ILDA's tenth anniversary year is a fitting occasion to look back at what we have accomplished over the past decade, to review this year's events, and to speculate on the challenges of the next ten years.
It is hard to remember the years before ILDA, when each company was an island unto itself. Just getting these highly-competitive companies to meet together was quite an achievement. Great credit goes to Ron Goldstein, who advanced the idea, and to the thirty-three other laser professionals who attended the first meeting in August 1986. ILDA's work since then has led to tangible results. This was made clear to me at September's "Quadruple Conjunction" planetarium conference in El Paso, where I presented a paper outlining the many benefits of ILDA membership. The assembled planetarians were impressed by how ILDA's standards and technical work has helped revolutionize laser projectors in the last few years, in contrast with fragmented, nonstandardized planetarium equipment. They were interested in setting up a program similar to the ILDA Awards, to honor the best work in their industry. They were a bit envious that ILDA has a paid executive director, while their planetarium society's work must rely wholly on volunteers. Perhaps most importantly, they spoke often about the cooperative, friendly attitude between companies that, in their industry, would be closed or suspicious rivals. Of course, the resources available to nonprofit planetariums and for-profit laser companies are quite different. But this does not take away from the achievements of ILDA's first ten years.
If there was one theme to the 1996 year, it was that of ILDA developing even more of the characteristics of a true trade association. The most visible manifestation of this was the important struggle we waged on aviation safety. In the past, ILDA had attended safety meetings, but our actions were always reactive. During 1996, we went on a high-profile offensive. We wanted to be sure that any regulations truly enhanced safety and did not unduly infringe on laser shows. Much of the Board's time was spent on this issue. Fortunately, our efforts were successful. For the first time ever, ILDA was able to turn back ill-conceived regulations. In January, we shaped the FAA's new 7400.2D rules for outdoor laser shows. In April, we helped persuade the CDRH to change their so-called "one-mile power limit" rule to a more reasonable three miles. Later that month, the Board authorized the ILDA Legal Defense Fund to hire a Washington, D.C., law firm to represent our interests. All these efforts increased safety for aircraft while retaining our rights to safely share airspace for the enjoyment of audiences on the ground. We cannot relax; there is still much more to do on this issue. But we can be proud that to the first time ILDA stood up to defend its members against unwar- ranted restrictions. (Anyone doing outdoor shows in the U.S. owes a debt of gratitude to Greg Makhov, Jay Parkinson, Casey Stack and Tony Zmorenski; and to those who generously contributed to the 1LDA Legal Defense Fund.) Another area where ILDA is developing into a true trade association involves the upgrading of our staff resources. Previously, the Executive Director worked out of her home, using her own computer. ILDA now has a real office, and we have purchased a high-end laptop so ILDA's files will be available in the office or on the road. Sadly, we were not able to fulfill one of my personal goals, to provide a full-time salary for the Executive Director. ILDA's work has also continued in other areas. The Laserist gets larger with each issue, furthering its goal of keeping members and potential clients informed about our industry. ILDA's Web site (www.ilda.wa.org) has been significantly improved, thanks to hard work from John Clouse and Jorge Suarez. Casey Stack has coordinated not only the ILDA Legal Defense Fund, but also the development of an ILDA-owned laser projector. This will be used at trade shows such as Lighting Dimensions International, to play an ADAT tape demonstrating the great variety of award-winning laser displays. And speaking of tapes, for the first time ever, some ILDA Awards categories will be judged and presented in laser, using tapes in the ADAT and DA-88 format.
Finally, I would like to turn to the future. What will ILDA and the laser industry look like in the next ten years? Certainly there will be technological advances, such as faster scanners, solid-state lasers and better tools for creating shows. But beyond this, I hope that there is increased development in the following areas: - Getting clients to pay for value received. Too often laser display has been a poor stepchild of other visual media. Look at the cost-per-minute of presentations similar to laser, such as corporate video. If we can get a significant portion of this for our laser productions, the resulting quality would be much improved. The increased revenue would also help retain experienced laserists who are finding other fields more lucrative. - Standards development. This is a constant refrain within ILDA; fortunately, more and more members are understanding that everyone benefits from laser display compatibility. Progress has been slow, but this is because it takes time to build a consensus. Long before 2006, however, I hope that all mainstream projectors will meet the ILDA Standard Projector format, much the same way movie and video equipment now share common standards. Music Rights Crucial - Music rights reform. This has the potential to be the biggest impediment to our industry's growth, at least in the U.S. While bars and nightclubs can pay a yearly fee to play music, we must negotiate on a songby-song basis with the writers, performers, and publishing companies. Obviously, there won't be too many ADAT or DA-88 lasertape equivalents to rentable videotapes if every song in every show must be individually negotiated three times. Three bills to address this were introduced in Congress, but so far 1LDA as an organization has not worked in this area. - Continued vigilance on safety matters. This is important both in the U.S. and other countries. For example, I understand that regulators in Britain are taking a much harder look at audience scanning and that Australia has shown interest in the aviation safety issue. - Continued improvements to ILDA's structure and benefits. As I indicated earlier, it is time for ILDA's Executive Director to be fairly paid. Also, there are programs that other trade groups provide, such as association-sponsored insurance, that we could develop for our own members. - Increased internationalism. There will always be a tension between the U.S. companies, which are currently in the majority, and ILDA's international members. By holding its first meeting outside the U.S.. ILDA is reaching out to non-U.S. members. In turn, I hope international member, will become more involved as meeting hot~ and by serving on ILDA committees.
At a speech during last year's Conference, I said that ILDA was at a crossroad~. During our ninth year, we could continue with the same, comfortable programs or N-, e could try for more. Ironically, it was an issue that was barely on the radar (aviation safety) which showed how much we could accomplish if we worked together. Starting from the firm foundation of the last decade, ILDA's next ten years should accelerate even faster the technical, artii;tic and financial success of our member companies, and of the spectacular display they provide for their clients.