www.prosoundnewseurope.com 14,000
organise a successful exhibition that helps to offset AES expenses. How can that schism be accommodated in future? I think that’s a misconception. I’ve spoken to leaders in academia and they are very pleased to have commercial support for AES activities – after all, the conventions fund much of what goes on in their world. I was expecting push back from academia on some of my ideas to offer more sponsorship opportunities at conventions, but I received encouragement so long as I don’t cross certain very reasonable lines. On the exhibition side, I’ve heard people say the scientific community plants the seeds that grow into new technologies and ultimately new markets. This is the intangible value of AES to businesses – we incubate the innovation and standards that fuel growth.
There has been a lot of discussion about the timing and location of the European Conventions. Marketing for Budapest, for instance, only started a few months before the event, and potential exhibitors seemed frustrated about a lack of communication. Of course promotion should have started earlier. We had a European partner who was going to handle the exhibition for us, but unfortunately, they had to pull out four months before the show. We had to scramble. I think Budapest was a success given the circumstances. But I want more for Europe in the future and, yes, it starts with better communication.
Should the European Convention rotate on a regular basis between,
June 2012 l 05
AES membership
let’s say, four European cities, so attendees and potential exhibitors could plan well in advance? Some people say the European convention should be parked in one city; others say we should move around Europe. Some say it should be in central Europe so it’s easily accessible, while others suggest we should hold it in exciting far-away places, like the Greek Islands, to attract people. That’s the challenge in Europe. A possible path would be to have an anchor city every other year, and a number of secondary cities that rotate the odd years.
Has the AES Planning Committee considered aligning the European Convention with another pro-audio exhibition/event? That has been discussed many times. I think the biggest stumbling block is financial – how do we insert our technical programme into someone else’s show and earn enough income to cover our needs? Our attempt to partner on the recent show in Budapest led to a loss of control and last-minute scramble. Partnering is enticing, but this needs to be a marriage, not a one-night stand.
In an online forum post recently you allude to “ideas that don’t require everyone to lug a lot of expensive gear around the world and talk to the same people over and over again”. What do such ideas involve? One of the things I hear over and over is that companies are moving their marketing to social media and pulling out of trade shows – not just ours. If everyone could just have a Facebook page and work from their wireless workstation on
the beach, the world would be a better place, right? Well, no. The human connection is still important in our business. Facebook and other social media sites serve some needs, but AES still plays an important role bringing people together. So how do we use the best of AES and the best of online social media to optimise the experience? That’s what I’m playing with.
AES has access to an array of marketing and promotional capabilities, including Steve Green, the just-announced business development manager. What percentage of these resources is allocated to the society’s European community? In general, we have about half our resources focused on marketing, and probably half our marketing resources focused on Europe. If you’re asking whether marketing in Europe is important, of course it is. No, we haven’t done an effective job of marketing in Europe in the past. We’re working on improving that. Communication is a two-way thing. Marketing is half listening and half preaching. We’re in the listening phase right now.
The past several years have been particularly turbulent for the AES, with significant financial losses and accusations of malfeasance. What steps have been put in place to audit the European accounts? The European accounts are audited and certified by a third- party professional. That’s one of the maddening things about last summer’s hoopla over finances. It’s not possible for the executive director to embezzle money. And I’d like to set the record straight
on your statement about “significant financial losses”. There seems to be a perception in some circles that AES is going bankrupt. We have a nice cushion in the bank; we aren’t going bankrupt. The past couple of years have been near break-even, following some pretty steep reductions in expenses. Break- even could be considered optimal for a non-profit corporation. It means we are spending all our income to serve our people. The economy seems to be improving and we, like everyone else, are feeling better about our future.
Should the former AES Executive Committee and, by implication, the Board of Governors, be held accountable for that problematic period for Europe?
FRANCE
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The BOG and EXCOM change every year so it’s a bit unfair to hold recent members accountable for what happened in the past. AES, like everyone else, has weathered a very difficult time over the past decade. The folks you might blame for allowing AES to struggle in recent years might turn around and claim they kept it alive during a very hostile period when other organisations went away. I don’t have any interest in punishing volunteers who work hard to serve their industry through AES. We’re looking forward. We have new management in HQ, an EXCOM dedicated to transparency and financial responsibility, and a Board that is watching over us very closely. Let’s move on.
www.aes.org
AN ECLIPSEdigital mixing console from Innovason handled audio duties for newly-elected French president François Hollande’s first official state visit at the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) in Paris. Both the President and the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë gave speeches inside the Salle des Fêtes, which were then broadcast to spectators outside the
building, and fed to 52 different media organisations from around the world. “The desk performed absolutely perfectly and the sound was impeccable,” confirmed Dominique Dunesme, technical director for the Hôtel de Ville. Paris City Hall purchased the Eclipse just last year.
www.innovason.com
UNLOCK YOUR CREATIVITY Digital signal processing made in Germany AllDSP innovative audio solutions
Photo: Sophie Robichon/Marie de Paris
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