even though this year’s fair scale is not as big as previous editions, the clients who have visited our booth to discuss products and place orders have met our expectations. PLSG is a well-developed trade fair with a good reputation in the industry and high visitor quality, which is the main reason why we always choose to exhibit here,” said ChunLin Liu, Vice General Manager, BeiJing HXTC Technology Co Ltd

“Prolight + Sound Guangzhou closely matches the business sectors we have been focusing on this year, including lighting, audio and video products used in KTV and hotels. We have developed various new products, such as our first “cloud” karaoke room, which combines traditional karaoke with entertainment, interactive games and a DJ experience. We are launching these new products on the PLSG platform because it’s the leading exhibition for the industry, not just in Guangzhou but also other regions. The exhibition gathered a lot of industry professionals from different product categories, so it is a good opportunity for us to expand our business,” said Chuang Liu, Project Director, Huoshan 3S Digital.

Buyer and visitor DaiYuan Wang, CEO/CTO, Pandora Audio & Video Technology Serve Co Ltd commented, “This is my 10th visit to PLSG. I continue to come because the exhibition is a great place to find out about industry trends. At every edition there are new products, systems, ideas, training courses and presentations from industry experts. Guangdong is a large production base of audio and lighting. Thanks to its location, the fair is not only the largest fair in China, but also the most professional one. You can find a lot of innovative high quality products from Guangdong, which cannot be seen in other places. Although the fair scale has been impacted by the pandemic, it was a bold decision by the organisers to hold the exhibition this year. The fair has provided me with the opportunity to communicate in-depth with new and old industry peers, allowing everyone to re-build their connections and exchange information and find new avenues for business.”

Extra health care and hygiene precautions implemented
The organisers strictly followed the local government’s protection guidelines and implemented additional safety measures to ensure the health and safety of every participant. This included: real identity pre-registration, entry checkpoints to verify the digital health code of all participants, and onsite temperature scans. Frequent sanitisation of facilities and distancing measures were also implemented.

The 19th edition of Prolight + Sound Guangzhou will be held from 16 – 19 May 2021 at China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou, China.

www.prolightsound-guangzhou.com