Stage Directions: USITT, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, the association for performing arts and entertainment professionals, broke its all-time attendance records last week during the 59th Annual Conference & Stage Expo held in the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, KY. More than 6,000 attendees were verified through the conference registration system.
2 comments:
It is amazing that USITT was able to break so many records during the course of one year's conference. That being said, it doesn't really surprise me. First, USITT and its membership base have been growing more and more every year, I'm sure contributing to larger and larger amounts of people at the conference. Also, I had a feeling the conference was going to be huge the second I saw where the conference was. The Kentucky Exposition Center is the largest convention center in the U.S., and it is absolutely enormous. Every year for the past four years, I have spent a week of April there competing in the Vex Robotics World Championships. I have learned parts of that convention center like the back of my hand, and yet I'm sure I don't know anywhere close to all of it. I knew this conference was going to be bigger and better.
Quite a brief article, but I guess it pointed out what I already knew, that conferences have good economic effects on the surrounding area. I guess my one dilemma will be two of my favorite national conferences happen in the same weekend. Of course USITT in Louisville, but just west in St. Louis is the horrific Transworld convention where the Haunt industry gathers to display the newest and scariest for the upcoming season. I think I will always get more creativity out of that though, because they use theatrical elements in different ways then are conventional so it makes you then rethink how you could adapt what they have done and bring it back into a theatrical setting. Quite a few of the things I have applied in my projects I have learned from the haunt industry. Besides watching giant dragons and witches fly through the air on hydraulic arms is much more interesting then watching them drop the newest shade of lighting gel.
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